Hrag Vartanian

The Museum of Moving Image has done one of the most amazing online things any museum in its position could do, they’ve archived a complete list of U.S. Presidential commercials for your viewing pleasure. The site is titled THE LIVING ROOM CANDIDATE and includes commercials by various third-party candidates.

Beginning with 1952, the site lists some shocking doozies, including the following infamous clips that help swing elections:

• “Never Had It So Good“–a 1954 ad by Eisenhower that has a black man asking the GOPer “The Democrats are telling me I never had it so good?”…kind of surreal to watch it;
• “Peace Little Girl (Daisy)“–a 1964 ad by Johnson showing Goldwater as an extremist;
• “Laughter“–a commercial from the 1968 campaign that ridiculed Nixon’s pick of the unknown Spiro Agnew…the funny thing is that Obama could easily run the same ad today for McCain’s Palin pick;
• “Prouder, Stronger, Better“–Reagan’s 1984 ad against Mondale that asked Americans if the country wasn’t better than four years ago;
• “The Revolving Door“– Bush I’s notorious Willie Horton ad that killed Dukakis’ run for the White House in 1988
• “Windsurfing“–Bush II’s 2004 ad of Kerry windsurfing to relay to notion that the Massachusetts Democrat went any and every way the wind blew.