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JFK Nixon Debate

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    [lively band music]
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    (male voiceover)
    Richard Nixon was the favorite to
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    win the Republican presidential
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    nomination in 1960.
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    Just 14 years after he was tapped by a
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    group of small town businessmen to run for
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    Congress in California, Richard Nixon
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    stood at the top of his party.
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    As he mapped out an ambitious
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    50-state campaign,
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    he was challenged by his opponent,
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    John F. Kennedy, to a series of televised
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    debates; the first in American history.
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    Even when hospitalized for two
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    weeks with a knee injury,
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    Nixon remained confident,
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    anxious for the debates to begin.
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    Eager once again to use television
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    to talk directly to the voters.
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    (moderator)
    The Republican candidate,
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    Vice President Richard M. Nixon and
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    the Democratic candidate,
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    Senator John F. Kennedy.
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    According to rules set by
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    the candidates themselves,
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    each man shall-
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    (male voiceover)
    The Nixon-Kennedy debates would forever
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    change the way Americans
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    chose their presidents.
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    Political rallies and old-fashioned
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    hand shaking became much less important
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    than the image on the television screen.
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    (Ted Rogers)
    You must understand that Nixon himself
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    had said, I don't want any makeup on for
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    these particular debates.
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    What I tried to explain to Dick was
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    he has a certain characteristic
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    of his skin where it's almost transparent.
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    And it was a very nice thought to say,
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    you know, I don't want any makeup,
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    but that he really needed it
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    in order to have what we would call
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    even an acceptable television picture.
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    And of course, JFK here,
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    he'd been riding in motorcades all
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    over California with the top down.
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    He looked like a bronze warrior when
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    he came into Chicago, he really did.
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    (Richard Nixon)
    I know what it means to see
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    people who are unemployed.
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    I know Senator Kennedy feels as
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    deeply about these problems as I do.
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    But our disagreement is not
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    about the goals for America, but only
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    about the means to reach those goals.
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    (male voiceover)
    The first debate was costly to Nixon.
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    The radio audience thought he had won.
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    But the largest television audience in
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    history had seen the Vice President
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    haggard and drawn, and had been given its
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    first sustained look at the Kennedy style.
Title:
JFK Nixon Debate
Description:

JFK Nixon Debate
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
01:57
Captioning edited English subtitles for JFK Nixon Debate
Captioning edited English subtitles for JFK Nixon Debate
Utah_State_University edited English subtitles for JFK Nixon Debate

English subtitles

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