Walt Disney's 1950s television adaptation of the Davy Crockett legend catapulted the coonskin-capped frontiersman into a national role model who has had an enduring appeal for both academic historians and popular culture producers and their audiences through the end of the twentieth century. The marketing frenzy surrounding the Crockett fad represented the first real mass-marketing campaign in American history, promoting a new way of marketing films and television shows. Many baby boomers can still recite the lyrics to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and have passed down their treasured items, such as Crockett lunch boxes, to their children.

One of the legendary American heroes whose stories dramatize American cultural values for a wide popular audience, the historical David Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, near Limestone, Tennessee. He went from a local folk hero to national media hero during his lifetime when the Whig party adopted him...