CWCR - Impact Of Television (Lesson)

Impact of Television

After World War II technology and production increased in quality, capability and quantity of innovations. No innovation was more representative of the change in American culture than the invention of the television. Television replaced the impact of radio and changed the viewpoints of many Americans. Television tremendously changed American culture-from the way we conducted campaigns and elections to the changing views and understandings of war.

1960 Presidential Debate

The 1960 Presidential campaign pitted Republican Richard Nixon against Democrat John F. Kennedy. In previous campaigns candidates based their campaigns on traveling around the nation and radio broadcasts. By 1960 televisions were in the majority of American households. The 1960 presidential campaign was the first to feature a presidential debate broadcast on television. The debate changed the way we viewed candidates, their platforms and their leadership capabilities. John F. Kennedy knew the debate was going to be broadcast and worked with people knowledgeable about television broadcasts. He chose to wear makeup to avoid glare and sweat from the set lights. He spoke directly into the cameras that were recording him and made sure to acknowledge the fact that he was always on camera. To Kennedy, these actions only magnified his on-air presence. John F. Kennedy was a young, physically fit and attractive candidate while his opponent, Richard Nixon could be labeled as quite the opposite. When Kennedy used television tactics to his advantage, it further enhanced Nixon’s “unattractive” qualities, including Nixon’s excessive perspiration. Polls conducted after the debate showed those who viewed the debate on television saw Kennedy as the more favorable candidate. In contrast, those polled who listened to the debate via radio saw Nixon as the more experienced and capable candidate. Many scholars argued that John F. Kennedy’s control of the television audience and his demeanor won him the debate and subsequently the 1960 election.

Civil Rights Movement

Many Civil Rights leaders leveraged television to further their cause. Demonstrations were broadcast on news programs to Americans around the nation. These broadcasts showed violent responses to the nonviolent protests of African-American protestors. Americans, especially in the North, were able to view the audacious approach to the protests. Police unleashed dogs to attack protestors and utilized fire hoses to drive them away. When these protestors included children, the American public was outraged by what they saw. Civil rights leaders used the exposure television gave them to their advantage. New stations broadcast the violent response to the Selma marchers in Alabama on television. Ironically, these events were broadcast before a show on the Nuremburg Trials for Nazi war criminals. Television detailed the horrors of the civil rights movement and demonstrated the need for reform. Television also broadcast a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement and American history-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech at the August 1963 March on Washington.

The Apollo Landing

The launch of the Soviet Union’s satellite Sputnik I drew the United States into a Cold War “Space Race” with the Soviets. The Space Race provided a “battlefield” in which the United States and the Soviet Union could compete. Culturally, the Space Race provided for an increase in education especially in the fields of science, math and technology. This competition, combined with the youthful inspiration of space exploration, led many in the younger generation to pursue interests, education and careers in these fields which directly impacted the technological innovations of the 21^st century. The culminating event of the Space Race was the fulfillment of John F. Kennedy’s aspiration to put a man on the moon before 1970. On July 20^th, 1969, millions of viewers from across the United States and the world witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to step foot on the moon.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a confusing, difficult period in American history. Perhaps the ultimate downfall of the United States’ efforts in Vietnam was the brave journalistic portrayal of the war. Over 200 journalists and photographers died covering the horrors of Vietnam. The American public benefited from these photographs, articles and images. The reporters were able to question what the United State government and its officials were telling them about the war and contrast those views to what they saw on television. Violent video, fearful Vietnamese citizens, distraught soldiers and protests at home were covered on the news. The names of those killed in Vietnam scrolled to conclude the news coverage each night. Finally, in 1968 after United States officials stated that the United States was “winning the war,” Americans watched in horror as they witnessed the successful Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.

When the well-respected former broadcaster Walter Cronkite wrote that he no longer believed the government and saw the Vietnam War as a failure, the American public had experienced enough of the Vietnam War. Later, during the Nixon administration, Americans watched the desperate attempts of South Vietnamese citizens as they clung to overfilled helicopters trying to escape the communist North Vietnamese overrun of South Vietnam’s Saigon. Americans lost trust in their government’s military actions abroad as a result of journalists’ video footage and photographs from the ground in Vietnam. 

TELEVISION IMAGE ARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN