I Like Ike
One of the most famous ad slogans of all time was created for our 34th President of the United States, Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower. From his distinguished Military career as the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, to the Military Governor in Germany, and Army Chief of Staff encompassing World War II, to his Presidency of the prestigious Ivy League Columbia University, and his position as the NATO Supreme Commander, Eisenhower was the last person to be elected President without holding any prior political office before our current President was elected.
One of his most important acts during his presidency has a correlation to the issues we face today in Harrisburg but on a grander scale. Because of the issues he encountered observing the Army’s 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy, which transported Army vehicles coast to coast, and seeing the benefits of the German Autobahn during World War II, in 1956 he signed the bill that authorized the Interstate Highway System. His initial goal was to improve the logistics of moving military convoys from coast to coast but realized that an Interstate Highway System would not only benefit military operations, but provide a measure of continued economic growth for the U.S. Anyone who has traveled Route 49 in Harrisburg during rush hour can appreciate the need for an efficient highway system.
While JFK is given most of the credit for ultimately landing a man on the moon, it was Eisenhower who launched a national campaign to fund space exploration and in 1958 created NASA as a civilian space agency. Although he later regretted the amount of money being spent trying to put a man on the moon, it was his initiative that ultimately placed Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon in 1969.
Eisenhower was also an early Civil Rights leader. Ten years before Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a Dream” speech, in Ike’s first State of the Union address in 1953, he said “I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces". In overruling the Secretary of the Navy, who objected to desegregation, Eisenhower stated “We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second-class citizens in this country."
For these and other reasons, I admire the work that Ike did in trying to improve our country and for the initiatives that he started that impact us even today. This is what inspired me to use a likeness of his campaign slogan and to bring to light some of the accomplishments of our 34th President that many people might not have known about.
Dwight Eisenhower's musical ad during the 1952 presidential race changed the nature of political campaigns. The era of televised campaigns was born.
A Madison Avenue ad executive convinced Eisenhower that a campaign spot during a popular TV program like "I Love Lucy" would be a more efficient and cost-effective way to communicate to the mass of voters than the half-hour long presidential speeches that were standard practice at the time.
The song in the ad uses a catchy tune to stress Eisenhower's name, repeating "Ike for President," and "I like Ike" several times.