TV Debates John F Kennedy ; Kennedy tried to identify himself with the liberal reform tradition of the Democratic party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, promising a new surge of legislative innovation in the sass. ; JEFF hoped to pull together key elements of the Roosevelt coalition of the sass-?urban minorities, ethnic voting blocs, and organized labor.
He also hoped to win back conservative Catholics who had deserted the Democrats to vote for Eisenhower In 1952 and 1956, and to hold his own In the South. John F.Kennedy eloquently confronted the religious Issue In an appearance afore the Greater-Houston Ministerial Association. He said, “l believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President-?should he be Catholic-?how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote. ” But anti-Catholic feeling remained a wild card in the campaign.
; John Fitzgerald Kennedy captured the Democratic nomination despite his youth, a seeming lack of experience In foreign affairs, and his Catholic faith.On May 10, he won a solid victory In the Democratic remarry in overwhelmingly Protestant West Virginia.
His success there launched him toward a first ballot victory at the national convention in Los Angels-?although he did not reach the 761 votes required for the nomination until the final state in the roll call, Wyoming. After choosing Texas senator Lyndon Johnson as his running mate, Kennedy told the convention delegates that he would get the nation moving again. He declared that the united States would have the will and the strength to resist communism around the world. Kennedy then challenged the vice president to a series of televised debates. Many in the Nixon camp, including President Eisenhower, urged the vice president to reject the debate proposal and deny Kennedy invaluable national exposure. But Nixon confidently agreed to share a platform with his rival on nationwide television. In 1950, only 11 percent of American homes had television; by 1960, the number had Jumped to 88 percent.
An estimated seventy million Americans, about two-thirds of the electorate, watched the first debate on September 26th. Age was not the only factor in the election. Kennedy was also Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever been elected President before. AL SMITH, a Catholic, suffered a crushing defeat to HERBERT HOOVER in 1928. This raised serious questions about the eligibility of a Catholic candidate, particularly in the Bible Belt South. Questions were raised about Kennedy’s ability to place national interests above the wishes of his Pope. ; Kennedy addressed a group of Protestant ministers.
He pledged a solid commitment to separation of church and state.Despite his assurances, his faith cost him an estimated 1. 5 million votes in November 1960. ; Kennedy stressed his character, Helped by those in the press who reported stories bout his World War II heroism. While he was serving in the South Pacific aboard the PETTY, a Japanese destroyer rammed his ship and snapped it in two. Kennedy rescued several of his cremates from certain death. Then he swam from island to Kennedy had carved into a coconut to an American naval base.
Courage and character became the major themes of Kennedy’s campaign. Kennedy was from a wealthy background and graduated from Harvard University. ; Kennedy named one of his opponents for the Democratic nomination his Vice-President. Lyndon Johnson was older and much more experienced in the Senate. Johnson was from Texas, an obvious attempt by Kennedy to shore up his potential weaknesses in the South ; . In his inauguration speech, he challenged his fellow Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you -? ask what you can do for your country. ; Proclaiming that the “torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,” Kennedy, young and good-looking, boldly and proudly assumed office with a bravado.
; Kennedy challenged the American people and government to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Congress responded enthusiastically by appropriating billions of dollars for the effort. During Kennedy’s administration ALAN SHEPHERD became the first American to enter space, and JOHN GLENN became the first American to orbit the earth.In 1969, many thought of President Kennedy’s challenge when Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. ; He signed legislation raising the minimum wage and increasing Social Security benefits. He raised money for research into mental illness and allocated funds to develop impoverished rural areas. He showed approval for the civil rights movement by supporting James Meredith attempt to enroll at the University of Mississippi and by ordering his Attorney General, brother Robert Kennedy, to protect the freedom riders in the South.
He wished to protect millions of acres of wilderness lands from developments, but the Congress refused. His efforts to provide federal funds to elementary and secondary schools were denied. His Medicare plan to provide health insurance for the nation’s elderly failed to achieve the necessary support. Congress was dominated by a coalition of Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats who refused to expand the New Deal any further. ; Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Kennedy in November, 1963. His death provided a popular mandate for these important programs.In the tumultuous years that followed, many yearned for the happy Kennedy years -? a return to Camelot ; President Kennedy faced a confident Soviet Union and a sleeping giant in the PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
Fears of communist expansion plagued American foreign policy in places as distant as Vietnam and as close as Cuba. ; Like his predecessors, Kennedy made containment his chief foreign policy goal. Abandoning Dwight Eisenhower heavy reliance on nuclear deterrence, Kennedy expanded defense spending. The United States needed a “FLEXIBLE RESPONSE” capability. One of Kennedy’s most popular foreign policy initiatives was the PEACE CORPS. Led by SERGEANT SHRIVES, this program allowed Americans to volunteer two years of service to a developing nation. Applicants would be placed based upon their particular skill sets.
