The Duck of Minerva

Children shouldn’t have Strontium 90

by Jon Western

28 July 2010, 1810 EDT

The Washington Post calls this one of the ten worst campaign attack ads of all time (ranked 2nd behind Daisy Girl). Hmmm, I actually thought it made a good point — and certainly summed up Goldwater’s views on international treaties and arms control. I thought the line “they can make you die” was a nice touch. I guess the ice cream cone might have been a bit over the top….

Still, it was Goldwater who gave us this classic during his acceptance speech at the 1964 Republican Convention…:

…that helped spawn the modern “conservative” movement of today (ranked 7th by the Post):

I’ve begun collecting political ads for a course I co-teach on Propaganda and War and welcome any recommendations.

Jon Western has spent the last fifteen years teaching IR in liberal arts colleges at Mount Holyoke College and the Five Colleges in western Massachusetts. He has an eclectic range of intellectual interests but often writes on international security, U.S. foreign policy, military intervention, and human rights. He occasionally shares his thoughts about professional life in liberal arts colleges. In his spare time he coaches middle school soccer, mentors the local high school robotics team, skis, and sails.

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