John F. Kennedy on Technology

1960: Understood the relatively new media of television

Kennedy understood the need to use the relatively new medium of television to reach a wide audience. For example, in September 1960, during the campaign for the presidency, Kennedy debated with Republican candidate and vice president Richard Nixon in the first televised presidential debate in US history. Radio listeners thought that Nixon had won, but the huge television audience considered Kennedy the winner because he was seen to be more relaxed and more comfortable with the occasion than his rival. He was also better-looking, something that shouldn't matter of course but invariably does. The debates are now regarded as the point at which the medium of television began to play a dominant role in U.S. national politics. Source: The 100 Greatest Speeches, by Kourdi & Maier, p.148 , Mar 3, 2010

Established TV as central element of electoral process

Ever since John Kennedy hypnotized us with his good looks & eloquence, television has been the central element in our electoral process. In the media age, politics was something that happened on television. The venues of our politics have been televised debates, media advertising, sound bites, news coverage, tarmac press conferences at airports throughout the nation, and Sunday morning interview shows. The effect has been anaesthetizing, numbing voters and reducing them to passive onlookers.

JFK convinced us that he was young and Nixon was old during their television debates. But television news itself has always been manipulated by the elite print media that set its agenda. Life in the White House during the media age revolved around attempts t manage the dialogue with the media. It wasn't Congress or the courts that dominated the decision process--but speculation on how the press and television would react that consumed the majority of the waking hours of the White House staff and consultants.

Source: Condi vs. Hillary, by Dick Morris, p.188-191 , Oct 11, 2005

1962: We choose to go to the moon because doing it is hard

Kennedy's speech at Rice University on 12 September 1962: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things--not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win." Many of Kennedy's speeches are littered with stirring calls to action and challenges, all with a lasting and profound impact. Bold, audacious goals set at the right time and in the right way undeniably cause excitement, enthusiasm and fire the imagination. Source: The 100 Greatest Speeches, by Kourdi & Maier, p.147 , Sep 12, 1962

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