President Nixon

The 60s and 70s were a difficult time for the U.S. and the world as a whole. For a presidential candidate to make his mark during this time, he’d have to include important values and policies that will better the lives of those within the country. Another important aspect would be the reputation and image portrayed by the candidate; arguably the most important aspect of a presidential campaign. In Joe McGinniss’s “The $elling of the President”, he explores the complications and factors concerning the 1968 presidential election about Richard Nixon. Nixon is regarded as one of the most influential and impactful presidents to have been a part of our American history, with many factors to support this claim. However, in order to better understand this book …show more content…
His team used numerous strategies and methods that some may deem as unethical, or unnecessary. As Nixon stated himself, “It’s a shame a man has to use gimmicks like this to get elected” (63), only to be countered by Ailes’s statement of “Television is not a gimmick” (63). Politics was changing, and the team behind Nixon was aware of this. They instituted these changes in order to win this new election. Recalling back to the new image needed by Nixon, this paved way to even more concentration on the branding of him. It became a focus on the people’s thinking, more so than “old politics”. Price wrote, “a product of the particular chemistry between the voter and the image of the candidate. We have to be very clear on this point: that the response is to the image, not to the man . . . it's not what’s there that counts, it's what’s projected.”(37). In essence he's stating that the image perceive by the voter is whats most important, only making the necessary makeover all the more valuable. It is stated in the book numerous times about the image needing to be tweaked on television. Although not mentioned in the book, there was poll showing that those who listened to the first