EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
"The Campaign," as broadcast over the CBS Television
Network, Friday, October 14, 1960, 10:30 to 11 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time.
With Bernard Eismann, CBS news correspondent, Chicago; Charles Kuralt,
CBS news correspondent, New York; Ernest Leiser, CBS news correspondent,
New York; Paul Niven, CBS news correspondent, Washington; Howard K. Smith,
CBS news correspondent, Washington; and Elmo Roper, public opinion analyst.
Produced by Special Program Unit, CBS News, Studio 41, New York.
(Music)
ANNOUNCER. * * *1 presents "Eyewitness
to History."
The event: "The Campaign."
NIVEN. This is Paul Niven aboard the Kennedy
campaign special train whistle stopping across Michigan.
LEISER. Ernest Leiser reporting from Los Angeles
where today Vice President Nixon is hitting the campaign trail in the old-fangled
way, a political breakfast, a ticker tape parade, a rally at a shopping
center and an appearance at the big college campus which was Pat Nixon's
alma mater.
KURALT. This is Charles Kuralt in New York.
Tonight a report on the campaign, how the candidates for President are
attempting to reach the voters, how the men and the issues are affecting
the voters and who's ahead.
This century's political campaigning started
with William McKinley sitting on his front porch in Canton, Ohio, speaking
to a few hundred people at a time. Last night Richard Nixon and John Kennedy
spoke from 1960's front porch, the television studio, and 60 million people
were listening. McKinley won with his front porch campaign but neither
candidate in this election year is willing to take the same chance. Even
with the multitudes available at the touch of a button both Nixon and Kennedy
have still found it necessary to roll up what may become a record number
of campaign miles in seeking out the few, gathered in the trainsheds and
auditoriums of the Nation, because there's something about a voter that
demands to see his man right there in town or to know that he's been there
and there is something about a candidate that demands to see his audience,
listen to its voice and shake its hand. And so between the electronic debates
the handshake survives, the smile and the wave persist and today in Michigan
the rattle of the campaign train was heard in the land.
NIVEN. This is Paul Niven aboard the Kennedy
campaign special whistle stopping across southern Michigan. All over the
country, say the Democratic officials aboard this train, the tide is running
strongly in Kennedy's favor. They're especially happy with the results
of the first three television debates. These debates may not have converted
anybody, say the Democratic officials, but they did stabilize the potential
Kennedy vote and they did convince people that the Vice President's picture
of Kennedy as brash, immature, and inexperienced was simply not true.
One top Kennedy strategist asked this morning
whether he thought the Senator would win if the election were held today
said, "I think so." He didn't sound very sure. He did sound confident when
he said that Kennedy will win on November 8 and he added, "Of course, I've
always felt so even before we started after the Democratic nomination."
The Senator himself, meanwhile, appears relaxed,
poised, and extremely self-confident. Our train is pulling into Jackson,
Mich., now and on the platform in the depot awaiting it is CBS news correspondent
Bernard Eismann.
(Music)
EISMANN. Not many in this crowd remember the
last Democratic presidential nominee to campaign through Jackson. He was
William Jennings Bryan who whistle-stopped along these same tracks at the
turn of the century. For local Democrats it's an important day too. They
expect to rate their own chances of victory in November by the size of
the crowd that turns out to greet Kennedy this morning. As in all campaign
crowds many of the onlookers, despite their enthusiasm are just too young
to vote. As in all Kennedy crowds a lot of the enthusiasm comes from the
women; and the younger the woman, the greater the enthusiasm.
The train's rolling into town now, through
this crowd that local police estimated somewhere between 6 or 7 thousand
people. All of them have seen Jack Kennedy on television but this is a
candidate in Jackson, Mich. It's a day they'll never forget.
[Cheering.]
KENNEDY. The question which the people of
this community and the people of the State of Michigan and the people of
the United States must decide which political party in 1960 serves a great
national purpose. [Shouting.] I believe we stand for a great national purpose.
I believe that we stand for rebuilding the United States, for developing
our economy, for moving ahead here at home and building our strength around
the world. We look to the future in the same way as in other days and in
other years Franklin Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson looked to the future.
I run against a candidate, Mr. Nixon, who runs on the slogan, "You've never
had it so good." I want him to run on that slogan in the State of Michigan.
I want him to run on that slogan in this community. I want him to run on
that slogan all over the State. The State of Michigan has not recovered
from the recession of 1958. Over 7 percent of its people are out of work
and now at this time in October, when the auto industry is at its height.
What is going to happen in January, February, March? What is the winter
of 1961 going to be like here in this State and here in the United States?
As long as in the fall of 1960 we are using only 50 percent of our steel
capacity, as long as 35 percent of our brightest boys and girls never go
to college, as long as there are things which are left to be done, I think
it is the function of the Democratic Party to complete the unfinished business
of this society, to get our country moving again, to provide jobs for our
people. [Cheering, applause.]
