Politics in Context

   The first televised presidential debate happened on September 26, 1960 . Seventy million Americans tuned in to watch John F. Kennedy face off against Vice President Richard Nixon . By most accounts, JFK won, not necessarily because he made better arguments, but because he looked good. JFK was cool and collected while Nixon, who kept shifting his weight, looked tense and nervous. After three more debates, JFK won the election.    Even after losing, Nixon continued to underestimate the power of television. Then, in 1967, he appeared on The Mike Douglas Show,  where he met the show's executive producer, Roger Ailes. Nixon insisted that TV was a gimmick; Ailes firmly believed in television's power to inform and shape a narrative. Nixon was so impressed he hired Ailes immediately. With Ailes' help, Nixon polished his image and won the presidential election in 1968.    During Nixon's presidency, Ailes wrote a memo titled "A Plan for Putting the GOP on ...

     After the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, there was a schism. Southern Democrats, who had been champions of states’ rights and opposed the legislation, were at odds with President Lyndon Johnson and the rest of the party. This gap grew wider as more African-Americans joined the Democratic Party in response to the passing of the Act , pushing the party further left on civil rights issues.      The divide did not go unnoticed. Richard Nixon, intent on winning the Presidency in 1968, saw an opportunity. In order to get disgruntled southern Democrats on his side, a group that the Republican Party never would have been able to win over otherwise, Nixon crafted a message that “ emphasized… the whole problem is really the blacks.  The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to."   This was the Southern Strategy. Too smart to apply obvious racism that might make northern Republicans uncomfortable, Nixon ran on a cam...