He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Archie Bunker for President: How One Television Show Remade American Politics, and shared the following:
From page 99:Visit Oscar Winberg's website.In the minds of many television viewers Carroll O’Connor was Archie Bunker, and so the campaign leaned into the conservative angle – intentionally blending the two personas. Media interest in celebrity and entertainment helped. “Archie Bunker,” the press reported, “is casting his vote for McGovern.” An Associated Press headline read “Archie Bunker Backs McGovern.” Associated Press political reporter Walter Mears, one of the most respected journalists on the campaign beat, even highlighted the support of Archie Bunker before that of the former vice president (and McGovern rival in the primaries) Hubert Humphrey. The coverage made it clear that the strategy of presenting O’Connor as a representative of working-class Queens, rather than another embodiment of Hollywood, was working.This Page 99 Test sounded like such a fun and quirky experiment when I first heard about it, and I turned to page 99 in my own book with excitement. Turns out that page 99, part of a chapter titled “Archie Bunker on the Campaign Trail,” is, indeed, a rather good representation of the book.
In television advertisements for McGovern, O’Connor went even further than he had in Lindsay’s ads to present himself in character. Thus, he presented himself as a conservative man for McGovern, not as the lifelong liberal that he actually was. Outtakes from the recording reveal the importance of having the conservative Archie Bunker back McGovern. “Never mind,” O’Connor exclaimed in frustration in the middle of one of the takes when he forgot the most important line. “I got to get the conservative in.” Indeed, in one of the sixty-second ads he recorded, O’Connor described himself as conservative no less than three times, while repeatedly describing the Nixon administration as an example of radicalism.
First, it makes clear that Archie Bunker for President is a work of both media and political history. Second, it references one of my favorite archival finds – the television ads Carroll O’Connor recorded for George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election (I spent over a year looking for these ads and in a leap of faith paid to digitize old reels in an archive without knowing what was actually on them – it paid off!). Third – and best of all – the page engages and argues a key point of my book: that entertainment television became a part of political life because politicians and the political press believed it mattered. On page 99 we see both politicians turning to the stars of the television show All in the Family and the media focusing on the star power of the character of Archie Bunker. This is a story driven by political interests.
Of course, one page alone cannot capture all aspects of Archie Bunker for President and the reader would not, based only on page 99, expect to find chapters on civil rights organizations, the women’s movement, or congressional censorship campaigns. Still, with references to other chapters and sections dealing with the campaigns of President Nixon and John Lindsay, I hope it leaves readers eager to find out more about the role of entertainment television in political life and, as the subtitle of my book suggests, how one television show remade American politics.
--Marshal Zeringue
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