The Selling of the President [Paperback]

Joe McGinniss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1988

McGinniss examines the repackaging of Richard Nixon by the men--Roger Ailes, now working on the George Bush campaign, and Frank Shakespeare--who first suggested that issues bore voters and that image is what counts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 2, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140112405
• ISBN-13: 978-0140112405
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Beginning to Show Its Age, May 16, 2000

By 

John B. Maggiore (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Selling of the President (Paperback)

This is the book that catapulted Joe McGinniss to nearly icon-status at the age of 25 in 1969. At the time, it was a shockingly revealing book at how presidential candidate Richard Nixon was being sold - gasp - like a product. The original book jacket featured Nixon's face on a pack of cigarettes, as if the notion of Madison Avenue ad-men playing a pivotal role in a presidential campaign was dirty.

The book became such a classic that it remains assigned reading in many government classes to this day. But it is no longer shocking. Today, the practices described actually seem backward. Rather than a jarring warning about how campaigns are trading issue discussions for staged events, it today might be read as an out-of-date how to book. The discerning reader should not make this mistake. Instead, try to feel the original sentiment, the innocent expectations the book assumes of the reader.

There are two interesting aspects of this book that are ancillary to the main point. The one is the appearance of political figures, like Pat Buchanan and Roger Ailes, who would go on to other things and remain well known today. The most interesting such example is none other than George Bush (the dad), who is profiled as a mere Congressional candidate, epitomizing the "modern" type of candidate who is "an extremely likable person" but is hazy on the issues. Bush's successful campaign featured "no issues" not even when his opponent asked Bush "if he would favor negotiations...to end the Vietnamese war" (see pages 44-45). The point was that Bush, who wasn't especially well-known, was a vapid product rather than a substantive candidate (some things change, some stay the same).

The other interesting thing is what happened to McGinniss. You won't read this in the book, but after it was published, McGinniss became a star at a very young age for a while. After the lecture tour, he didn't know what to do as a follow-up, so he started writing a book which eventually was published as "Heroes." After skewering Nixon, presumably the arch-typical villain of McGinniss's political worldview, he wanted to find somebody who inspired him. Predictably, he didn't. But "Heroes" is as much a self-revelatory story about the author's self-disappointment as it actually is about the political subjects of the book. He ends by speculating that only Ted Kennedy came close to heroic status, and that Kennedy would be the subject of his next book. He wasn't. Instead, McGinnis started writing true crime books, many of which were successful. Finally, in 1993 McGinnis came out with "The Last Brother" about Kennedy's fall from hero-status. The book ends in 1969, the year of Chappaquiddick, but also the year "The Selling of the President" was published. As a book about Ted Kennedy, whose career is more interesting after 1969, "The Last Brother" falls far short. As a metaphor about a young man whose career peaked too early (McGinnis), the book is fascinating.

"The Selling of the President" is McGinnis' best, most meaningful book. It stands on its own, and, despite showing considerable signs of age, still stands the test of time. For more updated information on presidential propaganda, read "Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine" by Howard Kurtz, or the excellent "On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency," which itself deserves to be considered a classic. Interestingly, these books discuss presidencies that take what McGinnis is describing, the selling of the presidency, beyond the campaign trail and directly into the White House. Today the "permanent campaign" does not stop selling.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McGinnis' Trailblazing Look at TV Age Image Crafting., April 26, 2000

By 

Aaron W. - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Selling of the President (Paperback)

This book is fun and breezy, and is a great companion piece to all those grinding "Making of the President 19--" books. McGinnis shows us the repackaging and rebranding of Richard Nixon into "The New Nixon." The original cover shows Nixon's face on a pack of cigarettes, because the campaign is all about the wholesale mass marketing of a product -- "New" and improved. The sales job is done largely with the help of Roger Ailes, then producer of The Mike Douglas Show. TV ads are shot with endless takes while Nixon stands before an audience and answers planted questions. When Nixon growls or mumbles to himself or snaps "Goddammit!" Ailes yells cut and they try again. Nixon and his production team had learned a big lesson from the five o'clock shadow, shifty eyed debates of 1960. Listen to your handlers, wear the darn makeup, look sincere and stick to the script. This book is a great, funny, fast look at the infancy of TV era politics. It's a nice history lesson, and it will add a fresh perspective to your stock of political knowledge. Today our image consultants are like Star Wars to Nixon's Apollo 7. Still, The Selling of The President stands as the best book on the creation of The Political Image.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stealing from Segretti's Playbook, September 3, 2002

By 

Neil Cotiaux (North Canton, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Selling of the President (Paperback)

First off, let's get one thing straight: McGinniss infiltrated the Nixon Campaign, pure and simple. Not exactly what you'd call honorable journalism.

That said, "The Selling of the President" remains the definitive case study of the first sophisticated use of television in American Presidential Politics. Having worked in political public relations for three years, the characterizations and quotes ring completely true. While the public was dismayed by the widening morass in Vietnam, there's no denying the fact that Nixon's very astute use of the tube helped catapult him into the office he ultimately disgraced.

Yes, mass media image-building is now the politician's stock in trade: Willy talking boxers versus briefs, the Veep doing the Macarena, and George The Elder fumbling at the checkout counter.

"The Selling of the President 1968" is written in tough, punchy prose, and chillingly accurate. I'm certain The Founding Fathers would flinch.

Highly recommended as a continuing reality check.