Liking Ike: Eisenhower, Advertising, and the Rise of Celebrity Politics

305 Pages·2016·9.87 MB·English

by  David Haven Blake

Liking Ike

Liking Ike
Eisenhower, Advertising, and the Rise
of Celebrity Politics
David Haven Blake
1
1
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For my mother and father

So sometimes, to get your story across, you gotta work a different
angle or two, use a few tricks, zap it up with a bit of spectacle— I mean,
what’s spectacle? it’s a kind of vision, am I right?
—R obert Coover, The Public Burning

{ Contents }
Preface  xi
Introduction: Eisenhower, Televised and Memorialized  1
1. Ike Day  16
2. Riding the Roosevelt Special  38
3. The Coriolanus Candidate  54
4. The Spectacle Campaign  81
5. Corn Flakes 102
6. Madly for Adlai  129
7. The Biggest Fan in the World  151
8. Happy Birthday, Mr. President  173
Conclusion: The Glamour Republic  197
Abbreviations  213
Notes  215
Index  265