On a Monday night in September 1964, television viewers watched a little girl counting petals on a flower. Her voice gave way to a man counting down, and then a nuclear blast filled the screen.
The ad ran as a paid spot only once, in support of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s reelection campaign. It never mentioned his opponent, republican Barry Goldwater. The ad played on a fear voters already held, that Goldwater might start a nuclear war. Republicans protested loudly, Democrats pulled the spot, and the uproar got it rebroadcast in full on network news.
