Pointer, Ross Perot, 1992
date: label: date made
content: 1992
label: used date
content: 1992
name: label: user
content: Perot, H. Ross
notes: label: Description
content: This fake alligator foot-topped pointer was used by Texas entrepreneur Ross Perot, an independent candidate in the presidential race of 1992. Perot is credited with delivering the 1st presidential campaign infomercials. From early October to just a day before the election, Perot bought several primetime slots to air 30 to 60 minute programs on the 3 major television networks. Most of these featured him sitting at a desk speaking directly to the American people. Because he believed “America needs more than six-second answers,” Perot relied heavily on physical charts and graphs, the first presidential candidate to do so. During two of his infomercials, he pointed at his visual aids with what he called his “voodoo stick” with a fake alligator claw. (Perot’s nickname for this pointer was a bit of a play on words. George Bush had coined the phrase “voodoo economics” more than a decade earlier. Perot said it was appropriate because the country was in “deep voodoo”). Although he didn’t win, Perot received almost 19% of the popular vote, making him the most successful non-major party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Political Campaigns
label: related event
content: Presidential Campaign of 1992
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Campaign Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0109.01
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0109.01
label: accession number
content: 1993.0109
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Pointer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plant fiber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 in; 45.72 cm