Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from1969
In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debates in American history. The Kennedy-Nixon debates not only had a major impact on the election’s outcome, but ushered in a new era in which crafting a public image and taking advantage of media exposure became essential ingredients of a successful political campaign. They also heralded the central role television has continued to play in the democratic process.
Background to the Kennedy-Nixon Debates
The U.S. presidential 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. The rise of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary regime in Cuba had heightened fears about the spread of communism in the Western Hemisphere. On the domestic front, the struggle for civil rights and desegregation had deeply divided the nation, raising crucial questions about the state of democracy in the United States.At a time when the need for strong leadership was all too obvious, two vastly different candidates vied for the presidency: John F. Kennedy, a young but dynamic Massachusetts senator from a powerful New England family, and Richard Nixon, a seasoned lawmaker who was currently serving as vice president. With little more than a single unremarkable term in the U.S. senate under his belt, the 43-year-old Kennedy lacked Nixon’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. Nixon, by contrast, had spent nearly eight years as the country’s 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 critics and helped expose Alger Hiss’ alleged espionage attempt–all by the age of 39.The rivals campaigned tirelessly throughout the summer of 1960, with Nixon inching ahead in the polls to gain a slim lead. When the season began to turn, however, so did the tables. Nixon took a major hit in August when a reporter asked President Dwight D. Eisenhower to name some of his vice president’s contributions. Exhausted and irritated after a long press conference, Eisenhower replied, “If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don’t remember.” (While the remark was intended as a self-deprecating reference to the president’s own mental fatigue, the Democrats promptly used it in a television commercial that ended with the statement: “President Eisenhower could not remember, but the voters will remember.”) That same month, Nixon bashed his knee on a car door while campaigning in North Carolinaand developed an infection that landed him in the hospital; he emerged two weeks later frail, sallow and 20 pounds underweight.
Did you know? Kennedy’s bronzed complexion made him look like the picture of health compared to Nixon, but many historians have speculated that his characteristic tan was a symptom of Addison’s disease, the endocrine disorder that plagued him for much of his life.
The Candidates Face Off
On the evening of September 26, when the two candidates arrived at the CBS broadcast facility in downtown Chicago for the first televised presidential debate in American history, Nixon’s streak of bad luck continued. Stepping out of the car, he banged his bad knee and exacerbated his earlier injury. The vice president had recently suffered a bout of the flu and was still running a low fever; he had nonetheless spent a grueling day on the campaign trail and looked drained. Kennedy, meanwhile, had been holed up in a hotel with his aides for an entire weekend, fielding practice questions and resting up for the first of four “Great Debates.”Despite Nixon’s exhaustion and Kennedy’s preparedness, the Republican and Democrat were more or less evenly matched when it came to substance. Each held forth skillfully and presented remarkably similar agendas. Both emphasized national security, the threat of communism, the need to strengthen the U.S. military and the importance of building a brighter future for America; indeed, after Kennedy’s opening statement, Nixon said, “I subscribe completely to the spirit that Senator Kennedy has expressed tonight.” And yet, while most radio listeners called the first debate a draw or pronounced Nixon the victor, the senator from Massachusetts won over the 70 million television viewers by a broad margin.
The Corrupt Bargain from the year 1824 was about how none of the candidates were able to secure a majority of the electoral vote, because of this problem they had to put this in the hands of the House of Representatives who elected John Quincy Adams instead of Andrew Jackson.
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There had been much struggle between Pope Boniface VIII and the French king, Philip IV, over control of the church in France. Philip actually sent men to rough up Boniface during that time. After Boniface's death and then a papacy of less than a year by Benedict XI, pressure from France resulted in the electing of a French cardinal as Pope Clement V, in 1305. Clement moved the office of the papacy from Rome to Avignon, which was in Holy Roman Empire territory but near the border of France. The papal offices stayed in Avignon, under French domination, from 1309 to 1376, with seven popes total governing the church from there.
Gregory XI, the last French pope, returned the offices of the papacy to Rome in 1377. When Gregory XI died in 1378, an Italian again was elected to be pope – Urban VI. But very quickly many cardinals (especially the French) regretted the election of Urban VI. The French cardinals put forth their own rival pope, Clement VII, later in 1378. This began the Great Schism, also known as the Western Schism or Papal Schism. There were competing popes claiming the authority of that office and the allegiance of Catholics in Europe. The split in the papacy lasted till 1417.