OCR Text |
Show Ike Used Rigged TV Spots Democratic Digest Charges The latest issue of the Democratic Demo-cratic Digest reports that spot commercials used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1952 campaign for election were a type of fixed TV program. The charge came early this week when the Democratic Digest, Di-gest, official Democratic National Na-tional committee magazine, said the Republicans rigged the "Eisenhower "Ei-senhower Answers America" spot commercials during the '52 campaign. Noting the President recently described television quiz rigging as "a terrible thing to do to the American public," the Digest said his own appearances during 1952 had been carefully prepared pre-pared to appear spontaneous. "On a single day in New York the President answered 50 questions ques-tions in front of a television camera. The questions and answers an-swers were all hastily typed in a back room by Rosser Reeves, an adman with the Ted Bates Advertising Agency, then sent to Milton Eisenhower for his approval, then on to Ike, who was sitting in front of cameras. "A week later, people from geographic regions which the spots were intended - to reach were recruited to ask matching questions. These were recorded, filmed and then fitted to the film containing Eisenhower's answers. Slick, eh?" At Augusta, Ga., where the President was vacationing, Acting Act-ing Press Secretary Wayne L. Hawks said," "I won't have any comment on that." The Digest also said the Republicans Re-publicans staged two rigged quiz shows in the 1956 campaign. The magazine added that Richard Rich-ard M. Nixon's 1952 television speech, in which he explained his acceptance of an $18,000.00 office expense fund raised by businessmen, was "rigged so as to provide, in place of the answer, an-swer, an emotional soap opera designed to sell Richard Nixon to Presidential Candidate Eisenhower." Eisen-hower." A spokesman for Nixon said the Vice President would have no comment on the Digest story. |