American Notes: Feeling Unloved

For months, the Chrysler Corp. has been peddling its Dodges with a series of television ads in which a paunchy, cigar-chomping sheriff tells a Dodge dealer: "You in a heap o' trouble, boy!" Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Robert Chiaramonte was not amused. He wrote to Chrysler complaining that the ads "portray the police officer in a most objectionable manner and tend to weaken the court process of America." Getting no immediate answer, Chiaramonte began exploring ways to halt the state's purchase of Plymouth patrol cars, also manufactured by Chrysler. Suddenly the...