Trust (advertisement)

Last updated
"Trust"
Client George H.W. Bush 1992 presidential campaign
LanguageEnglish
Running time30 seconds
Release date(s)March 12, 1992 (1992-03-12)
CountryUnited States

Trust was a political commercial aired preceding the 1992 United States presidential election, during the Republican presidential primaries, in support of the re-election campaign of President George H. W. Bush. The 30-second TV spot attacked conservative columnist Pat Buchanan, who was challenging Bush for the Republican nomination, for owning a foreign-produced Mercedes-Benz and for criticizing his American-made vehicles while speaking in favor of American manufacturing.

Contents

The ad was aired in Michigan, targeting autoworkers in the state who were worried about outsourcing ahead of the state's March 17 presidential primary. Its release coincided with the release of a Buchanan ad criticizing Bush for his advisors' ties to Japanese automakers. Buchanan ultimately lost the Michigan primary by a large margin, receiving just under 25 percent of the vote to Bush's 67 percent. Commentators blamed Buchanan's margin of loss in part on his social conservatism. With Bush's victory, his renomination by the Republican Party was all but ensured.

Background

During the 1992 presidential election campaign, incumbent president George H.W. Bush (above) sought the Republican nomination for re-election. Joe Coors Jr., President George Bush Sr, Alvin Trivelpiece, Lamar Alexander, and Jimmy Quillen Oak Ridge (6960488198) (cropped).jpg
During the 1992 presidential election campaign, incumbent president George H.W. Bush (above) sought the Republican nomination for re-election.

During the 1992 presidential election cycle, incumbent President George H.W. Bush faced a primary challenge from conservative commentator Pat Buchanan; the primary campaign was characterized as negative and "ferocious". [1] Early on in the campaign, Buchanan's campaign ads attacked Bush for his broken "Read my lips: no new taxes" promise from the 1988 election; following his unexpectedly strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, he also began targeting Bush on social issues, billing himself as the candidate of social conservatives in campaign ads aired before the Georgia primary. [1] In February 1992, Bush aired a commercial in which a former Marine officer criticized Buchanan as an isolationist; in response, Buchanan drew attention to the trade deficit and intoned in a radio spot that Bush was a "trade wimp". [1] When the campaign progressed to the Michigan primary, Buchanan opted to create a commercial that drew attention to outsourcing in the context of the state's struggling auto industry and high unemployment rate. [2] Bush opted to do the same, and for his ad enlisted Alex Castellanos, Don Sipple, and Mike Murphy. [3]

Summary

The 30-second spot opens with a narrator stating, "The issue: Michigan jobs. Pat Buchanan tells us America first". [3] The ad goes on to criticize Buchanan for owning a German-made Mercedes-Benz, and quotes the candidate as calling the American-made Cadillacs which he had driven "lemons" by comparison. [3] The ad concludes with the statement that "It’s America first in his political speeches but a foreign-made car in his driveway. Michigan has too much at stake to trust Pat Buchanan". [3] The ad's imagery includes a photo of the candidate beside a newspaper with the headline "Buchanan says put America first", a photo of a closed Detroit auto plant, and an image in which Buchanan's face is superimposed onto a Mercedes logo. [2] [3]

Release

The ad premiered in Michigan on the evening of Thursday, March 12. [2] Its release coincided with that of a Buchanan ad critical of Bush, seeking to tie his administration to foreign car manufacturers; it contended that Charles Black and James Lake, two of Bush's senior advisors, "work for foreign auto concerns", and concluded "No wonder Michigan has lost 73,000 jobs". [2]

Reaction

Interpretation

It was noted that the Bush campaign appeared to have the goal of angering autoworkers in Michigan, where the ad aired, with Buchanan's comments on his American-made Cadillacs, and more generally to paint Buchanan as a hypocrite for supporting an "America first" trade policy while owning a foreign car. [3] The issue of outsourcing was regarded as particularly salient in the state, given that it had an unemployment rate of over nine percent. [2] In The Crusader: The Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat Buchanan, biographer Timothy Stanley noted that in the state, "owning a foreign car was tantamount to treason". [4] Fact-checking the commercial, the Associated Press confirmed that Buchanan had, earlier in the campaign, admitted to having bought a Mercedes and called his Cadillacs "lemons". [3] The New York Times suggested that the ad was also intended to counter criticism of Bush's recent visit to Japan. [5]

Candidate response

When questioned about the ad's claims, Buchanan responded that the Mercedes belonged to his wife, not to him, and that they both drove it. [3] He told local reporters that he had bought the car for his wife three years prior, on her request. [2] He elaborated that he had purchased the vehicle in part because it had two front-seat airbags and his wife was worried about his safety driving home from his appearances on Crossfire . [5] During a campaign stop in Holland, Michigan, Buchanan made a joke about the issue, when he introduced his wife quipping that she "has a used Mercedes to sell if anyone is interested". [4]

