Anthony Schwartz (August 19, 1923 – June 15, 2008) was an American sound archivist,

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

er, pioneering

media theorist Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

, and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

creator. Known as the "wizard of sound", he is perhaps best known for his role in creating the controversial " Daisy" television advertisement for the 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson campaign.

Life and career

Considered a guru of the newly emerging "electronic media" by

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

, Schwartz ushered in a new age of media study in the 1970s. His works anticipated the end of the print-based media age and pointed to a new electronic age of mass media. Born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Schwartz was raised there briefly before his family moved to

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...

. At 16, he went blind for about six months. He had previously been interested in

ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

, and the incident focused him more on sound as did his lifelong

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can in ...

. He earned a degree in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

from the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

and worked as a civilian artist for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He later earned honorary degrees from

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

, and

Stonehill College Stonehill College is a Private college, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of Holy Cross and is located on ...

. Schwartz began recording ambient sounds, spoken word, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

,Freeman, Ira Henry (September 2, 1953). About New York; Collectors: of City Sounds, Magicians' Props, Dolls of Stars, Antique Apothecary Jars. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' releasing many albums on

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

.Briggs, John (February 15, 1953). Sidewalks of N. Y.; West-Side Kids at Play Heard in Own Songs. ''

''Shelton, Robert (April 12, 1959). New York on Tape; A young New Yorker with a recorder limns the city in its variety of sound. ''

'' One of his albums, ''New York Taxi Driver'', was among the first 100 recordings inducted into the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

. From 1945 to 1976, Schwartz produced and hosted "Around New York" on

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

. He transitioned into advertising work in 1958 when approached by

Johnson and Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

about creating ads for the company's baby powder products based on his previous work recording children. His resulting work is often credited as the first use of children's real voices in radio commercials as specially trained adults had always done such voice work in the past. Briefly specializing in advertising using children, he soon broadened into general advertising, creating ads for such clients as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

, and

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. Schwartz subsequently shifted his advertising work toward political campaigns. While continuing to create product ads, he created thousands of political ads for such candidates as

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 pres ...

, and

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...

. He also worked on the soundtrack for the 1973 Oscar-winning animated short ''

Frank Film ''Frank Film'' is a 1973 American animated short film by Frank Mouris. The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1996. Summary It is a compilation of images co-creator Frank Mo ...

''. In a final transition in his career, he turned his energies toward social-awareness advertising which he was familiar with having created the first anti-smoking commercials for radio and television early in his career. In the 1980s, he resumed these efforts, creating many anti-smoking commercials as well as media work for such causes as

fire prevention Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions which should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires and how to survive these fires in the event that they do o ...

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

awareness, educational funding, and

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear ...

. In 2007, Schwartz's entire body of work from 1947 to 1999, including

field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...

s and commercials, was acquired by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.Fox, Margalit (June 17, 2008)
Tony Schwartz, Father of ‘Daisy Ad’ for the Johnson Campaign, Dies at 84
''

'' Schwartz's wife, Reenah Lurie Schwartz, often worked closely with him on scriptwriting. They were married in 1959 and had two children: Michaela Schwartz-Burridge and jazz saxophonist,

Anton Schwartz Anton Schwartz (born July 16, 1967) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer based in Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California. Biography Anton Schwartz was born and raised in New York City, the son of Tony Schwartz, the audio documenta ...

. Tony Schwartz is famous for saying, "The best thing about radio is that people were born without earlids. You can't close your ears to it." Schwartz was inducted into the Political Consultants Hall of Fame at the

American Association of Political Consultants The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) is the trade group for the political consulting profession in the United States. Founded in 1969, it is the world's largest organization of political consultants, public affairs professio ...

(AAPC) in the year 2000. Former Schwartz student

Joe Slade White Joe Slade White (March 8, 1950 - May 5, 2021) was a Democratic political strategist and media consultant. On April 4, 2014 White was named "National Democratic Strategist of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants. White ...

produced the tribute video.

Discography

*''1, 2, 3 and a Zing Zing Zing'' (

, 1953) *''New York 19'' (Folkways, 1954) *''Millions of Musicians'' (Folkways, 1954) *''Nueva York: A Tape Documentary of Puerto Rican New Yorkers'' (Folkways, 1955) *''Exchange: Friendship Around The World Through Tape Exchange'' (Folkways, 1955) *''Sounds of My City: The Stories, Music and Sounds of the People of New York'' (Folkways, 1956) *''Music In The Streets'' (Folkways, 1957) *''Sound Effects, Volume One, City Sounds'' (Folkways, 1958) *''The World In My Mail Box'' (Folkways, 1958) *''An Actual Story in Sound of a Dog's Life'' (Folkways, 1958) *''The New York Taxi Driver'' (with

Dwight Weist Dwight Weist, Jr. (January 16, 1910 - July 16, 1991) was an actor and announcer in the era of old-time radio. Early years The son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight W. Weist, he was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He ...

, 1959) *''You're Stepping On My Shadow'' (Folkways, 1962) *''The Sound of the Family of Man'' (1965) *''Standing Here At The Present Time: A Sound Portrait of New York City'' (1965) *''The Educated Eye – II'' (1966)

Bibliography

*
The Responsive Chord
' (1973, 2017) *
Media: The Second God
' (1982)

References

External links

www.TonySchwartz.org
at the Library of Congress

from the Schwartz Collection
Tony Schwartz Albums at Smithsonian Folkways
Records
Adweek Article on Tony SchwartzCONELRAD's definitive history of the Daisy ad
*
Audio Samples
a
The WNYC Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Tony 1923 births 2008 deaths People from Manhattan Pratt Institute alumni American archivists American folklorists American folk-song collectors Mass media theorists New York (state) Democrats 20th-century American musicians