Eisenhower got a smaller TV audience than "I Love Lucy" did the night before for Lucy's baby

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Moving to world of 1950s sitcoms -- Eisenhower got a smaller TV audience (29 million viewers) for his first inauguration, today 1953, than "I Love Lucy” did the night before for the arrival of Lucy’s baby (44 million):

Link to tweet

[rzemanfl]

1. The last decent Republican President. Or maybe I just think that because

I was an impressionable little kid.

[DURHAM D]

2. My family, like much of the country,

did not have a tv because we did not yet have any tv stations within 150 miles.

[arlyellowdog]

3. My Eisenhower memory

My extremely Democratic Mom had 8 kids. I remember her yelling at my Republican father when he came home from work, “That clod, Eisenhower, interrupted the Mickey Mouse Club, the only peace I have all day.”

[LeftInTX]

4. TV reception wasn't the best and most Americans knew they could listen to Eisenhower on the radio

Or read about it in their local paper, the latest editions of Time and Life. Or even watch it on newsreels??

However, Lucy was entertainment which they could not find anywhere else.

I just think TV was "too new" and Americans couldn't get excited about mixing politics with TV. And when you think about it, an inauguration was really not a very exciting event. (At least back then, no drama was involved: Old president leaves, new president sworn in, new president gives speech, parades and balls were probably not on televised at the time)

Also during the day, it was mostly housewives who were the viewing audience.