To what extent did televised arguments affect the result of the presidential run during 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon?

Frank Guo
IB Candidate
Word Count: 1. 850

Part A: Plan of Probe
This probe evaluates the extent to which the televised arguments affected the result of the run in 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. In order to measure the impact of the televised arguments. this probe will concentrate on the general public ratings of campaigners both prior. during. and after the Great Debates of 1960. The rating before the arguments will be used to compare to the rating after the arguments in order to find the impact that great arguments had on the 1960 Presidential Election.

The two beginnings selected for rating. The First Modern Campaign Kennedy. Nixon. and the Election of 1960 by Gary A. Donaldson and The Power of Television Debate: The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate Revisited by James N Druckman. Both of these beginnings will be evaluated for their beginnings. intents. restrictions. and values.

Part B: Summary of Evidence

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born into a affluent Catholic household in Massachusetts. His male parent. Joseph P. Kennedy. had been a outstanding American investor. concern adult male. and authorities functionary. Kennedy made legion recognizable plants during his old ages in Harvard Law School that subsequently helped him in going the Senator of Massachusetts in 1955. Additionally. he served in the U. S. Navy during World War II and played football while in college. He married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953 and subsequently had two kids. When he was running for president in 1960 as the Democratic campaigner. he was recognized by the populace as an jock. rational. war hero. household adult male. and passionate broad. At 43. Kennedy was the youngest and merely Catholic campaigner to of all time run for President. He relied on a broad slogan of “moving again” and used an estimation of $ 1. 5- $ 2. 5 million on his runs.

Meanwhile. being born into a hapless family. Richard Nixon had an first-class record at Whittier College and Duke University Law School. After functioning as a Navy Lieutenant commanding officer in 1940 he was elected to congress in 1950. Nixon finally became the Vice President of the United States under Dwight Eisenhower from 1953-1961. and by so he had been in the public eyes for 8 old ages. Like many Americans. Nixon thought John F. Kennedy was inexperienced. and he felt confident that he can utilize his anterior Television experiences and debating accomplishments against Kennedy and “sucker punch” him out of the run. Nixon besides had a batch of support outside his ain party. A canvass suggested that Nixon could acquire about 90 percent support from his ain party. 20 per centum from Democrats. and over 50 per centum on mugwumps. Using his popularity that he gained during his many trips around American under President Eisenhower’s orders. he easy became the Republican campaigner particularly after his toughest challenger ; Nelson Rockefeller. had declined to run for president.

During the first argument between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. 70 million viewing audiences tuned into CBS to watch the first of all time televised argument. Kennedy had a whole squad of assistants and looked like a “movie star” with his bronzed tegument and black suit. Meanwhile. Nixon prepped entirely and had late merely recovered from a knee hurt. he was have oning Grey suit which matched the background of the set. His face was swollen and yet he declined make-up because he thought it wouldn’t be good for his public image to have on make-up while Kennedy wasn’t. The consequence of his visual aspect was atrocious. “Nixon expression like decease. while Kennedy was bronzed attractively. ” said the president of CBS. Frank Stanton.

In the 2nd argument nevertheless. Nixon came back good prepared. he spoke good against Kennedy. and argument was seen as a draw between the two campaigners. On the 3rd argument. Nixon attacked Kennedy on being excessively soft against communism. He spoke confidently and straight to the Americans who were listening and watching the arguments. he was seen as the clear victor. Finally. the 4th argument was marked as a triumph for Kennedy. who stimulated his audience with his “getting America to travel again” slogan.

During the presidential election. John F. Kennedy won bulk ballots in most Eastern States. while Nixon gained most of his ballots in the Western States. Kennedy won by. 16 % popular ballots with 34. 220. 984 to Nixon’s 34. 108. 157 popular ballots ; entire difference of 112. 827 ballots. On the other manus. in Electoral Votes. Kennedy leads with 303 ballots to Nixon’s 219 ballots. After Kennedy won election. the state seemed to be split in half ; with half the state prefering Nixon and the other favoring Kennedy. Part C: Evaluation of Beginnings

Donaldson A. Gary. The First Modern Campaign Kennedy. Nixon and the Election of 1960. USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. 2007. Donaldson’s book tells a recount of events that happened in 1960 which established John F. Kennedy’s presidential triumph in 1960. The intent of this book is to learn people who are analyzing on the televised arguments that the election of 1960 created a new signifier of political run that is critical to the apprehension of American political relations today.

This beginning is valuable because it presents a controversial statement that the 1960 arguments created a new signifier of political run where campaigners focused more on acquiring media attending than developing the state. However a restriction to this beginning. Donaldson wrote this book decennaries after the election of John F. Kennedy. and since Kennedy today is largely seen as admirable graven image. Donaldson’s portraiture of Kennedy in this book can be seen as colored and prefering Kennedy more over Nixon.

Druckman. N. James. The Power of Television Images: The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate Revisited. The Journal of Politics Vol. 65 No. 2 ( 2003 ) pp. 559-77. England: Cambridge University Press. Druckman’s journal negotiations about how the televised images of 1960 might hold affected the result of the presidential run between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This diary was written to demo pupils of political scientific discipline the power of media imagination has on ratings of people.