Are there any questions? Maybe we'll have
a couple before we pull out. [Shouting.]
SPEAKER. Will you defend Quemoy and Matsu
if it's evident that it's a future attack on Formosa?
KENNEDY. The question is whether we'll defend
Quemoy and Matsu if it's part of an attack on the island of Formosa. In
my judgment if the attack on Quemoy and Matsu is part of an attack on the
Pescadores and Formosa, then in my opinion the entire area will become
an area of war, unfortunately. The problem really is should the line be
drawn at the islands themselves, should the line be drawn as the treaty
now draws it, and as the administration, at the Pescadores? If the action
which takes place on the other side of the line is part of a general attack
on the Formosa-Pescadores area then not only those islands but also the
entire area would become an area of military action and I sustain that.
SPEAKER. Would you use atomic weapons?
KENNEDY. Well, I think the question of what
weapons ought to be used ought to wait the kind of attack and all the rest
of the situation. Yes? [Cheering.]
The question is: What should I tell my parents
who don't want to vote for you because of my religion?
Well, I would ask them to first study what
I have stated on the matter, study what I've said in regard to separation
of church and state, to realize that I've served in the Congress for 14
years, that I vote to sustain the Constitution and then I would tell them
to read the U.S. Constitution which says, "There shall be no religious
tests for office." [Cheering.]
KURALT. While Senator Kennedy's train was
rolling through Michigan today, Vice President Nixon was campaigning on
a California campus.
The Nixon day in a moment after this word
from * * *.
(Announcement)
LEISER. Here at the pleasant midtown campus
of the University of Southern California, student population nearly 10,000,
Vice President Nixon is making his principal public appearance in his hectic
3 days of campaigning in his old political stamping grounds here in the
Los Angeles area.
This kind of setting is as old as the history
of American political campaigning but a new note has been added. Included
in this crowd which is estimated to run about 6,000 to 8,000 people, included
in this crowd are students from 27 campuses in the area. They are first-time
voters. And the academic fathers here at Southern Cal have made this a
pretty starchy affair. This, they have said, is no whistlestop. It's not
a political rally; it's a first voters' convocation and, they say, it offers
the steady dignity available in perhaps no other forum. Fortunately the
dignity has been diluted lust a little by kids carrying political posters
including some for Senator Kennedy. They are not in the script. They are
not supposed to be here but there is a preponderance of people carrying
the banners that say "Nixon For President" and there are a lot of the young
Nixonette girls who met the Vice President when he arrived in the Los Angeles
area.
[Cheering, applause.]
Now here comes the Vice President, here out
on the steps of Doheny Memorial Library, accompanied by U.S.C. President
Topping and accompanied by a famous Southern Cal alumna.
SPEAKER. Thank you very much.
NIXON. Tremendous progress has been made in
interesting our college and university students and, for that matter, our
high school students in political matters and also in interesting them
in their responsibilities in the world community. You know a great deal
more, I can assure you, about the great issues in this campaign than I
knew about the issues of the campaigns of '38 and '40 in which I was a
first voter after having finished the Duke University Law School.
SPEAKER. Well, sir, what three issues then
upon which you and Mr. Kennedy seem to differ do you believe will be the
most decisive in bringing voters into your camp and in each case why do
you believe that your stand is particularly decisive?
NIXON. The issues which will prove most decisive
are, of course, developing at the present time. They have been developed
in the great debates that Senator Kennedy and I have been participating
in over the past 3 weeks. I would begin, of course, in the field of foreign
policy. I think the major issue that concerns people today is which of
the two candidates by experience, judgment, and background can best lead
the United States in the free world in this period, keep the peace and
keep it without surrender of principle or territory. This is the major
issue about which people are concerned.
Now again there is no difference about our
aims. We both want peace and we both want to sustain freedom throughout
the world. The question is one of judgment. The question is one of background.
The question is one of means. I cannot speak of my own background appropriately
as compared with my opponent. That's for you to judge. I can mention my
running mate's and I can only say that I don't know of any man in the world
today who has had more experience, or in my opinion, could have done a
better job of fighting for the cause of peace and freedom than Henry Cabot
Lodge, our Ambassador to the United Nation:. [Cheering, applause.]
Both of us know Mr. Khrushchev. Therefore,
you can be sure that our policies will be ones that will be designed to
deal with him as he is and not as somebody may wish that he were.
SPEAKER. Mr. Nixon, in an evaluation of your
own assets, what one ability or abilities would you say most qualifies
you and best equips you to be President of the United States?
