Creator of 1964 ‘Daisy’ Ad Dies

Tony Schwartz, the creator of the infamous 1964 presidential campaign ad “daisy,” died Sunday in Manhattan, according to AP.

Schwartz, who started his career as a graphic designer, made political history with the ad that levied a harsh negative attack on Republican nominee Barry Goldwater without mentioning the Arizona senator’s name.

The ad starts with a young girl counting the peddles she pulls off of a daisy and soon transition to a countdown of a nuclear blast.

After the blast President Lyndon B. Johnson’s voice comes in. “These are the stakes,” Johnson says. “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.”

After Johnson, another voice says “vote for President Johnson November 3, the stakes are too high for you to stay home.”

The ad was pulled, but the message it sent, after months of the Johnson campaign accusing Goldwater of being a war monger, was clear.

Johnson went on to win the election by an overwhelming margin and the spot has been widely credited as the first modern attack ad.