In his book Between Meals (1959), A.J. Liebling opined:
The standard of perfection for vodka (no color, no taste, no smell) was expounded to me long ago by the then Estonian consul-general in New York, and it accounts perfectly for the drink’s rising popularity with those who like their alcohol in conjunction with the reassuring tastes of infancy—tomato juice, orange juice, chicken broth. It is the ideal intoxicant for the drinker who wants no reminder of how hurt Mother would be if she knew what he was doing.
Victorino Matus traces how America went from "a brown-spirits nation" to the vodka-swilling one we find ourselves in today, with the help of Absolut advertising and product placement:
Dr. No serves Agent 007 a vodka martini, famously “shaken, not stirred,” and the vodka
of preference is Smirnoff. It’s a strange way to make the cocktail, according to Jason Wilson, drinks columnist for the Washington Post: “A martini should always be stirred,” he writes. “That’s the only way you can achieve that silky smooth texture and dry martini clearness . . . a shaken martini is a weaker drink.” And don’t get him started on vodka substituting for gin: “There simply is no such thing as a vodka martini. The martini is certainly more of a broad concept than a specific recipe, but the one constant must be gin and vermouth. Beyond correctness, vodka and vermouth is just a terrible match.” Nevertheless, the drink caught on, and by 1967, vodka had overtaken gin as the most popular white spirit in America.
The Dish 