English teachers would be placed where the learning of the language was needed. Entrepreneurs trained local merchants how to maximize profits. Doctors and nurses were needed anywhere. ;In October 1962, the United States learned that the Soviet Union was about to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba.Kennedy found this unacceptable. He ordered a NAVAL “QUARANTINE” OF CUBA and ordered Soviet leader Nikkei penetrate the American blockade would be met with an immediate military response. The world watched this dangerous game of nuclear chicken unfold.
Finally, Khrushchev acceded to Kennedy’s demands, and the world remained safe from global confrontation. ; The CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS marked the closest the United States and the Soviet Union came to direct confrontation in the entire Cold War. ; On November 22, 1963, a wave of shock and grief swept the United States.While sitting Dallas, President Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullet ; 43-year-old Kennedy lacked Onion’s extensive foreign policy experience and had the disadvantage of being one of the first Catholics to run for president on a major party ticket. ; Richard Nixon Nixon emphasized the record of the Eisenhower years. He pledged to keep the federal government from dominating the free market economy and the lives of the American people. ; The Republican nominee was 47-year-old Vice President Richard M.
Nixon.He pointed to the peace and prosperity of the Eisenhower administration ND assured the voters that he would maintain American prestige, leadership, and military strength. He chose Henry Cabot Lodge, U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as his running mate. Nixon struck many voters as more mature and experienced than Kennedy and led in the polls after the national conventions. ; Nixon decided to leave religious issues out of the campaign and hammer the perception that Kennedy was too inexperienced to sit in the Oval Office.
; Nixon stressed his steadfast commitment to fighting communism.He had made a name for himself as a staunch red-baiter in the post-war era, leading the charge against alleged spy ALGER HISS. Nixon emphasized the importance of his 8 years as Vice- President. The Soviet Union and China were always pressing, and America could ill afford a President who had to learn on the Job. ; Nixon painted himself the average American, growing up poor in California, and working his way through Whittier College. ; Nixon named Massachusetts SENATOR HENRY CABOT LODGE as his running mate to attack Kennedy in his region of greatest strength. Many analysts suggest that the decisive battle in the campaign was waged during the televised Presidential debates.
Kennedy arrived for the debates well-tanned and well-rested from Florida, while Nixon was recovering from a knee injury he suffered in a tiresome whistle-stop campaign. The Democrat was extremely telekinetic and comfortable before the camera. The Republican was nervous, sweated profusely under the hot lights, and could not seem to find a makeup artist that could hide his five o’clock shadow. Nixon, by contrast, had spent nearly eight years as the country second- in-command after an illustrious career in Congress during which he cast crucial votes on a variety of domestic issues, became one of global communism’s most outspoken artists and helped expose Alger Hiss’ alleged espionage attempt-all by the age of 39 Both candidates sought the support of the steadily growing suburban population, and for the first time, television became the dominant source of information for voters ; John F.Kennedy was elected president in one of the closest elections in U. S. History.
In the popular vote, his margin over Nixon was 118,550 out of a total of nearly 69 million votes cast. His success in many urban and industrial states gave him a clear majority of 303 to 219 in the electoral vote. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the ingest man ever elected president, the only Catholic, and the first president born in the twentieth century. Radio listeners of the first debate narrowly awarded Nixon a victory, while the larger television audience believed Kennedy won by a wide margin. When the votes were tallied in November, Kennedy earned 49. 7% of the popular vote to Onion’s 49. 5%.
Kennedy polled only about 100,000 more votes than Nixon out of over 68 million votes cast. The electoral college awarded the election to Kennedy by a 303-219 margin, despite Nixon winning more states than Kennedy. ; The U. S. Residential election of 1960 came at a decisive time in American history.The country was engaged in a heated Cold War with the Soviet Union, which had Just taken the lead in the space race by launching the Sputnik satellite ; They both ran for the presidency 1960 election Polls revealed that more than half of all voters had been influenced by the Great Debates, while 6 percent claimed that the debates alone had decided their choice. ; This was the first televised election and was also on radio and many people had differing opinions on who had one the election.
; Jeff was said to have won the election and all of the presidency