NIXON. That's a question that I generally
would prefer not to answer. I have a different view about the Presidency
than some have. My study of history has always indicated that this country
has elected some Presidents, great ones who have been Democrats, some who
have been Republicans, but the greatness of the President has not been
the result of his ambition; it is not something that is written on a campaign
poster; it's something that comes from his ability at a particular time
in history to represent the deepest ideals, the aspirations, the hopes
of the people of a country. I can't say to this audience or to any audience
that I am the man who has the qualifications and the background and the
like that will produce the greatness that America needs and I think we
need great leadership. I will only say this. I do know the world. I do
know the dangers that we face. I do know that America is going to need
an effort militarily, economically, spiritually, morally, exceeding anything
we have ever had in our country's history. I feel this deeply within me.
I can only say that if I have the opportunity I will, of course, give everything
that I possibly can to move America forward militarily, economically, spiritually,
and morally so that we can win the battle of freedom for the world. [Applause.]
[Music.]
LEISER. And now the Vice President is leaving
to keep up his split-second campaign schedule in the Los Angeles area.
His answers appear to have produced appreciation but no wild demonstration
of enthusiasm from his very well-behaved college audience. Even the Kennedy
ringers in the crowd were docile. And Mr. Nixon again undertook to establish
the campaign image that is his most consistent one, the image of dignity,
experience, and sincerity.
KURALT. Kennedy and Nixon have been going
on like this for about 27,000 miles now, trying from television studios
and train platforms and lecterns of every variety to touch whatever it
is in a voter's consciousness that tells him how to vote. How well they're
doing, what kind of impression the men and the issues are making on the
voters, is the subject of a detailed poll conducted for CBS by public opinion
analyst Elmo Roper. Here are Mr. Roper and CBS News Correspondent Howard
K. Smith.
SMITH. With the campaign well past the halfway
mark we've tried to pick out some of the factors that seem to be influencing
voters the most. Here are some of the factors as they've come out in the
most typical of many, many interviews made before our cameras across the
Nation. As each statement is made I will ask Mr. Elmo Roper to try to measure
the influence of the factor mentioned.
First, the question of the experience of the
candidates.
SPEAKER. Well, I'm going to vote for Dick
Nixon. As far as I'm concerned our major problem is the international situation.
I think that takes precedence over everything else and I think that Dick
Nixon and Lodge are the strongest team that we could have to represent
us in the crazy world that we have today.
SMITH. Well, Mr. Roper, how representative
was that man talking about experience?
ROPER. Well, it seems to me this man is making
two points. One, that the international situation is our major problem,
and second, that the Nixon-Lodge ticket is the most experienced team. If
he is, he represents a lot of people. Foreign affairs takes an easy 2-to-1
lead over domestic affairs as the most important issue facing the country
today, and the reason advanced by more people who intend to vote for Nixon
than any other reason was that he has had more experience than Kennedy,
particularly in foreign affairs. We find, too, that Henry Cabot Lodge strengthens
the ticket in the eyes of 46 percent of all the people who plan to vote
this fall. This compares with only 12 percent who say that Johnson's presence
on the Democratic ticket makes them feel more favorable to the Kennedy
ticket.
SMITH. Well, that's the surprise of the campaign.
I think so far, and it certainly differs with the predictions we heard
at the conventions when it was said that Senator Johnson would add a great
deal to the Democratic ticket but it was doubtful that Mr. Lodge would
add much to the Republican one.
Well, next the farm problem.
FARMER. Well, I've picked Kennedy for my choice
in this election because I feel the Democrats have done more in the past
for the farmer and I think they'll do more if they are elected this time.
SMITH. How many people does that farmer speak
for?
ROPER. Well, there is no doubt that this man
represents a good many unhappy farmers. As a matter of fact, however, we
find that the farm proprietors throughout the United States say they're
planning to vote for Nixon by about a 5-to-3 ratio, and the farm laborers
for Kennedy by about a 4-to-3 ratio. Farmers for Nixon incidentally are
for him mostly because of his experience in foreign affairs, not because
of his farm program.
SMITH. Well, let's turn now to everybody's
economic problem, the pocketbook issue. Which candidate will do better
by the average citizen on bread-and-butter questions.
SPEAKER. I'm a cabdriver and I'm going to
vote Democrat. I've always been a Democrat and I think that Kennedy would
make a very good man. I don't like Nixon because he makes a lot of rash
promises that he never keeps and in Democratic times I've made more money
than I do right now.
SMITH. How widespread is that cabdriver's
view that Democratic times are better for the average man's pocketbook?
ROPER. Well, this man represents the largest
single block of people who will vote for Kennedy. The largest single number
of people saying they intended to vote for him gave as the reason that
he was good on domestic policy, that he was interested in the working classes
and things like that. And the next biggest group, 22 percent, gave as their
reason for voting for Senator Kennedy simply that he was a Democrat and
they preferred the Democratic Party as the party of the people.
