'Ike for President' 1952 ad

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As Britain's Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 70 years on the throne in June 2022, we take a look back through this ad at another important event going on across 'the pond' - the US presidential elections - in the year she was crowned, 1952. This cartoon-style, one-minute campaign with its catchy little jingle transports us back to another time in advertising terms as well as socio-political ones. Does it all seem more innocent? Dwight D. Eisenhower had served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, becoming a five-star General of the Army; less well-known is that after the war, he served as the first Supreme Commander of the recently formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), whose European and North American countries committed to defend each other against attack by third parties. Popularly known as 'Ike', Eisenhower won the elections and went on to win a second term as president of the United States of America. In his farewell address in 1961, he made further history by issuing a warning about the rising power of the 'military-industrial complex', defined as the relationship between the armed forces and the corporations that manufacture and supply their weapons. In 2022, the term is generally understood to include governments.

Keywords: Ike for President 1952, Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II, Dwight Eisenhower, classic commercials, political ads, US presidential election 1952