In statements to the press, Bush's campaign emphasized that his vehicles were American-made: in a statement to the New York Times, Barbara Bush's press secretary said that both of the couple's trucks at their Maine estate were made in America. The paper further observed that the president's limousine, helicopter, and jet were all made in the United States. [5]

Primary result

Buchanan ultimately lost in a landslide to Bush in the state primary, receiving 24.96 percent of the vote (112,122 ballots) to Bush's 67.23 percent (301,948 ballots). [6] The result was attributed to many factors apart from Bush's attack ad, among them Buchanan's underperformance among union workers, owing in part to the unions' resistance to his socially conservative positions. [4] With the result, Bush was regarded as having clinched re-nomination; in the March 20, 1992, issue of the Michigan Election Watch newsletter, Craig Ruff concluded that Bush's margin of victory "effectively knocks Buchanan out of the race" and that from then on, Buchanan, like Democratic presidential candidate Jerry Brown, could "assume only Quixotic roles" in their respective primaries. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 United States presidential election</span> 53rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton defeated former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, and Ross Perot, the Reform Party nominee and 1992 Independent presidential candidate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States presidential election</span> 52nd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush and independent businessman Ross Perot of Texas. The election marked the end of a period of Republican dominance in American presidential politics that began in 1968, and also marked the end of 12 years of Republican rule of the White House, as well as the end of the Greatest Generation's 32-year American rule and the beginning of the baby boomers' 28-year dominance until 2020. It was the last time the incumbent president failed to win a second term until 2020, when Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden; it was the first such occurrence since 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1988 United States presidential election</span> 51st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. This was the first election since 1968 in which an incumbent president was not on the ballot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Buchanan</span> American politician and commentator

Patrick Joseph Buchanan is an American paleoconservative author, political commentator, and politician. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He is an influential figure in the modern paleoconservative movement in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reform Party of the United States of America</span> American political party

The Reform Party of the United States of America (RPUSA), generally known as the Reform Party USA or the Reform Party, is a centrist political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign</span> Presidential campaign

The 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, was formally launched on June 14, 1999 as Governor Bush, the eldest son of former President George H. W. Bush, announced his intention to seek the Republican Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 2000 presidential election.

In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement designed to wage a personal attack against an opposing candidate or political party in order to gain support for the attacking candidate and attract voters. Attack ads often form part of negative campaigning or smear campaigns, and in large or well-financed campaigns, may be disseminated via mass media.

"Read my lips: no new taxes" is a phrase spoken by American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination on August 18. Written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, the line was the most prominent sound bite from the speech. The pledge not to tax the American people further had been a consistent part of Bush's 1988 election platform, and its prominent inclusion in his speech cemented it in the public consciousness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolving Door (advertisement)</span> Campaign ad

"Revolving Door" was a famous negative television commercial made for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush's campaign during the 1988 United States presidential election. Along with the Willie Horton commercial, it is considered to have been a major factor in Bush's defeat of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. The ad was produced by political consultant Roger Ailes with help from Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater, and first aired on October 5, 1988. "Revolving door syndrome" is a term used in criminology to refer to recidivism; however, in the ad, the implication is that prison sentences were of an inconsequential length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Republican Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of Republican US presidential candidate

Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia between February 18 to June 9, 1992. These elections were designed to select the 2,277 delegates to send to the national convention in Houston, Texas from August 17 to August 20, 1992, who selected the Republican Party's nominee for president in the 1992 United States presidential election, incumbent president George H. W. Bush. The delegates also approved the party platform and vice-presidential nominee. Bush went on to lose the general election to the Democratic nominee, Governor Bill Clinton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 Republican Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of Republican US presidential candidate

From January 29 to June 4, 1996, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1996 United States presidential election. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the former Senate majority leader, was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1996 Republican National Convention held from August 12 to 15, 1996, in San Diego, California; Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996 once he became the presumptive nominee to concentrate on his presidential campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Carolina presidential primary</span> Selection of presidential candidates

The South Carolina presidential primary is an open primary election which has become one of several key early-state presidential primaries in the process of the Democratic and Republican Parties choosing their respective general election nominees for President of the United States. South Carolina has cemented its place as the "First in the South" primary for both parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of Pat Buchanan</span>

This is the electoral history of Pat Buchanan. Buchanan served as an advisor to three United States presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He then became a conservative columnist and co-hosted Crossfire, a political program on CNN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Buchanan 2000 presidential campaign</span> United States presidential campaign

