The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982. Reagan's 525 electoral votes (out of 538) is the highest total ever received by a presidential candidate. The Reagan campaign was very skilled at producing effective television advertising. Two of the more memorable ads it produced were commonly known as "Bear in the woods" and "Morning in America". At a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, Reagan said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire, New Jersey's Bruce Springsteen." The Reagan campaign briefly used "Born in the U.S.A.", a song criticizing the treatment of Vietnam War veterans (which they mistakenly thought was devoid of anti-war content), as a campaign song, without permission, until Springsteen, a lifelong Democrat, insisted that they stop.
Morning in America (television)
With lush images of Americans buying houses, raising flags, washing cars, going to work, and playing in their yards, with swelling music in a montage style, Ronald Reagan ads presented an upbeat image of "Morning in America." Morning in America is the common name of an effective political campaign television commercial formally titled "Prouder, Stronger, Better" and featuring the opening line "Its morning again in America." The ads were designed to evoke emotion rather than thought or understanding. That’s the most powerful part of advertising. It stays with people longer and better. The Reagan campaign produced several ads to defuse Mondale’s main attacks. It made use of optimistic narration that suggested the improvements to the U.S. economy and asked voters why they would want... [continues]