A Thought - Nixon & Kennedy Election

[TNOE]

Where Nixon LOST - I thought that I had read somewhere that Nixon was warning the country of what a failure Kennedy would be if elected - based on the "Communist" fear at the time.

Wouldn't it be sublime if some researcher digged up a quote or a tape and Kerry used that in a commercial? Something like they tried this before with a JFK - and he became one of the most beloved Presidents of all time. NO FEAR.

Just a thought before I leave for the weekend, if someone thinks its a good idea, have at it.

[RobertDevereaux]

1. This is worth a kick!

I have no idea if such footage exists, but this is a great idea.

[Carolinian]

2. Important history review of Kennedy vs Nixon 1960 Presidential Race:

The following was paraphased from my son’s 8th grade history book. Interesting parallels when you substitute Kennedy with Bush.

1960 presidential race between Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy appeared to be Catholic v Protestant – Harvard elite vs self-styled middle American. It was Kennedy the spender vs Nixon the fiscal conservative - the Kennedy style and wit vs proven Nixon experience.

Nixon adopted the whistle-stop campaign strategy of Harry Truman but it helped to cause his defeat. The electronic media – TV and radio – was exploited by Kennedy with his good looks and infectious humor. The televised debate between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 became a contest between a weary campaigner who was being squeezed dry by his grueling campaign schedule and a candidate whose aides knew how to help him work smarter, not harder. Viewers saw in Nixon a man stretched to his limits. Kennedy was tan and fit from a rest in Florida. It did not matter that radio listeners scored the debate for Nixon on the strength of his arguments. Television conveyed Kennedy’s warmth and ease to 70 million viewers.

The election returns were the closest in history. Kennedy took 49.7% of popular vote to Nixon’s 49.5% although the difference in electoral votes (303 to 219) proved more substantial. Many Republicans cried foul, claiming election fraud in Texas and Illinois where a single county might have wiped out Kennedy’s victory of just over 100,000 votes out of the 69 million that were cast. A New York Herald Tribune writer, Earl Mazo, started a journalistic investigation of vote fraud. Nixon, however, called him off, telling him that such an investigation was pointless. “Earl,” he said, “no one steals the presidency of the United States.”