Food for Thought
Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:08 PM by Sam Singal
Filed Under:
Brian Williams
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
It was kind of a thrill, as a college dropout from the Jersey Shore, to read this morning that a gathering I attended in New York last night is getting some attention. I was part of a huge dinner in New York last night at which the president of Iran listened to and then addressed various media types, academics and think-tankers. We heard his views on love and life, human nature and Adolf Hitler, George Bush and the war in Iraq. It was equal parts delusion, attempted charm, faux humility and bluster.
To the present moment: we exited today's editorial meeting with more individual items -- more news stories to tell (that were hand-written on our pre-printed rundown of what we planned to have in the broadcast) -- than I can ever remember. It's a matter of an active number of stories around the world, a lot of our own exclusive reporting, and a ton of items that our audience needs to know about. We'll see.
Face to Face
There has been no shortage of presidential debates this year -- starting in April, a full year and a half before Election Day. The latest matchup happens tonight: the Democrats at Dartmouth, with Tim Russert. As it turns out, this is the 47th anniversary of the Great Debate that started it all: the first Kennedy-Nixon debate, broadcast nationwide from WBBM-TV in Chicago on September 26, 1960. It marked the beginning of the modern era of televised presidential politics, and John F. Kennedy’s polished performance that night gave him an edge over Richard Nixon in what turned out to be a very close election. Political pundits have been dissecting that showdown ever since -- but what did the participants themselves think? Just four days after the debate, Kennedy was asked about it in an interview with NBC’s Chet Huntley and David Brinkley:
BRINKLEY: Senator, you mentioned the debate. I think every other person in the United States has expressed an opinion about it. What is yours? What did you think of it?
KENNEDY: I thought it was very useful. We could get up and talk and give our views and make a speech, and give the arguments. But it’s like a lawyer in a court; unless you have the two lawyers together, presenting their arguments to each side, how can any judge or any jury give a verdict? … I think it does give a flavor that you could not possibly get any other way. I think it’s going to change campaigning. …
BRINKLEY: One more question about the debate. How did you think you came out?
KENNEDY: Well, I think we held our own. However, it’s like playing Ohio State. You have to play three more Saturdays.
HUNTLEY: During the next day or two after the debate, or even that night after you went to bed, did a couple dozen things go though your head, did you say to yourself, “Why didn’t I say this or that”?
KENNEDY: No, I thought that you can always improve, afterwards. But I would settle for the way it went, and it’s a -- I thought it was all right.
And Richard Nixon? 18 years and several political lifetimes later, he wrote this in his memoirs:
“It was a devastating commentary on the nature of television as a political medium that what hurt me the most in the first debate was not the substance of the encounter between Kennedy and me, but the disadvantageous contrast in our physical appearances. After the program ended, callers, including my mother, wanted to know if anything was wrong, because I did not look well.”
After his loss in 1960, Richard Nixon ran again for president -- twice -- and won both times. But he never again participated in a debate.
Please take a moment to read today's Medal of Honor biography. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
