Political "moments" worth remembering

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Jan, 2008

John F. Kennedy's assassination and funeral, the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, and the first televised presidential debate in 1960 between JFK and Richard Nixon head the "most memorable" political moments in American radio-television history, announced the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago. These events top a list of 125 moments chosen by scholars, politicians, commentators, and analysts from the period since radio's commercial debut on Election Night 1920.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"For decades, American politics has used---and been shaped by--radio and TV," says Bruce DuMont, MBC founder and president. "Most of the domestic and foreign events on this list are landmarks in our lives. Many have shaped America and strongly influenced its role in the world."

The events receiving the most votes were as follows: 1963 Kennedy assassination and funeral; Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack; first televised JFK-Nixon debate in 1960; Franklin Roosevelt's "Date that will live in infamy" speech following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941; Neal Armstrong talking to the Oval Office from the moon in 1969; 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago; FDR's "Only thing we have to fear" Inaugural Address in 1933; Nixon's 1952 "Checkers" speech; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 "I have a dream" speech; and Nixon's 1974 "My mother was a saint" farewell speech.

Pres. Ronald Reagan leads all individuals with 14 moments, including addresses on the Challenger explosion, D-Day, the "Evil Empire," and the Berlin Wall ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."). Other moments include his 1964 address on behalf of Barry Goldwater, the 1981 attempt on his life, the 1964 debate with Walter Mondale, the Iran-Contra apologia, and Reagan's funeral.

Among Nixon's 12 moments, which include four of the top 15, are his seminal "Checkers" speech; debates with the Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev and, later, Kennedy; his "last press conference" in 1962; his 1969 "Silent Majority" address; the 1971 announcement of his trip to China; and his resignation and farewell address.

John F. Kennedy's 10 moments include four of the top 13, from his 1960 primary debate with Hubert Humphrey and his Houston Ministerial Association speech to the Nixon debate and the events of November 1963. The list also contains JFK's Inaugural Address, speeches on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs; the "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech; his vow to beat the Soviets to the moon; and the first live presidential press conference.

Franklin Roosevelt's nine selections include four of the top 15. Highlights are his First Inaugural; "New Deal" convention speech; first Fireside Chat in March 1933; 1936 "Rendezvous with destiny" speech; 1941 address likening Nazi Germany to "the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic"; Pearl Harbor address; 1944 D-Day prayer; and his funeral.

Many moments are nonpresidential, recalling, among other events, Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech; Edward R. Murrow's denunciation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy; the McCarthy hearings; civil rights unrest in Birmingham, Ala.; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s and Robert Kennedy's 1968 assassinations; the Tet offensive; fall of the Berlin Wall; Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings; Election Night 2000; Colin Powell's United Nations "weapons of mass destruction" testimony; and Patrick Buchanan's 1992 and Barack Obama's 2004 presidential convention addresses.