Kennedy, Nixon, & the Debate of the Century

Presented on: Thursday, August 5th at 3:00 PM CDT


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Regarding John F. Kennedy’s 1960 election, one historian has written, “It was that first moment in our history when we saw that television can transform a political candidate from a candidate into a celebrity, and it changed the whole contours of our politics.”

Join Professor Allen Pietrobon as he takes us back to the Eisenhower Era, a time before the “celebrity president.” We will examine the lives and backgrounds of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon and see how Kennedy became president by dominating the television narrative and using innovative campaign techniques that set the model for presidential election campaigns to this very day. The first-ever televised presidential debate took place in 1960; the result was seen as being so disastrous (for Nixon) that it would be 16 years before presidential candidates agreed to debate live on TV again.

In this presentation, we’ll use the 1960 presidential election as our lens to explore American politics and culture in this pivotal era in history.

 

 

Dr. Allen Pietrobon is an Assistant Professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University. He specializes in 20th-Century American history and U.S. Foreign Policy, focusing on nuclear weapons policies and Cold War diplomacy. Since 2011, he has also served as an Assistant Director of Research at the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University.

 

Professor Pietrobon’s Recommended Reading:

Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America, by Laura Shapiro

Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, by Greg Crister

Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture, by Kristin Lawless

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan

Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking, by Bill Burford (an excellent chef’s memoir)

 


The views expressed by presenters are their own and their appearance in a program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by University of Missouri.