The American Museum of the Moving Image has an excellent online exhibit on the history of political advertising. I especially liked there section on “fear” which includes Bush’s 2004 ad from Florida attacking Kerry for (purportedly) voting against military funding. Here is the introductory text from the section on “fear”, which starts with Johnson’s “daisy” ad:
Fear is a powerful emotion, and instilling fear of the opponent can be a way of gaining support for a candidate. This is easy to do in an election in which the opposing candidate is relatively unknown and untested in the national arena. The most famous example is the “daisy” ad, which used the power of suggestion to imply that Barry Goldwater might lead the world to nuclear destruction. Goldwater’s infamous statement at the Republican convention that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” helped to lend credence to such concerns.
