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The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate: Are We Better Off than 50 Years Ago?
Fifty years ago in Chicago, on Sept. 26, 1960, an enervated and emaciated Richard Nixon spent the day in seclusion in his suite at the Pick-Congress Hotel. The GOP presidential nominee's contact with the outside world was mostly limited to a phone call from his running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge, who warned Nixon to avoid the "assassin image" when he went on national TV at 8:30 that evening.
At the Ambassador East Hotel, a relaxed and sun-tanned John Kennedy prepared for the same TV show by napping on a bed littered with fact-crammed three-by-five note cards. Later, still sprawled in bed, Kennedy batted around possible questions with his aides -- and when he nailed an answer, JFK gleefully tossed the relevant note card to the floor.
That night 70 million Americans -- about the same number as would vote for president six weeks later -- watched as Nixon and Kennedy met on stage at WBBM for the most fateful hour in the history of political television. Their opening debate was long-winded by modern standards with eight minute opening statements plus a panel of four reporters who hurled questions at the two candidates as they stood behind music-stand lecterns to respond. But the questions were not what were remembered -- unless you cared passionately that the two men jousted over the proper formula for farm subsidies.
That first Kennedy-Nixon debate ushered in the Visual Age when how a candidate looked mattered more than what he said. The 1952 and 1956 presidential races had offered a choice between two candidates, Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, whose balding domes would have (in a later era) made them prime customers for the Hair Club for Men. But rarely, if ever, in modern times have the two parties nominated such capable candidates -- the general who won World War II and then commanded NATO forces in Europe versus the eloquent former diplomat who became the governor of Illinois.
In telegenic terms, the first Great Debate was a rout. Kennedy came across as robust and dynamic, the embodiment of his debate line, "It's time America started moving again." And the sweaty Nixon -- whose light dusting of pancake makeup called "Lazy Shave" failed to hide his 5 o'clock shadow -- brought to mind the old Democratic jibe: "Would you buy a used car from this man?"
Everything went wrong for Nixon. His shirt collar gaped at the neck because of the weight he had lost on the campaign trail, and his light-gray suit (JFK wore dark blue) blended into the painted background that did not offer much contrast on black-and-white television. But the most powerful visual was simply the two candidates standing side-by-side. In his political classic, "The Making of the President, 1960," Theodore White writes, "Until the cameras opened up on the Senator and the Vice-President, Kennedy had been the boy under assault and attack by the Vice-President as immature, young, inexperienced. Now, obviously, in flesh and behavior he was the Vice-President's equal."
While Nixon's image-makers convinced him to wear full theatrical makeup during his next three 1960 debates with Kennedy, these subsequent High Noon face-offs for the presidency underscored the enduring weaknesses of the question-and-short-answers format. A debate organized around reporters (or, in recent years, typical voters) asking questions can easily veer off into trivia or campaign boilerplate.
During the third 1960 debate, a reporter asked Kennedy if he felt obligated to apologize for the profanity of Harry Truman's campaign remark that anyone who votes Republican can (horrors!) "go to hell." That gave JFK the opportunity to show off his dry wit: "I really don't think there's anything that I could say to President Truman that's going to cause him, at the age of 76, to change his particular speaking manner. Perhaps Mrs. Truman can, but I don't think I can." Even more comic in hindsight (especially in light of the expletive-deleted Watergate tapes) was the way that Nixon unctuously responded, "Whoever is president is going to be a man that all the children of America will either look up to -- or will look down to."
The final Kennedy-Nixon showdown featured perhaps the most duplicitous moment in a half century of presidential debates. The United States had just an announced a trade embargo against Fidel Castro's Cuba -- sanctions, which incidentally, are also now in their 50th year. Kennedy, in his opening statement, dismissed such measures as inadequate because "the Communists have been moving with vigor -- Laos, Africa, Cuba -- all around the world."
Asked about Kennedy's comments during the first question of the debate, Nixon responded with a passionate case for non-intervention in Cuba. The vice president prophetically warned that military action against Cuba would provide "an open invitation for Mr. Khrushchev to come in, to come into Latin America, to engage us in what would be a civil war."
The only problem for 1960 voters watching the debate was that everything Nixon said was diametrically opposite to what he actually believed. Nixon had been a staunch advocate inside the Eisenhower administration for an invasion to topple Castro and had been briefed by the CIA about its work with Cuban exiles to launch what ultimately would become the Bay of Pigs debacle. Worried that any hawkish comment during the debate would alert Castro to the invasion threat (which, in truth, the Cuban dictator already knew about), Nixon's immediate instinct was to (surprise!) lie.
The golden anniversary of the first Kennedy-Nixon confrontation will inevitably prompt the Sunday shows to run highlight reels of nostalgic footage from presidential debates. There will inevitably be a self-congratulatory air to the entire ritual. But have debates really elevated presidential campaigns to a higher intellectual plane than was possible back in primitive times when candidates gave serious speeches sitting behind a desk on radio and early television?
Presidential debates are undeniably fun, even if I find it hard to remember anything other than the over-hyped Joe the Plumber from the three times that Barack Obama squared off against John McCain. But by placing such a battle-for-the-Oval Office premium on clever one-liners and quick-react short answers with the time clock running, presidential debates are often closer in spirit to reality TV than to Lincoln and Douglas. So as much as it sounds like heresy -- and, readers, you are free to shout, "There you go again" -- I sometimes wonder if American politics might not been better off today if Kennedy and Nixon had somehow missed their rendezvous with history at WBBM 50 years ago.
Ford Offers Amnesty Program Requiring 2 Years Public Work; Defends His Pardon Of Nixon
Washington, Sept. 16--President Ford offered conditional amnesty today to thousands of Vietnam era draft evaders and military deserters who agree to work for up to two years in public service jobs.