The 2000 presidential campaign of Pat Buchanan, conservative pundit and adviser to both President Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, was formally launched on March 2, 1999, as Buchanan announced his intention to seek the Republican Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 2000 presidential election. It marked Buchanan's third primary campaign for the presidency, following his bids in 1992 and 1996. Although he had not attained the nomination either time, he had been regarded as a consequential figure within the party. Early primary surveys found Buchanan polling in the single digits, and following the publication of his book A Republic, Not an Empire, which generally advocated for noninterventionist and "America first" foreign policy, some within the Republican Party condemned Buchanan's foreign policy views. There began to be speculation that Buchanan would leave the Republican Party in favor of the Reform Party, a third party which qualified for matching federal campaign funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States elections</span>

The 1992 United States elections elected state governors, the President of the United States, and members of the 103rd United States Congress. The election took place after the Soviet Union crumbled and the Cold War ended, as well as the redistricting that resulted from the 1990 Census. Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent President George H. W. Bush and businessman Ross Perot in the presidential election. The Democratic Party maintained their control of both chambers of Congress. This is the first Democratic trifecta since the Republican victory in the 1980 elections and the last one during the 20th century and the last one overall until 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign</span>

New York real estate magnate Donald Trump announced the creation of a presidential exploratory committee on the October 7, 1999, edition of Larry King Live on CNN. Although Trump had never held elected office, he was well known for his frequent comments on public affairs and business exploits as head of The Trump Organization. He had previously considered a presidential run in 1988 as a Republican, but chose not to run. For 2000, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura persuaded Trump to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, which was fracturing despite achieving ballot access and qualifying for matching funds as a result of businessman Ross Perot's 1996 presidential campaign on the party's ticket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. W. Bush 1988 presidential campaign</span> 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush

The 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush, the 43rd vice president of the United States under President Ronald Reagan, began when he announced he was running for the Republican Party's nomination in the 1988 U.S. presidential election on October 13, 1987. Bush won the 1988 election against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis on November 8, 1988. He was subsequently inaugurated as president on January 20, 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Reagan 1984 presidential campaign</span>

President Ronald Reagan authorized the formation of his 1984 reelection campaign committee, Reagan-Bush '84, on October 17, 1983. He made the formal announcement of his candidacy for re-election on January 29, 1984. On August 23, 1984, he secured the nomination of the Republican Party at its convention in Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated Vice President George H. W. Bush as his running mate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meatballs (advertisement)</span> 2000 US presidential election campaign political commercial

Meatballs was a political commercial aired during the 2000 United States presidential campaign in support of Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. The commercial, which was created by Houston-based agency Love Advertising, depicts a white man choking on a meatball while attempting to dial 9-1-1, but keeling over before the automated menu reaches the option for English. The ad highlighted Buchanan's support for making English the official language of the United States and his opposition to immigration policies of the time. Some analyses questioned the accuracy of the ad's claim that Buchanan's opponents were "writing off English for good".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. W. Bush 1992 presidential campaign</span> 1992 presidential campaign of President George H. W. Bush

The 1992 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush was an unsuccessful re-election campaign for 1992 United States presidential election by incumbent president George H. W. Bush, who had taken office on January 20, 1989. Bush and incumbent vice president Dan Quayle were defeated by Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Al Gore. Bush, a Republican president and former vice president under Ronald Reagan, launched his presidential bid on October 11, 1991 and secured nomination for his re-election on August 20, 1992. He was challenged in the Republican primaries by former White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan, who received less than one percent of the delegates in the Convention.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Daley, Steve (February 28, 1992). "Stung by Bush Ad, Buchanan Gets Ferocious". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jehl, Douglas; Fulwood III, Sam (March 13, 1992). "Ads Shift to Impact of Foreign-Built Cars: GOP: Bush scores Buchanan for owning a Mercedes-Benz. The challenger says the President's aides have ties to Japanese concerns". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "New Bush Ad Attacks Buchanan's Mercedes". Associated Press. March 14, 1992. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Stanley, Timothy (February 14, 2012). The Crusader: The Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat Buchanan. New York: St. Martin’s. p. 193. ISBN   978-1429941280 . Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Rosenthal, Andrew (March 13, 1992). "The 1992 Campaign: White House; Bush Ad Says Buchanan's Car Shows He's for America Last". New York Times. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  6. Federal Elections 92: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives (PDF). Washington, DC: Federal Election Commission. June 1993. p. 107. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  7. Ruff, Craig (March 20, 1992). "Michigan's Presidential Primary" (PDF). Michigan Election Watch. Lansing, Michigan: Public Sector Consultants: 1–2. Retrieved March 11, 2021.