Once again, political mudslinging and false campaign ads threaten to take center stage in the final weeks before Election Day in November. This is nothing new, but thanks to television networks, streaming services and the internet, these ads are now more influential than ever. But the first attack ads to hit the screen predated these mediums by many years. Their creator was not an advertising pro but a revered Hollywood producer.
In 1934, in the depths of the Depression, Upton Sinclair — author of “The Jungle” and a world famous socialist — ran for governor of California, leading a mass movement called End Poverty in California. Sinclair, then living in Pasadena, shocked the political world by sweeping the Democratic primary. Republicans in the state, led by party chief Earl Warren, and conservative Democrats responded by introducing fundraising, advertising and public relations techniques that would come to dominate elections in America. The principal decision, from which all else flowed, was that politics was too important to be left to the political parties.
Some may be surprised to learn, given Hollywood’s liberal reputation of today, that back then studio moguls were overwhelmingly conservative. They promised to move their operations to Florida if Sinclair was elected. Screenwriters, such as Joseph L. Mankiewicz, penned anti-Sinclair radio dramas. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, docked each of his employees, including top stars, one day’s pay as “donations” to Sinclair’s opponent, Gov. Frank Merriam. Most of the other studio chiefs followed suit.