"My sincere hope," he said in a statement, "is that this is a constructive step toward calmer and cooler appreciation of our individual rights and responsibilities and our common purpose as a nation whose future is always more important than its past."
In announcing his "earned re-entry" program, the President also established a nine-member Presidential clemency board to review the cases of those already convicted or punished for desertion or draft evasion.
Mr. Ford designated Charles E. Goodell, a former Republican Senator from New York and an early critic of United States involvement in the Vietnam war, as chairman of the clemency board.
Among others named to the clemency board was the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, president of the University of Notre Dame, who has called for unconditional amnesty.
Effective Immediately
The amnesty program became effective immediately when President Ford signed a Presidential proclamation and two Executive orders just before noon in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Earlier, he explained details of the program to Congressional leaders of both parties. No Congressional action is needed.
In his proclamation, the President declared that "desertion in time of war is a major, serious offense," and that draft evasion "is also a serious offense." Such actions, he said, need not "be condoned."
"Yet," he continued, "reconciliation calls for an act of mercy to bind the nation's wounds and to heal the scars of divisiveness."
President Ford denied tonight at his news conference that the amnesty plan was in any substantial way linked to his unconditional pardon of former President Richard M. Nixon on Sept. 8--an action that has created widespread controversy throughout the nation.
Asked at his news conference tonight why he had granted only a conditional amnesty to draft evaders while granting a full pardon to Mr. Nixon, the President replied:
"Well, the only connection between those two cases is the effort that I made in the one to heal the wounds involving charges against Mr. Nixon and my honest and conscientious effort to heal the wounds for those who had deserted military service or dodged the draft."
Mr. Ford said that, in the case of Mr. Nixon, "you have a President who was forced to resign because of circumstances involving his Administration and he has been shamed and disgraced by that resignation."
Under the program, draft evaders or deserters who have not been convicted or punished have until next Jan. 31 to turn themselves in to the authorities, reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and agree to spend up to two years in public service jobs, such as hospital attendants or conservation.
The United States Attorney or military service head would decide the length of alternative service to be performed by each individual. The President set no minimum period of service, but he said that the maximum two-year requirement could be "reduced" for "mitigating circumstances," such as family hardship.
Placement of persons in public service jobs would be administered by the director of the Selective Service System, Byron V. Pepitone. He said today that applicants would be encouraged to find their own jobs, subject to approval by his agency.
For those already convicted or punished for desertion or draft evasion, the new Presidential clemency board will review cases on an individual basis. Priority will be given to those now in prison, and officials said that their confinement would be suspended as soon as possible.
Federal officials gave varying estimates of the number of deserters and evaders potentially eligible under the program. The estimates ranged from 28,000 to 50,000 or more.
Some officials said that 15,500 draft evaders would be eligible for clemency. Of these, 8,700 have already been convicted and 4,350 are under indictment, 4,060 are listed as fugitives, 3,000 of them in Canada. There are 130 persons now serving prison sentences for draft evasion.
Officials also said that 660 deserters were serving prison sentences or awaiting trial, and about 12,500 others were still at large, with about 1,500 of these now living in Canada.
Deputy Attorney General Laurence Silberman said today that those agreeing to participate in the plan should be prepared to serve the full 24 months of public service employment, although "mitigating circumstances" might lessen the term of service.
He said that those who failed to live up the agreement would be subject to prosecution for the original charge of draft evasion or desertion.
The clemency program would cover offenses that took place between the Senate ratification of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution on Aug. 4, 1964, and the day the last United States combat soldier left Vietnam, March 28, 1973.
Officials said that clemency would not be considered for deserters or evaders who faced other, unrelated charges.
Draft evaders would be required to "execute an agreement" acknowledging allegiance to the United States and pledging to fulfill the period of alternative service. Deserters would be required to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, as well as agreeing to fulfill the term of alternative service.
Officials estimated the cost of the program at about $2-million, most of this for processing and administrative details. The salaries for deserters or evaders would be paid by the employer.
President Ford disclosed that he was considering a "work re-entry" program for draft evaders and military deserters in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Chicago on Aug. 19.
The White House had indicated that Mr. Ford would announce the program early last week, but this was postponed in the aftermath of the widespread criticism over the President's pardon of Mr. Nixon.
President Ford's choice of Mr. Goodell as chairman of the clemency board was viewed as an effort to placate critics of the Vietnam war who have pressed for unconditional amnesty.
Mr. Goodell, 48 years old, fell from favor with the Nixon Administration because of his strong stand against the Vietnam war policies. He lost his Senate seat in 1970 to James L. Buckley, Conservative-Republican, following a campaign in which Nixon forces helped engineer Mr. Goodell's defeat.
Mr. Goodell, now a Washington lawyer, is a long-time friend of President Ford's and was part of a group of young Republicans who helped install Mr. Ford as House minority leader nearly 10 years ago.
Other members of the clemency board are as follows:
Father Hesburgh, 57, former chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, who was dismissed from that post by President Nixon.
Robert H. Finch, 51, Los Angeles lawyer. He was Mr. Nixon's first Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and later served as a counselor to Mr. Nixon.
Gen. Lewis W. Walt, 61, a retired assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. He served in World War II and in the Korean and Vietnamese wars.
Vernon E. Jordan, 39, executive director of the National Urban League, an organization concerned with the advancement of minority groups. He was a lawyer-consultant to the United States Office of Economic Opportunity.
James Maye, executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
Dr. Ralph Adams, 59, president of Troy State University in Alabama and a brigadier general in the Alabama Air National Guard.
James P. Dougovita, 28, a teaching aide for minority students at Michigan Tech University. He served in the Vietnam war and is now a captain in the Michigan National Guard.
