The Fifties - David Halberstam

"'You can't say anything in a fifteen second speech,' [Rosser] Reeves quoted [Harlan] Cleveland as saying. Then Reeves dissented: 'As a man who has been responsible for five hundred millions of dollars' worth of advertising I know more about this than you do.' There was a pause in their conversation; Reeves was sure he had his man now. 'Harlan' he asked. 'Do you remember that old radio speech of Franklin Roosevelt - his first acceptance speech?' Cleveland said he remembered it. 'And the phrase about the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?' Again Cleveland assented. 'Harland,' Reeves said, locking the trap. 'That's a fifteen second spot.' Now he pushed forward. 'Do you remember the speech Churchill gave at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri? What did he say there?' 'That an Iron Curtain had descended on Europe,' Cleveland said. What else did he say? Reeves pushed. Cleveland could not remember. 'That was a fifteen second spot from Churchill,' Reeves said." - The Fifties by David Halberstam