‘protected speech’ under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The networks are obliged to broadcast every political commercial submitted to them, however dishonest. In 1964, Johnson’s commercials disparaged Senator Goldwater with a cynical dishonesty which would never be tolerated in commercials for toothpaste. They gave voters to understand that Goldwater was an irresponsible, trigger-happy ogre who would start nuclear wars at the drop of a hat. Johnson was presented as a dove of peace. What had happened was this. Goldwater, one of the most decent men in public life, had been asked by an interviewer to differentiate between the reliability and the accuracy of guided missiles. He had replied that they were accurate enough ‘to lob one into the men’s room at the Kremlin’. And he had told another interviewer that it would be possible to destroy the forests in North Vietnam by using low-yield atomic weapons. These were no more than theoretical answers to speculative questions. Goldwater did not recommend the use of atomic weapons, and Johnson knew this perfectly well. In 1964, Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign was effectively scuppered by unscrupulous commercials put out by his opponent, Lyndon Johnson.