The plot revolves around the political turmoil after the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963. In the novel, a fictitious charismatic character, John Thatch, an engineer, is seeking nomination for the Republican Party candidate at 1964 presidential elections. He is described as being contaminated with the "political virus". A handful of political professionals are promoting his nomination, in confrontation with the Party establishment. There exist apparent parallels between Thatch and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a write-in hero at New Hampshire primary.
The novel criticizes the socio-political effects on society at large from the use of computers to run massive simulations, which predict the public reaction to certain (proposed) political moves before implementing them. Such simulations make it easy to manipulate the public consciousness.
The "480" in the title denotes the number of groups (by party affiliation, socioeconomic status, location, origin, etc.) that the computer simulation uses to classify the American electorate. The full list of these is reproduced in the Appendix, claimed by the author to be the true list used by the Simulmatics Corporation (real name) in Senator John F. Kennedy's Presidential campaign in 1960. The cover features an IBM 5081 punched card.
The Simulmatics Corporation was created by MIT Professor Ithiel de Sola Pool, who provided a non-fiction backup to "The 480" in "Candidates, Issues, and Strategies: A Computer Simulation of the 1960 Presidential Election," MIT Press, 1964 (with co-authors Robert P. Abelson and Samuel L. Popkin). They built their model from 130,000 archived interviews in Gallup and Roper polls over a ten-year period. Based on its output, they advised Kennedy that he would benefit from a strong civil rights stand and that he had nothing to lose, and much to gain, by attacking religious bigotry and dealing frankly with his Catholicism.
The 480 has been cited as prefiguring the effect of modern social media and data gathering on politics.[2]
Referencesedit
^"If Computers Called the Tune; THE 480. By Eugene Burdick. 313 pp. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Campany. $5". The New York Times. 1964-06-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
^Dionne Jr., E. J. "Opinion | Yes, we should be outraged about Facebook". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
February 15, 2024
this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, march, 2020, learn, when, r. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The 480 news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The 480 is a political fiction novel by Eugene Burdick 1964 1 The 480First edition cover with image of a punched cardAuthorEugene BurdickCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenrePolitical fictionPublisherMcGraw HillPublication date1964Media typePrint hardback amp paperback Pages313 pp hardback The plot revolves around the political turmoil after the John F Kennedy assassination in 1963 In the novel a fictitious charismatic character John Thatch an engineer is seeking nomination for the Republican Party candidate at 1964 presidential elections He is described as being contaminated with the political virus A handful of political professionals are promoting his nomination in confrontation with the Party establishment There exist apparent parallels between Thatch and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr a write in hero at New Hampshire primary The novel criticizes the socio political effects on society at large from the use of computers to run massive simulations which predict the public reaction to certain proposed political moves before implementing them Such simulations make it easy to manipulate the public consciousness The 480 in the title denotes the number of groups by party affiliation socioeconomic status location origin etc that the computer simulation uses to classify the American electorate The full list of these is reproduced in the Appendix claimed by the author to be the true list used by the Simulmatics Corporation real name in Senator John F Kennedy s Presidential campaign in 1960 The cover features an IBM 5081 punched card The Simulmatics Corporation was created by MIT Professor Ithiel de Sola Pool who provided a non fiction backup to The 480 in Candidates Issues and Strategies A Computer Simulation of the 1960 Presidential Election MIT Press 1964 with co authors Robert P Abelson and Samuel L Popkin They built their model from 130 000 archived interviews in Gallup and Roper polls over a ten year period Based on its output they advised Kennedy that he would benefit from a strong civil rights stand and that he had nothing to lose and much to gain by attacking religious bigotry and dealing frankly with his Catholicism The 480 has been cited as prefiguring the effect of modern social media and data gathering on politics 2 References edit If Computers Called the Tune THE 480 By Eugene Burdick 313 pp New York McGraw Hill Book Campany 5 The New York Times 1964 06 28 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2020 03 26 Dionne Jr E J Opinion Yes we should be outraged about Facebook Washington Post Retrieved 2020 03 26 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The 480 amp oldid 1178135377, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
