The election year was 1988 and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis had won the Democratic nomination over a number of challengers (including a much younger Joe Biden). Ronald Reagan and the Republicans had dominated the 1980s and one of their key messages was absolute military strength, constantly portraying Democrats as weak on defense. 1988 candidate George HW Bush was a World War II hero and Dukakis was a liberal Democrat who’d opposed many of the expensive weapon systems in the bloated Pentagon budget.

To counteract this weak on defense perception, someone thought it would be a good idea for Dukakis to visit a tank factory, so on September 13 Dukakis did a photo-op at a General Dynamics facility where he strapped on military gear and a helmet to take a ride around in a tank.

Photos and video of the scene did get out, and the Bush campaign made a devastating attack ad. 

What sunk Dukakis in this ad was not the voiceover listing all of the defense systems, but rather the impish grin on Dukakis’ face as he rode around.  This incident in addition to a few other missteps by Dukakis led to a big defeat in the 1988 election, as Dukakis only won 10 states after having a huge 17 point lead earlier.

This is the first in a series of presidential election moments in our history that appear in SwingState.

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