A valuable facet to this beginning is that the writer approaches his statement through a political scientific discipline lens. he supported his statement through a aggregation of informations that he got from his experiments. However. there is one defect to Druckman’s experiment. which is addressed by the writer himself. is that John F. Kennedy has made a major impact on modern people’s lives and his name is used in many authorities edifices. such as JFK Airport. and JFK Library. and. Therefore. there was a great opportunity that the sample group recognized Kennedy and favored him over Nixon due to his popularity.

Part D: Analysis

In the terminal. John F. Kennedy used telecasting to show himself as a stronger leader than Richard Nixon. For case. during the first of the four televised arguments. Don Hewitt CBS manufacturer of the Great Debates noted that when Kennedy made his entryway. lensmans instantly deserted Richard Nixon and grouped around Kennedy. This is critical because John F. Kennedy appeared to be more admirable than Nixon in forepart of telecasting that was watched by more than 70 million Americans. This is besides supported by Hewitt. who besides stated that “it was obvious to the Americans who watched the first argument on September 26. 1960 that Kennedy had won the first argument. ” Furthermore. Theodore White. a journalist on the 1960 run said. “ When the argument Begin. Nixon was by and large viewed as being the likely winner…and Kennedy as contending an acclivitous conflict. when the arguments were over. the places of the two contestants were reversed. ”

These groundss suggested that Kennedy’s superior image that dark had given him the lead over Nixon. Furthermore. harmonizing to an experiment done by James Druckman. statistics show that the sample group who watched the arguments visually favored Kennedy over Nixon. Yet. the sample group that listened to the arguments of 1960 said that Nixon had the upper manus to Kennedy. This is critical because although Nixon spoke better than Kennedy. Kennedy’s image benefited him to be viewed as a more worthy and stronger campaigner than Richard Nixon.

This can besides be proved by the Gallup polls taken prior to the arguments and after the arguments. Prior to the arguments. Kennedy had 46 % and Nixon had 47 % with the staying 7 % who stand open. However. after the arguments. Kennedy had 51 % to Nixon’s 45 % and a remainder of 4 % open. Overall. these arguments made Kennedy seemed like a more dependable campaigner than Nixon. although Druckman’s experiment showed Nixon as a better talker than Kennedy.

However. John F. Kennedy didn’t merely utilize his image as a manner to win the election of 1960. He besides took advantage of these arguments to demo Americans that he had the ability to run for president. At age 43. Kennedy was the youngest campaigner to of all time run for president and he was frequently criticized for being rawness and naive. On the other manus. Nixon had been in the public eyes for 8 old ages. Furthermore. Kennedy’s background had besides raised depreciations to his worthiness of being a campaigner. For case. Kennedy was besides the first Roman Catholic campaigner to of all time run for president. and his runs were criticized by Protestants as “skeptical. ”

Kennedy was besides debased for being rich. his tremendous disbursement on his runs devalued his tally for presidential term and raised statements from his challengers like Hubert Humphery. who said that “ [ Kennedy ] bought his presidential term. ” So these arguments gave Kennedy the perfect chance to demo Americans that he was a worthy campaigner. And holding appeared so admirable in the first argument and ended the argument strongly with the thought to traveling American frontward. Kennedy can be seen to hold started strong and ended strong. Furthermore. a study showed that after all four arguments. Kennedy was able to win over independent electors by a border of more than 2 to Nixon’s 1. This marked great success to Kennedy’s popularity because he was able to demo Americans that he was a worthy and respectable campaigner.

Part Tocopherol: Decision

In decision. the televised arguments of 1960 affected the presidential election to a close full extent. because John F. Kennedy affectively used the televised arguments. which had over 70 million viewing audiences. to do a strong feeling of himself. Although he was non as a strong arguer as Richard Nixon. his physical visual aspect made a more believable impact. demoing that the function of imagination is more of import than the hereafter of America that is envisioned by campaigner.

Furthermore. this use of visual aspects and media over issues that America was confronting. this argument made a radical alteration to the manner of candidacy in the hereafter. However. this might possibly non be wholly accurate because harmonizing the election consequences ; it was shown that Kennedy received ballots from more than 80 % of the nation’s Catholics. This signifies that the Kennedy might hold won the presidential term in 1960 because he was the first Catholic to of all time go a president. which might hold been what Kennedy had used to acquire this state “moving once more. ”

Part F: Bibliography

1960 Presidential Election Results by States. John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jfklibrary. org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Miscellaneous-Information/1960-Presidential-Election. aspx Donaldson A. Gary. The First Modern Campaign Kennedy. Nixon and the election of 1960. USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. 2007. Druckman. N. James. The Power of Television Images: The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate Revisited. The Journal of Politics Vol. 65 No. 2 ( 2003 ) pp. 559-77. England: Cambridge University Press. Life of John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jfklibrary. org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy. aspx ( day of the month accessed May 1. 2012 ) Richard M. Nixon. the White House. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. whitehouse. gov/about/presidents/richardnixon. ( day of the month accessed May 1. 2012 ) Rorabaugh. W. J. The Real Devising of the President. Kansas University Press of Kansas. 2009 Jones. T. Kevin. The Role of Televised Argument in the U. S. Presidential Election Process ( 1960-2004 ) . Louisiana: University Press of Louisiana of South. 2005