‘Daisy Girl’ ad creator dies

The so-called "daisy ad," made for Lyndon B. Johnson's presidential campaign in 1964.

The AJC's Political Insider reports:

The man behind the “Daisy Girl” ad that did so much damage to Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election is dead.

According to The New York Times:

Of the thousands of television and radio advertisements on which Mr. [Tony] Schwartz worked, none is as well known, or as controversial, as one that was broadcast exactly once: the so-called “daisy ad,” made for Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign in 1964.

[T]he minute-long spot . . . showed a little girl in a meadow (in reality a Manhattan park), counting aloud as she plucks the petals from a daisy. Her voice dissolves into a man’s voice counting downward, followed by the image of an atomic blast. President Johnson’s voice is heard on the soundtrack:

“These are the stakes. To make a world in which all of God’s children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die.”

Though the name of Johnson’s opponent, Senator Barry M. Goldwater, was never mentioned, Goldwater’s campaign objected strenuously to the ad. So did many members of the public, Republicans and Democrats alike. The spot was pulled from the air after a single commercial showing, but it had done its work: with its dire implications about Goldwater and nuclear responsibility, the daisy ad was generally credited with contributing to Johnson’s victory at the polls in November. It was also credited with heralding the start of ferociously negative political advertising in the United States.

This is the link to the ad from YouTube.