Lot 20
Bush George H. W. 1924 - 0 Fantastic George Bush signed letter precursor to the "Tank Ad" regarding his campaign against Dukakis
Letter written while George Bush was Vice President, White House stationary with the raised gold emblem along the top header. Dated "August 8, 1988", and signed "George Bush". Single page, 6.25" x 8.25" Center fold. Fine condition. From the spectacular, unprecedented collection of Ronald Ellis Wade, with the letter specifically being addressed to him.
An intriguing letter typed and signed by George Bush referencing his Presidential campaign against Michael Dukakis in 1988. He notes "You are absolutely right - ideology, integrity, and values are just as important as competence. Dukakis is not stressing ideals or values because he knows that I and our Party will win if the race is fought on that ground. I assure you it will be"
Little did George Bush know of the opportunity that was about to present to him the following month, that essentially assisted him to clinch the election. A series of highly effective attacks by the Bush team - most notably the famous "Tank Ride" ad kept Republicans in the White House. The "Tank Ad" origination started with poor judgement on the part of the Dukakis campaign in an effort to show Dukakis as competent. And with the purpose of showing him with ideals and values they launched an ad showing him running about in a tank:
"The idea was to try to figure out an angle that would give him some credibility on national security and foreign policy." The angle turned, in pragmatic Dukakis style, on arithmetic and cost savings. "A focal point of the argument," Steinberg says, "was that he was against all these nuclear weapons (this was a direct reference made to the nuclear build up by the Reagan administration), because we didn't need them and it was taking away money from conventional weapons that we did need. Weapons like a tank, for example." (refer to images)
However the Bush campaign seized the moment, and as soon as it aired, they responded by creating one of the most famous ads in political history.
Known as "The Tank ad", the commercial, which was run by Vice President George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign, featured then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis riding around in a tank -- with a helmet on.
The ad effectively portrays Dukakis as feckless on national defense thanks to that lasting image of the governor looking just plain goofy in a helmet. (Never put a candidate in a hat!) It really needs to be seen to be believed. A link to the ad on youtube is below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRPZQ3UEN_Q
Needless to say, Bush won with a huge margin of electoral votes, and the ad has become the stuff of legend in campaign circles! A great letter with outstanding provenance.
Below is an interesting interview from TheHill.com, about Ron Wade and his collection of Presidential memorabilia:
Step into Ronald Wade's office and it's easy to see why he's listed in "Guinness World Records 2015" for the largest collection of U.S. presidential memorabilia - it's really a replica of the Oval Office.
"Actually, they quit counting," Wade says of his immense collection of White House and presidential campaign items, "because I probably have closer to 20,000 or 30,000 items, if not closer to 100,000 - that's with duplication." The official count from the folks behind the famed book puts Wade's collection in chief at 6,960 pieces as of last year.
The lifelong Republican has been racking up "practically anything that has to do with American politics" since he was 10 years old.
"My first memory in life is wearing an 'I Like Ike' button, and I was probably 4 years old. So I've always been interested in politics," Wade, 64, tells ITK.
While much of the public might be disillusioned with warring politicians, Wade - who once served as a White House page for then-President Nixon - says talk of partisan bickering in Washington is overblown: "The friction between parties has been here as long as America has been here."
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