President Obama's re-election campaign is releasing a video Thursday that looks back on the accomplishments of his first term. The documentary-style film, directed by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim and narrated by actor Tom Hanks, is likely go viral, but such video tributes are far from new in presidential politics.

 

In 1952, a war hero named Eisenhower was running for president; his campaign decided it needed to reintroduce the former general to the American public. The film, with its grainy World War II footage and its shouting newsreel announcer, is really where the presidential biographical film got its start — at the dawn of the golden age of American television.

Since then every nominee, and many who didn't get that far, has done some kind of biographical documentary-style film. Most of these films have come and gone, and created little buzz.