The First Attack Ads on the Screen: Courtesy Irving Thalberg!

The months-long uproar over negative campaign ads, from both the Romney and Obama camps, and for their "non-affiliated" PACs, has reached a climax this week.  But it may surprise most people to learn that the first attack ads on the screen date back well before TVs were in nay homes.  Yes, it happened in 1934, starting 78 years ago this week, with faux newsreels produced by MGM's saintly Irving Thalberg to defeat the Democratic nominee for governor of California--none other than ex-socialist writer Upton Sinclair, as detailed in my book "The Campaign of the Century" and in brief video below: