Confessions of a Republican

"Confessions of a Republican" is a political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 United States presidential election by incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign. Background of creation In the advertisement, a man in his late twenties speaks to the camera about his pride in the Republican Party's past, before admitting that he is frightened by Republican nominee Barry Goldwater. He expresses alarm at Goldwater's contradictory, confrontational political views and support from the Ku Klux Klan (the result of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and says that he is afraid of Goldwater's instability and aggressive approach, and fears that it might lead to a nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. He explains that he believes that the party is making a great mistake, and that he will be voting for Johnson in the election. The four-minute ad was produced by DDB in July 1964. It was a requirement of the casting that actor William Bogert be a Republican. While Bogert was performing a script rather than expressing his own views and is not presented by name, he has described the ad as similar to his own viewpoint and said that he was allowed to improvise somewhat to include his own thoughts on the election. Though less well-remembered than Johnson's "Daisy" ad (also suggesting that Goldwater might start a nuclear war), it ran in the North and was intended to develop fears about Barry Goldwater and his supporters, such as the then head of the Ku Klux Klan.