Clinton Campaign Reprises Anti-Goldwater Ad From 1964

And calls Trump a “threat to humanity.”

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On the eve of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has released a new web ad harkening back to an iconic political ad from the 1960s—it even stars the same actor.

The new ad is designed as a sequel to a famous ad from the 1964 election between President Lyndon Johnson and conservative Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater. During that race, the Democratic National Committee released an ad titled “Confessions of a Republican,” in which a GOP voter, played by actor Bill Bogert (who was also a registered Republican), explains why, as a lifelong Republican, he is planning to vote against Goldwater.

In the original ad, Bogert sits in a chair and talks directly to the camera. “This man scares me,” he says. “So many men with strange ideas are working for Goldwater.” At the end of the ad, he says, “I think my party made a bad mistake in San Francisco”—the site of the ’64 GOP convention—”and I’m going to have to vote against that mistake in November.”

The Clinton campaign’s new ad features Bogert delivering the same message. “This man scares me,” Bogert says. “Trump says we need unpredictability when it comes to using nuclear weapons…When a man says that, he sounds a lot like a threat to humanity.” Bogert ends this ad on the same note he ended the last one. He says, “I think the party is about to make a terrible mistake in Cleveland and I’m going to have to vote against that mistake on the 8th of November.”

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate