Ronald G. Shafer was an editor, reporter, and columnist at the Wall Street Journal for thirty-eight years, based in Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, DC, where he was the political features editor. In 1990 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. He has also contributed to People, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, and the Washington Post. His books include Carnival Campaign, and When the Dodgers were Bridegrooms. Shafer is now a freelance writer and lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.
The Carnival Campaign tells the fascinating story of the pivotal 1840 presidential campaign of General William Henry Harrison and John Tyler—“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” Pulitzer Prize–nominated former Wall Street Journal reporter Ronald Shafer relates in a colorful, entertaining style how the campaign marked a series of “firsts” that changed politicking forever: the first campaign as mass entertainment; the first “image campaign,” in which strategists portrayed Harrison as a poor man living in a log cabin sipping hard cider (he lived in a mansion and drank only sweet cider); the first time big money was a factor; the first time women could openly participate; and more. While today’s electorate has come to view campaigns that emphasize style over substance as a matter of course, this book shows voters how it all began.
