Date of Award

5-1937

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Earl H. Huth

Abstract

With the decidedly marked interest shown in the Presidential ·campaign of 1936, the purpose of this thesis is to study more closely the attitude of the dailies in Wisconsin toward the two major parties -- Democratic and Republican -- through a survey of the editorial pages of each of these newspapers.

There is little question that the election of a president during the 1936 campaign carried considerable weight in the face of the unprecedented publicity that has followed the Democratic administration which began during one of the most severe of depression years--1932. With the outset of the campaigning activities of each party, newspapers throughout the country were not slow in lining up with the "New Deal" or criticizing it through editorial comment.

In addition to studying the editorial attitude of each of these Wisconsin dailies, this thesis has as its main purpose the computation of the number .of inches that were devoted to presidential campaigns. The space given over to other editorials and the subject-matter of each were also considered. Further than the study of specific subject matter also has been the breakdown or the editorials into social, economic and political classifications.

While, Wisconsin cannot be s aid to be indicative of the trend throughout the country with regard to newspaper editorials, it is the hope of this thesis to lay the foundation for a more thorough study that will, during some campaign, cover enough newspapers in a representative group of states to definitely mark the nation-wide newspaper attitude toward a presidential campaign.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Journalism, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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