In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson, no angel himself, ran a campaign ad that forever changed the national landscape for political ads.
Senator Barry Goldwater, his opponent, had set himself up for the ad in the typical right wing fashion, making threats and promising that if he were president, he would up consider using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam.
Two years before we had narrowly adverted a possible nuclear war with the then Soviet Union over nuclear the removal of such missiles in Cuba.
Palpable Fears of Nuclear War
It is widely believed that in 1962 that during the Cuban Missile Crisis President Kennedy was under pressure by our military to use nuclear weapons. It was rumored that Robert Kennedy was told there was not enough room in shelters for his large family. In any case his brother John cut a deal with the Russians and removed, secretly, our own nukes from Turkey as they removed theirs from Cuba.
I personally lived through this period as a freshman in High School and was old enough to be terrified about what might happen. There were few if any crisis’ in American history that were followed and feared as much.
We hadn’t seen them since the mid-50s, but some schools had “what to do if there’s nuclear war” drills. The entire country was in an uproar. Another rumor that came out was that a high ranking Pentagon official recommended nuclear war to Kennedy, exclaiming that “we’d only lose about 20 million people.”
“We joked in school to cover our fears, saying that the only drill they should hold is “How to bend over and kiss your ass good by.”
While the linked video above was only aired once in 1964, it created a national storm and was shown repeatedly on the national media news. The country was terrified, and rightly so, of a nuclear war.
Goldwater had been running an extreme right wing campaign, although Trump’s campaign, by comparison, is exponentially more extreme.
Are Trump and Vance Competent to Posses the Codes?
Trump has bragged about his extremism and promised revenge on his adversaries and has amply demonstrated his deteriorating mental health and stability. Everyday Trump shows his growing dementia or incompetence, from thinking Hannibal Lector was a real person to his love fests with Putin and North Korea.
I’m frankly surprised that the competence of both Trump and Vance to posses our nuclear codes has not yet been publicly questioned. Let’s give all those fascist leaning billionaires and misled MAGA folks something to think about, as well as the rest of the potential voters. We’ve become a bit complacent and desensitized to nuclear war, but it still hangs over humanity’s head 24/7. We just try not to think about it.
Johnson Wins in a Landslide
President Johnson was widely criticized for his ad against Goldwater, so much so that he won a landslide victory over him! Now I’m not saying to run exactly the same kind of ad. It can be said in more subtle ways but make the same points.
Americans still fear nuclear war. One is still is possible. In the same way a deranged serial killer was able to shoot 500 people from a Las Vegas high rise, so could sometime defeat security and one day launch a nuclear weapon, starting a chain reaction.
A Reality Check
The public would benefit by being reminded of the consequences of giving someone like Trump or Vance the nuclear codes. A reality check of sorts, equivalent to a slap in the face, to bring us back to the reality we live under.
What do you think? Leave a comment if desired.
Period Movie which is highly recommended:Dr. Strangelove. 1964
Notation on the Poll: The exact language or method of raising the competency issue regarding the nuclear codes would of course be up to the campaign if they ever become interested in the idea and not based on the way President Johnson raised it.