Rating: 
Summary: Historical Proof of Left Wing Vietnam-era propaganda
Review: After reading this book, it was apparent to me that the author was implying that Nixon was a dark and grumpy man who needed his image repackaged. McGinnis boasts of Nixon and his PR teams ability to hide the "true" Nixon and to trick the public into voting for his image. He proclaims that the real Nixon was the one that the country saw debating Kennedy on TV in 1960. Nothing could be further from the truth. First off, Nixon won the 1960 election but did not contest the results for the good of the nation. All historians admit that JFK had help from Daily in Illinois and LBJ in Texas. Furthermore, in the 1960 debates, Nixon had a high fever and was recently out of the hospitable and JFK's staff broke into the basement of the studio and turned up the heat to make him sweat! If anyone decieved the voters with his image, it was JFK using his dramatic but bubbly rhetoric and not backing it up and JFK the family man and the idealist. JFK exploited the Missile Gap, had numerous affairs, assassinated Ngo Dihn Diem, wire tapped Martin Luther King, screwed up the Bay of Pigs, and had ties to the Mafia! Now, I could be wrong, but JFK's campaign sounds like a true selling of the President. 'Selling of the President' has little credible content but infact is a good historical document that portrays Left Wing propaganda of the 1960s.
Rating:
Summary: Historical Proof of Left Wing Vietnam-era propaganda
Review: After reading this book, it was apparent to me that the author was implying that Nixon was a dark and grumpy man who needed his image repackaged. McGinnis boasts of Nixon and his PR teams ability to hide the "true" Nixon and to trick the public into voting for his image. He proclaims that the real Nixon was the one that the country saw debating Kennedy on TV in 1960. Nothing could be further from the truth. First off, Nixon won the 1960 election but did not contest the results for the good of the nation. All historians admit that JFK had help from Daily in Illinois and LBJ in Texas. Furthermore, in the 1960 debates, Nixon had a high fever and was recently out of the hospitable and JFK's staff broke into the basement of the studio and turned up the heat to make him sweat! If anyone decieved the voters with his image, it was JFK using his dramatic but bubbly rhetoric and not backing it up and JFK the family man and the idealist. JFK exploited the Missile Gap, had numerous affairs, assassinated Ngo Dihn Diem, wire tapped Martin Luther King, screwed up the Bay of Pigs, and had ties to the Mafia! Now, I could be wrong, but JFK's campaign sounds like a true selling of the President. 'Selling of the President' has little credible content but infact is a good historical document that portrays Left Wing propaganda of the 1960s.
Rating: 
Summary: Stealing from Segretti's Playbook
Review: First off, let's get one thing straight: McGinniss infiltrated the Nixon Campaign, pure and simple. Not exactly what you'd call honorable journalism. That said, "The Selling of the President" remains the definitive case study of the first sophisticated use of television in American Presidential Politics. Having worked in political public relations for three years, the characterizations and quotes ring completely true. While the public was dismayed by the widening morass in Vietnam, there's no denying the fact that Nixon's very astute use of the tube helped catapult him into the office he ultimately disgraced. Yes, mass media image-building is now the politician's stock in trade: Willy talking boxers versus briefs, the Veep doing the Macarena, and George The Elder fumbling at the checkout counter. "The Selling of the President 1968" is written in tough, punchy prose, and chillingly accurate. I'm certain The Founding Fathers would flinch. Highly recommended as a continuing reality check.
Rating: 
Summary: He Makes it Perfectly Clear
Review: Joe McGinniss joined the Nixon campaign as an observer, and wrote this book of connected stories. Nixon's team had a number of advertising and TV professionals. The book lacks and index and a table of contents. The cover shows Nixon's face on a pack of cigarettes - an apt metaphor. They are heavily advertised, and bad for you in the short and long run. People know this, but they buy them anyway! Chapter 1 shows Nixon taping commercials for varied markets. "I pledge an all-out war against organized crime in this country." But investigations into organized crime was later halted. Chapter 2 tells us that politics, like advertising, is a con game! Both promise more than they deliver. McGinniss says Nixon lost in 1960 because the camera portrayed him clearly (p.32). I think the TV audience judge he was lying, the radio audience took him at his word. By 1968 Nixon learned how to act sincere. He would appear mellow, not intense; respected, if not loved (p.34). Page 36 explains how this works: saturated TV advertising showing the candidate and giving the desired impression, followed by public appearances where he doesn't say anything. TV would be controlled to transmit the best images (p.38). Chapter 3 tells about Harry Treleaven, who worked on the 1966 campaign for George Bush; he was elected because he was likeable, and none knew his stand on the issues. More people vote for emotional than logical reasons (p.45). Chapter 4 explains the power of TV. "The press doesn't matter anymore: (p.59). Painting Nixon as mellow was their way to overcome the old Nixon. Chapter 5 tells how the TV shows were staged for each region. Page 64 explains the politics for a panel of questioners. The selected audience applauded every answer. Chapter 6 says that if Nixon could not act warmer they would produce commercials that made him so! Chapter 7 tells how a commercial would "create a Nixon image that was entirely independent of the words" (p.85). "The secret is in the juxtaposition" (p.88). (Was this parodied in that scene in "The Parallax View"?) Once complaint was of a picture of a soldier who had scrawled "LOVE" on his helmet; a new picture was found with a plain helmet. Later they received a letter from that soldier's mother - Mrs William Love (p.92)! Page 99 tells why you never saw a farmer on this show. Or a psychiatrist (p.100)! Chapter 9 gives an insider's view to the commercial images and what they meant. Chapter 10 tells of seeking Wallace voters with a ballad. Another trick was to be seen as a friend of Billy Graham. Chapter 11 tells of Nixon's shrinking lead. How could a slick production lose to a rough-edged show? Chapter 12 rates a Humphrey commercial as "contrived and tasteless" (p.138), but also "most effective" since it showed HHH as a real person in open air, not being kept in a TV studio. Chapter 13 explains how a TV show worked. People would call in with questions; these would be passed to the staff. They would be scrapped, and prepared questions and their answers used (p.149). The Appendix contains various memos from the campaign; relevant extracts from "Understanding Media" and its analysis. Page 187 notes the good appeal of "reagan". Reagan's personal charisma is noted on plage 189. Pages 218-220 explain the benefits of print advertising over TV. Page 233 mentions the strategy of a challenger: the candidate stands for change (you assume what that means). These memos concern Nixon's run, but are applicable to other candidates today. How much has changed since 1968?
