Karabell’s “The Last Campaign” & Crouse’s “The Boys on the Bus”

 

At the time, the 1948 presidential campaign must have seemed like an involved, complicated process.  And I’m sure it was.  By today’s standards, and even those of the 1972 presidential campaign, 1948 seems like a much simpler time in terms of political reporting.

In 1948, President Truman stated, “One way of life is based upon the will of the majority and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government… The second way of life is based upon the will of the minority forcibly imposed upon the majority.” After the civil rights movement was well under way, the blatant communism and racist overtones in the southern US and among members of the DNC in 1948 would not last in later elections.

The election of 1948 began the era of more expensive means of reaching mass audiences.   Candidates were finding that campaigns take money, and lots of it.  The costs associated with radio, newspaper, direct mail make a candidate reliant on outside financing.  But American politics have almost always been characterized by money and influence – 1948 was no exception.  Differing from later years, Karabell notes that 1948 “was a time when what was said publicly by elected officials and statesmen was respected.”  But the media grew skeptical over the years as did the public’s apprehension to believe what politicians said as gospel truth.

One of the key differences in the election process, and how news outlets covered the process, was the how the roles of presidential primaries and conventions changed over the years.  In 1948, primaries were a way to get a candidate’s name known, but the nomination was decided at the convention. The people may have selected a president, but the party bosses established the options.

After 1968, a significant change brought about by television was the shift away from nominating conventions and toward a primary system.  Before television, an angry or divisive convention was only seen by the attendees.  When television became a major campaign medium, conventions were projected into every living room. And by 1972, the idea of a small group of men determining the presidential candidates seemed to violate the spirit of democracy.  To avoid that, parties stripped their conventions of most of their nominating functions.  Now candidates would win delegates in the primaries, and the delegates would be bound to vote for that candidate at the convention.  As Karabell writes, “Today conventions don’t nominate, they coronate.”

According to Karabell, “watching the conventions of 1948 was much like watching C-SPAN coverage of debates in Congress in the 1990s.” The 1948 election brought about the beginning of a new era in politics.  Backroom politics and hidden conventions were over.  Newsreels were becoming a thing of the past, and, by 1972, televised election coverage dominated the nightly news.  Television also brought about unintended negatives for candidates who appeared stiff or unphotogenic, thus adding another layer to the politician’s façade.  Newscasts and the public in general are unforgiving of a politician who looks either “too political” or “not political enough.” While Dewey lost the 1948 election, he helped set the tone for candidates in the future.  Voters and commentators said that Dewey never appeared real to them when he was televised.

There was a soon-to-be outdated philosophy at play in 1948 that didn’t live much past that year.  Advisors believed that “the man ahead early was certain to be the man ahead late,” and that the outcome of an election was determined before Labor Day of the election year.  In later years, the public would see televised images of politicians campaigning until polls close in some locations.

Another factor that contributed to later elections due to the immediacy of the media was political accountability.  Karabell notes that, “The fact that Truman knew he was speaking almost exclusively to the audience at hand gave him wide latitude in what he would say and how he could say it.” Television later kept politicians in check.  But in 1948, Truman was rarely covered by television or radio, so he effectively said what he wanted.  Politicians in later years would not be afforded this luxury.  By the 1972 election, reporters were on the trail with candidates 100 percent of the time. Unheard of in 1948, the reporters covering the 1972 election were given access to pressrooms, telephones, news conferences in the Oval Office, and information that was coincidentally leaked to reporters.  Whereas in 1948 it would normally take weeks before the impact of a campaign stop was felt, reporters in 1972 transmitted stories via Western Union to their home office.  Information direct from the campaign trail reached readers and voters faster than ever before.

By 1972 there was still a semblance of pack journalism, but the political reporters had authority and influence and were looking for ways to distinguish themselves from the pack. Veteran reporters had traditionally been spoon-fed stories from the campaign trail as no network wanted to deviate too far from the others.  However, the new generation of college educated reporters who took their place were different – unafraid to ask questions and theorize about political processes.  It was during this time that politicians began to have very little privacy.

Prior to the 1972 election, but after the 1948 election, reporters began holding more private, intimate meetings with politicians.  Information was not attributable to the particular politician, but it was nonetheless useful.  At this point, network political correspondents were not yet taken as seriously as print journalists, but they were well on their way.  Regardless though, Crouse notes, “If the press had ever been more powerful than in 1972, nobody could remember when.”