The Selling of the President 1968

The Selling of the President 1968 takes readers inside Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, focusing on the television marketing and image-making strategies that shaped his bid for the White House. Author Joe McGinniss gained unprecedented access to Nixon's campaign staff and advertising team, including future media consultant Roger Ailes. The book documents the creation of Nixon's television advertisements and media appearances, revealing the techniques used to present him to voters through the relatively new medium of TV. McGinniss wrote the account when he was just 26 years old, after being granted full access as a White House staff reporter. McGinniss captured the day-to-day operations of the campaign's television efforts, from strategy meetings to filming sessions, showing how Nixon's team crafted his public persona. The book became an immediate success upon its 1969 release, spending 31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The text presents an early examination of the intersection between television, marketing, and presidential politics, exploring how image-making and controlled messaging became central to modern political campaigns.

Readers describe this as an eye-opening look at how Nixon's team crafted his television image during the 1968 campaign. Many note the book's relevance to modern political marketing and media manipulation. Liked: - Behind-the-scenes access to campaign meetings and strategy sessions - Clear explanation of how TV changed political campaigns - Fast-paced, journalistic writing style - Details about specific TV ads and staging decisions Disliked: - Some readers found it dated and obvious by today's standards - Limited focus on other aspects of the campaign beyond TV - Anti-Nixon bias in the writing tone - Occasional meandering narrative structure Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (2,100+ ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (125+ ratings) Common reader comment: "Shows how political marketing was born - techniques described here are still used today" Critical comment: "Interesting historical document but lacks depth beyond television aspects" - Goodreads reviewer

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1. The book was written when Joe McGinniss was just 26 years old, making him one of the youngest authors to pen a major political bestseller that reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. 2. Roger Ailes, who appears prominently in the book as Nixon's media consultant, later went on to become the founding CEO of Fox News Channel and transformed cable news broadcasting. 3. McGinniss gained access to the Nixon campaign after initially pitching the story to Hubert Humphrey's team, who turned him down - a decision they would later regret. 4. The book's title is a play on Theodore H. White's influential series "The Making of the President," but deliberately uses "Selling" to emphasize the marketing aspects of modern campaigns. 5. After the book's publication, Nixon's team was so upset by the revelations that they created an unofficial "enemies list" of journalists, with McGinniss near the top, and the president never granted him another interview.