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Albeit Short
Review: McGinniss has a knack for boiling down what could've been a lengthy and detailed account of how to pitch classic curmudgeon Richard M. Nixon to the wary American public. His book is short, sweet, and very well-written. He tells the tale of the Electon, 1968. Nixon had already lost to JFK in 1960, and the public remembered clearly his sweaty, unshaven, and completely cold appearance during the debates. Nixon had a bad rap (which, of course, would only get worse). The goal of the marketing execs was to show Nixon as a good man. They couldn't get compassionate, nor could they get caring, and "attractive" was also far off the mark, so they settled on putting Nixon's voice-over on commercials with stirring images and hollow dialogue. This is how they successfully sold him. "The Selling of the President" has one big flaw: it's very short. I read the 1st Edition Hardcover of this book, and at the end was nearly 100 pages of Appendix. Although the information therein was useful and informative, it didn't possess the flair and style of McGinniss's writing. It was also lengthy rehashes of what McGinniss had summed up using short sentences, clear language, and a good narrative voice. The author has a slight bias, revealed through his characterizations of Nixon and especially Mrs. Nixon. There's a funny account of how Pat Nixon applauded herself on live National television, then covered her face in shame. The cameramen quickly averted their electronic gaze. Later, the producers told her what a good show it had been, only to have Pat walk away without saying a word. Tricky Dick himself is seen grumbling, swearing, sweating, worrying, and acting like his usual paranoid self. It's a very illuminating portrait of a great, intelligent politician without a soul. McGinniss can never top this fantastic, engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Albeit Short
Review: McGinniss has a knack for boiling down what could've been a lengthy and detailed account of how to pitch classic curmudgeon Richard M. Nixon to the wary American public. His book is short, sweet, and very well-written. He tells the tale of the Electon, 1968. Nixon had already lost to JFK in 1960, and the public remembered clearly his sweaty, unshaven, and completely cold appearance during the debates. Nixon had a bad rap (which, of course, would only get worse). The goal of the marketing execs was to show Nixon as a good man. They couldn't get compassionate, nor could they get caring, and "attractive" was also far off the mark, so they settled on putting Nixon's voice-over on commercials with stirring images and hollow dialogue. This is how they successfully sold him. "The Selling of the President" has one big flaw: it's very short. I read the 1st Edition Hardcover of this book, and at the end was nearly 100 pages of Appendix. Although the information therein was useful and informative, it didn't possess the flair and style of McGinniss's writing. It was also lengthy rehashes of what McGinniss had summed up using short sentences, clear language, and a good narrative voice. The author has a slight bias, revealed through his characterizations of Nixon and especially Mrs. Nixon. There's a funny account of how Pat Nixon applauded herself on live National television, then covered her face in shame. The cameramen quickly averted their electronic gaze. Later, the producers told her what a good show it had been, only to have Pat walk away without saying a word. Tricky Dick himself is seen grumbling, swearing, sweating, worrying, and acting like his usual paranoid self. It's a very illuminating portrait of a great, intelligent politician without a soul. McGinniss can never top this fantastic, engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: Marketing the Presidency
Review: Roger Ailes started out as a whiz kid producer in his twenties who was given the responsibility of producing a highly rated, popular, syndicated network television program, "The Mike Douglas Show." From there he moved on to politics, using the same kind of marketing routines that Madison Avenue gurus employ in the cases of super market commodities. Joe McGinniss managed to sneak aboard the Nixon for President campaign without having his main purpose discovered, that of writing up what he observed. Had Ailes or any of his underlings known, McGinniss would assuredly have been instantly dismissed. Had candidate Nixon ever learned the response would, almost assuredly, have been apoplectic, given Nixon's all-consuming hatred for reporters of anything but a fawning bent. The book is humorous in many respects, while the overall result of the effort reported, selling a candidate who would ultimately become the only U.S. president to resign in disgrace, is anything but funny. "The Selling of the President" gives us an indication of how far we have plummeted in presidential campaigns where spin control dominates over critical substance. For instance, just twenty years after Nixon's 1968 victory over Hubert Humphrey, George Bush was elected by exploiting the American flag and a Massachusetts rapist named Willie Horton. The 1984 campaign of President Ronald Reagan stressed the theme of "Morning in America" despite prolific evidence that the temporary prosperity proudly exploited resulted from a credit card spending effect linked to an irresponsible tax cut which ultimately left America in serious debt. The ultimate value of McGinniss' book is learning just how cynically Ailes and the spin control brigade seeks to manipulate American voters. To readers of George Orwell the pattern will contain a distinctly familiar ring. William Hare
Rating:
Summary: The true story of the 1968 presidential campaign
Review: Somewhere in the second chapter of this splendid book, Leonard Hall, national Republican chairman said; "You sell your candidates and your programs the way a business sells its products." This succinct message captures the essence of Joe McGinniss and his book, "The Selling of the President."