SMITH. Well, let's turn now to what is still
the toughest question of all and that is religion. We have found in our
experience interviewing people that very few people, Catholics or Protestants,
will say that religion affects their vote and none will say it in front
of a camera. However, a good many do express their preference in this way.
MINISTER. I am a minister of the Gospel, pastor
of a local Baptist church. In the forthcoming national election I shall
vote for Vice President Richard Nixon. I feel that from the standpoint
of age, temperament, and experience that he is the better of the two candidates.
Also I feel that Mr. Nixon, from the standpoint of being the freest to
administer constitutional and democratic government, is the better of the
two candidates.
SMITH. How widespread do you think opinions
like that are?
ROPER. Well, apparently this man is giving
three reasons for his Nixon vote, but I would assume that his last statement
indicated that he felt Nixon would be less subject to pressure from his
church than Kennedy would be. If I'm right in this assumption, then he
represents about 16 percent of all the people who intend to vote for Nixon.
I should like to point out, however, that this issue of religion is two-edged,
and at the moment, Mr. Kennedy seems to be benefiting about equally with
Mr. Nixon. Protestants plan to vote for Nixon at about a 2-to-1 ratio over
Kennedy, but Catholics report that they intend to vote for Kennedy at a
4-to-1 ratio over Nixon. However, in terms of numbers the disparity is
not that wide because of the greater number of Protestants. Religion certainly
is entering into this election, and there is evidence that some Catholics
and some Protestants alike are voting just because of religion, although,
I am happy to say, definitely not a majority of either.
SMITH. Well, let's turn now to the question
of civil rights. In the last election a Negro told a reporter that the
only one he would vote for would be the Supreme Court. And here is a view
on that in this campaign.
DENTIST. I'm engaged in the general practice
of dentistry. I haven't decided as to who I'm going to vote for in November
but my decision will be based upon how I feel each candidate stacks up
with regards to the civil rights program.
SMITH. How influential do your researches
indicate that viewpoint is?
ROPER. A good many people are concerned about
civil rights. You'll recall I said foreign policy was the No. 1 issue with
the largest number of people. The largest single item mentioned as being
a domestic problem people were personally concerned about was civil rights,
integration, the Negro problem - mentioned by 11 percent of the total population.
This is more than mentioned farm problems or labor union problems or taxation
or the economy of the country, and for a specific issue is second only
to the ability to deal with international problems. There's no question
that votes will be won and lost on the issue of civil rights, particularly
among Negroes, and insofar as this man's being undecided is concerned,
may I point out that our latest figures show 11 percent of the people that
we have every reason to believe will eventually wind up voting said they
were undecided as to whom to vote for. This is roughly twice as many undecided
as there were at the same time in 1956. This is not only a large enough
number to cause a landslide for either candidate if they all went one way,
but what is equally significant to you and me, Mr. Smith, it's a big enough
number to give political commentators and pollsters some sleepless nights
ahead.
SMITH. Well, that takes us right up to the
main question and that is who's ahead. Let's take a look at that one in
a moment after this word from * * *.
(Announcement)
SMITH. Well, what about that key question:
Who is ahead according to your latest samplings?
ROPER. Well, our latest figures show Nixon
with 46 percent of the people preferring him; Kennedy with 43 percent and
that big 11 percent undecided that I mentioned earlier.
SMITH. So this election is still wide open
and could be close or indeed could not be close, too. It could be a landslide
either way.
ROPER. Unfortunately, all one can say now
is that it looks close but could be a landslide with 11 percent undecided.
SMITH. Well, now, what has been the effect,
or do you know, of the great debates on television on the campaign?
ROPER. We don't know but we're putting a study
into the field Monday morning designed to answer that and some other questions.
SMITH. Well, thank you very much, Elmo Roper.
Now here again is Charles Kuralt.
KURALT. Tonight in a speech he prepared for
delivery in Los Angeles, Mr. Nixon is seeking to press that advantage of
his on the issue of experience in foreign affairs. He has proposed a series
of regional conferences around the world to strengthen the U.N. and the
free nations and he proposed that next spring's NATO meeting be turned
into a Western summit conference.
Next week "Eyewitness to History" will yield
the platform to the two candidates themselves for the fourth in their series
of television debates but we'll be back the following week with another
in our series of reports from the scenes of big events.
This is Charles Kuralt. Good evening.
(Music)
ANNOUNCER. Two weeks from tonight on Friday,
October 28, at this same time, keep an eye on "Eyewitness to History,"
brought to you by * * *.
This week's event was reported by CBS News
Correspondents Ernest Leiser, en route with Vice President Nixon; Paul
Niven and Bernard Eismann, en route with Senator Kennedy; and Howard K.
Smith and Charles Kuralt in New York.
(Music)
This program, live film and video tape, was
produced under the supervision and control of CBS News. The editorial judgments
were solely those of CBS News.
1Commercials are omitted.