During the 1964 presidential election race, Lyndon B. Johnson suggested that his campaign team air an ad alleging that an opponent had once had sexual relations with a donkey. An advisor pointed out the claim was untrue. "I know it's not true," Johnson replied, "but I want to hear him deny it!"

[While the donkey ad was never run, Johnson did manage to air the first negative election ad in television history. In 1968, he ran a notorious ad showing a little girl picking a daisy, followed by a nuclear mushroom cloud -- allegedly showing what life would be like under his moderate opponent, Barry Goldwater.]

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