Europe in American Presidential Advertising in the Years 1952–2012

Abstract

American presidential discourse in audiovisual media mostly revolves around domestic affairs. Admittedly, typically one of the three televised debates is devoted to foreign policy. However, since Dwight D. Eisenhower introduced the television spot in 1952 at the presidential level, this new form of public address has been the main type of political allocution in presidential elections (Jamieson, 1996). A review of literature shows that most academic research on this topic revolves around domestic contexts (Diamond & Bates, 1993). This study, in contrast, explores what, if anything, television and online advertisements from all the presidential elections have said about Europe, and what function both Europe as a whole and individual countries that make part of it, have played in the most pervasive form of US electoral discourse.