The author explains how Richard Nixon is packaged and distributed to the American people by clever television professionals. The marriage of politicians and advertising men first took place in 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election and selected the agency of Batton, Barto, Durstine and Osborn. McGinniss explains that the basic advertising concepts remained unchanged right up to 1968 but that Richard Nixon made every use of all the sophisticated technical advances of the day. Moreover, the author details how slick New York advertising men seduced voters which elevated them from the smoky parlors to the expensive suites with the political big shots. Advertising executives allowed Nixon to dominate the airwaves. To this end, the television campaign allowed Nixon to get through the campaign with a dozen or so carefully worded responses that would cover all the problems of America in 1968. After a while it is rather clear that Richard Nixon is basically a boring man. However, with proper packaging Nixon soon represented competence, respect for tradition, serenity, faith that the American people were better than people anywhere else, and that all these problems others shouted about meant nothing in a land blessed with the tallest buildings, strongest armies, biggest factories, cutest children, and rosiest sunsets in the world. I found the marriage of political and advertising minds fascinating. Of particular interest is how certain keywords such as conscientiousness, vigorous, party unifier, newness, glamour, humor, warmth could create a television facade to hide a candidate's blemishes. This is a great book and should be used in the classroom to show how television altered how politics and campaigns are orchestrated in the United States. Bert Ruiz
Rating:
Summary: The true story of the 1968 presidential campaign
Review: Somewhere in the second chapter of this splendid book, Leonard Hall, national Republican chairman said; "You sell your candidates and your programs the way a business sells its products." This succinct message captures the essence of Joe McGinniss and his book, "The Selling of the President."
The author explains how Richard Nixon is packaged and distributed to the American people by clever television professionals. The marriage of politicians and advertising men first took place in 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election and selected the agency of Batton, Barto, Durstine and Osborn. McGinniss explains that the basic advertising concepts remained unchanged right up to 1968 but that Richard Nixon made every use of all the sophisticated technical advances of the day. Moreover, the author details how slick New York advertising men seduced voters which elevated them from the smoky parlors to the expensive suites with the political big shots. Advertising executives allowed Nixon to dominate the airwaves. To this end, the television campaign allowed Nixon to get through the campaign with a dozen or so carefully worded responses that would cover all the problems of America in 1968. After a while it is rather clear that Richard Nixon is basically a boring man. However, with proper packaging Nixon soon represented competence, respect for tradition, serenity, faith that the American people were better than people anywhere else, and that all these problems others shouted about meant nothing in a land blessed with the tallest buildings, strongest armies, biggest factories, cutest children, and rosiest sunsets in the world. I found the marriage of political and advertising minds fascinating. Of particular interest is how certain keywords such as conscientiousness, vigorous, party unifier, newness, glamour, humor, warmth could create a television facade to hide a candidate's blemishes. This is a great book and should be used in the classroom to show how television altered how politics and campaigns are orchestrated in the United States. Bert Ruiz
Rating:
Summary: McGinnis' Trailblazing Look at TV Age Image Crafting.
Review: This book is fun and breezy, and is a great companion piece to all those grinding "Making of the President 19--" books. McGinnis shows us the repackaging and rebranding of Richard Nixon into "The New Nixon." The original cover shows Nixon's face on a pack of cigarettes, because the campaign is all about the wholesale mass marketing of a product -- "New" and improved. The sales job is done largely with the help of Roger Ailes, then producer of The Mike Douglas Show. TV ads are shot with endless takes while Nixon stands before an audience and answers planted questions. When Nixon growls or mumbles to himself or snaps "Goddammit!" Ailes yells cut and they try again. Nixon and his production team had learned a big lesson from the five o'clock shadow, shifty eyed debates of 1960. Listen to your handlers, wear the darn makeup, look sincere and stick to the script. This book is a great, funny, fast look at the infancy of TV era politics. It's a nice history lesson, and it will add a fresh perspective to your stock of political knowledge. Today our image consultants are like Star Wars to Nixon's Apollo 7. Still, The Selling of The President stands as the best book on the creation of The Political Image.
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