By Scott Bomboy
October 19, 2021 -- "Information
Clearing House -
On November 14, 1959, TV Guide published a
brief essay about politics and television by Senator
John F. Kennedy that contained some prophetic words
about the influence of money and public relations on
presidential campaigns that still seem true today.
Ironically, within a year of the TV Guide
article, Kennedy would be president-elect of the
United States, in no small part helped by his
ability to use television as a campaign tool. And
Kennedy’s effectiveness as a “TV candidate” would
become a template for future politicians.
But in 1959, Kennedy said that campaign
contributions and the presentation of candidates for
a mass television audience were two trends that
voters needed to watch closely.
Kennedy’s articles appeared as part of a series
called “Television As I See It,” and his article was
titled
“A Force That Has Changed The Political Scene.”
“It is in your power to perceive deception, to
shut off gimmickry, to reward honesty, to demand
legislation where needed. Without your approval, no
TV show is worthwhile and no politician can exist,”
concluded Kennedy.
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Kennedy spent much of his essay stating how
television, in the right hands, could help
politicians bring out their best moments.
“Honesty, vigor, compassion, intelligence—the
presence or lack of these of other qualities make up
what is called the candidate’s ‘image,’” he wrote.
Kennedy then states that despite a candidate’s
public record on issues, “My own conviction is that
these images or impressions are likely to be
uncannily correct.” But in the wrong hands,
television could be used for “manipulation,
exploitation and gimmicks,” Kennedy said. “It can be
abused by demigods, by appeals to emotions and
prejudice and ignorance,” he said.
Kennedy then railed about the potential takeover
of campaigns by public relations experts. “Political
shows like quiz shows can be fixed—and sometimes
are,” he said. The other problem Kennedy warned
about was the item of “financial cost.”
“If all parties and candidates are to have equal
access to this essential and decisive campaign
medium, without becoming deeply obligated to the big
financial contributors … then the time has come when
a solution must be found to this problem of TV
costs.” Kennedy was particularly upset that a total
of $5.8 million had been spent on TV advertising
during the 1956 presidential campaign.
In the following year, as a presidential
candidate, Kennedy would come under criticism for
allegedly employing some of the tactics he warned
about in the TV Guide article. Kennedy and Richard
Nixon each raised and spent about $10 million in the
1960 campaign, about $2 million more than President
Dwight Eisenhower needed in 1956. Kennedy, as the
richest person ever elected president, also didn’t
lack for resources.
In 1964, the price of a presidential campaign
jumped to $16 million for contender Barry Goldwater
and the era of big spending on campaigns started.
By 2012, the presidential campaign between Barack
Obama and Mitt Romney cost an estimated $2.76
billion, with much of that money going into media
buys. The 2016 contest featuring Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton
cost about $2.65 billion.
To relate those numbers to the Nixon-Kennedy era,
Nixon and Kennedy combined spent about $161 million
in 2016 dollars on their campaigns, using the CPI to
calculate inflation. It was the 1968 race featuring
Nixon, Hubert Humphrey and a slew of primary
candidates that set the tone for future campaign
spending, with a
total of nearly $600 million in current-dollar
spending. It would be the most expensive
presidential election on record until the 2004
Bush-Kerry race.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the
National Constitution Center.
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