The technology that changed elections forever

What is the most important technology in the history of politics?

Born on the battlefield and evolved at a pivotal moment in American history, the walkie-talkie lookie changed the way Americans viewed politicians. Literal. In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson faced off in the U.S. presidential election, and the walkie-talkie lookie helped beam the candidates into the homes of millions of voters for the first time.

Just before the conventions in the June 1952 issue Popular sciencewrote reporter Gardner Soule that the new “walkie-talkie-lookie” would make it possible to “chase a presidential candidate or a representative to his bathroom door.” Soule also noted that this technology and the ability to track a subject anywhere was “a thought that startled almost anyone, let alone the average politician.”

The walkie-talkie lookie was technologically astonishing: it had three lenses that could be rotated for different purposes, while an army of traditional TV cameras also fed images to mobile trucks that could edit and transmit news footage in an hour. Modern live news was born.

Soule wrote that this level of exposure could lead to “more thoughtful voting and better selection,” concluding that “television may prove to be one of the greatest tools for self-government ever developed.” William McAndrew, who was in charge of NBC’s TV coverage, got even more direct to the point: “The viewer will either think a congressional party is businesslike and efficient, or he will think it is a bunch of clowns and he will vote for the other way.”

In the end, one candidate took seriously the potential impact of television on the election, while the other went out of his way to emphasize that he did not watch television or even own a television. You probably know which one prevailed in a landslide victory.

Our latest video from the Popular science YouTube channel explains how if you wanted to divide all of global politics into two eras – pre-1952 and post-1952 – you probably wouldn’t be wrong. Watch the full video to learn more and subscribe for more lessons in forgotten engineering history.