Page 80 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

TELEVISION
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JFK AND
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—that to secure these Rights, Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.
If the consent of the governed is required, then the governed must be informed,
and that can happen only if there is political communication.
Another significant factor in the evolution of political communication in this
country was the election of 1800, in which Jefferson defeated incumbent pres-
ident John Adams. The main issue was the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, and
Jefferson's victory meant that the oppressive act would not be renewed.
Jefferson is also remembered for saying, "Were it left to me to decide whether
we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a
government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Yet after he
became president, Jefferson was often critical of the press, and those comments
are often noted. What is overlooked is that in his later years after he had left
the presidency, he was supportive of the press. It also needs to be recognized
that while he was president, Jefferson endured a great deal of abuse from the
partisan press of that era. It was a press committed to political ends much more
than to truth.
SOURCE: Leonard Levy, ed., Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson, 1967.
Guido H. Stempel III
JFK AND TELEVISION. In 1950, only 4.4 million American families owned
a television set. By 1960, 40 million American families owned one. In a single
decade the medium of television had exploded into a dimension shaping the
American mind that rivaled America's schools and churches. John F. Kennedy
became the first American president to take advantage of, and benefit from,
almost every aspect television had to offer. The indisputable power of the me-
dium was realized on September 26, 1960, when Kennedy and Richard Nixon
engaged in what became the event of the campaign—the first presidential debate.
It left no doubt about television's ability to create a political star's image over-
night. Kennedy appeared fresh and relaxed. Nixon was made up poorly for the
cameras. Reaction shots showed him sweating, biting his lip, wiping his fore-
head. Seventy-five million Americans watched the debate, and others listened
on radio. The Gallup Poll found that 43 percent thought Kennedy had done a
better job, while 23 percent thought Nixon had done a better job. Kennedy, who
had trailed Nixon in a Gallup Poll two weeks earlier, moved ahead of Nixon in
the poll done right after the first debate. Yet, one study showed that people who
heard the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. Televising the debate
thus did no service to the substance of the debate, but it did affect images.
Kennedy continued to use television effectively throughout his presidency.
He was the first president to have live televised press conferences, and no pres-
ident who followed him used them as effectively. At the time of the Bay of
Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, he used television
to speak directly and forcefully to the American people. From televised speeches
to tours of the White House, Kennedy and television were friends because they