David Haven Blake

Well . . . not exactly, but on the eve of its publication, Marshal Zeringue invited me to “dreamcast” a Liking Ike film for his terrific site Campaign for the American Reader.

From the post:

Liking Ike centers on the personalities who helped promote Dwight Eisenhower’s campaigns for the presidency and his own ambivalence about the new worlds of television, advertising, and celebrity. The story lies in the remarkable set of characters, which makes casting especially fun.

Dwight Eisenhower – A general so conflicted about politics that he wants to be drafted to the Republican nomination rather than enter the race himself. Wary of the publicity machine and celebrities who campaign on his behalf, he nonetheless adjusts to the expectations of his Madison Avenue advisers. Intoxicated by the magical power of television, they boast that they want to “merchandise” Ike’s warm smile and personality.  My pick . . . Ed Harris

Continued at My Book, the Movie:

The Eisenhower Memorial Commission has recently released its latest “Pivotal Moment,” part of the E-memorial that will be included in its four-acre urban park at the base of Capitol Hill.  Titled “Winning the Presidency,” this seven-minute documentary is narrated by Tom Brokaw and features some excellent footage from the 1952 campaign.  I was delighted to see this image from the “midnight rally” held at Madison Square Garden at the height of the Draft Eisenhower movement.  With Ike in Paris serving as Supreme Commander of NATO, the organizers turned to Stars! Stars! Stars! for political excitement.  Among the glamorous attendees were Clark Gable, Ethel Merman, Irving Berlin, Humphrey Bogart, and Lauren Bacall.  You can see “Winning the Presidency” and learn all about the work of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission at their website. For more on the rally (and to learn how Bogie and Bacall eventually rescinded their support for Eisenhower and backed his opponent, Adlai Stevenson), check out Liking Ike.

Thanks to The National Memo for selecting an excerpt from my new book, Liking Ike, for its Weekend Reader. From the introduction:

A reality star is now a major party presidential candidate, but it turns out, celebrity politics are not a new thing.

In Liking Ike, author David Haven Blake explores the crucial and often overlooked role that celebrities and advertising agencies had in Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency. Even by today’s standards, many Americans will be surprised to learn that celebrities of the time were a constant presence in political strategies, and particularly in Eisenhower’s campaigns.

Using original interviews and archival material, Blake explains how Madison Avenue executives used celebrities as tools in politics as the age of Television began.

 Continued at The National Memo

The astounding success of Hamilton, its capacity to engage audiences from third graders to the president and first lady, reminds us that Broadway musicals have a healthy tradition of mining political history. From 1776 to Evita, songwriters have been fascinated by political power. What drives people to become leaders?  How do they rally supporters around them? What reservations do they have about their failures and successes? From costumes to choreography to the musical score, Broadway storytellers have amazing tools at their disposal, but as Lin-Manuel Miranda might agree, nothing attracts an audience like a tale of scrappy ambition carved out of the past.

Irving Berlin’s Call Me Madam stands the traditional partnership between politics and musical theater on its head. Although based on real life events, the musical played a special role in the making of American history. Long before Dwight Eisenhower had joined a political party, let alone agreed to run for office, Call Me Madam was advocating for an Eisenhower presidency, and evidence suggests that Berlin’s musical significantly contributed to his election. –

Continued at Oxford University Press blog

“See, life and the real stuff of life aren’t always the same thing, Warden — like, one don’t always give you the other, you follow? So sometimes, to get your story across, you gotta work a different angle or two, use a few tricks, zap it up with a bit of spectacle — I mean, what’s spectacle? it’s a kind of vision, am I right?” — the character Cecil B. DeMille in Robert Coover’s novel The Public Burning