The political podcast of the Washington Post offered a new example of how presidential campaigns have changed over the course of American history. 

Political scientist Ben Ginsberg told his interviewer about the “unofficial rule” for candidates.  The people running for president “should be seen and not heard.”  In those days, “candidates actually avoided the spotlight”, he said.

Ginsberg said Andrew Johnson was “the first president to actually make speeches to the nation on a regular basis.”  Ginsberg told the Post Congress used that against Johnson in the articles of impeachment because, he said, opponents felt his speechifying “was illegal.”

The professor noted some of the reforms that changed the perception of a candidate’s public appearances.  And, he offered Teddy Roosevelt as an example of an old-time candidate who would have done very well in today’s style of campaigning.

The podcast also suggests Fred Thompson might have been a better candidate in the old days.