The nation . ion. It is asituation which responds to exag-geration and caricature. But whena rV debate like that between Ken-nedy and Nixon is staged, the audi-ence has neither organic nor politicalhomogeneity. There is no mass re-sponse to the speakers. The viewer,isolated and relaxed, is in intimatecontact with each speaker by is the setting of a living-roomconversation, not a mass rally. Insuch a setting all of the exaggera-tions which have a positive effect ona mass rally have a negative effecton the living-room viewer. Nixon had long ago developed aneffective oratorical technique
The nation . ion. It is asituation which responds to exag-geration and caricature. But whena rV debate like that between Ken-nedy and Nixon is staged, the audi-ence has neither organic nor politicalhomogeneity. There is no mass re-sponse to the speakers. The viewer,isolated and relaxed, is in intimatecontact with each speaker by is the setting of a living-roomconversation, not a mass rally. Insuch a setting all of the exaggera-tions which have a positive effect ona mass rally have a negative effecton the living-room viewer. Nixon had long ago developed aneffective oratorical technique foraddressing mass partisan rallies. Hisgreat success with the Checkersspeech probably deceived him intoassuming that the same style waswell adapted to a television the Checkers speech was overa moral issue, not policy in that speech he was by him-self on television—unchallenged In-opponent or reporters. Now, in thedebate, the gestures which are neisary in a mass rally appeared sta. and artificial; emotional issues whichcan be drummed into an organic au-dience dI partisans seemed thin inan empty studio Face to Face with apleasant Ivy-leaguer with a hair*11 igger mind. It is this entirely un-expected failure of previously in-vincible methods which probably ac-counts For the bewilderment and shock which Nixon and his support-ers displayed alter the first the three following rounds, Nixonprogressively adjusted his style tothe specific created l>\ the debates. Hut even .it the endIn- was not master of (lie situation. Kennedy on television was the for-tuitous beneficiary of his oratoricaldefects, lie is not an orator. He seems tempi-lament ally unable to de-velop an emotional theme, lie ad-dresses a rally gestureless, inflection-less and at a late of speeeh so rapid as to render Ins arguments unintel-ligible, Reporters who follow him are UnanimOUl in their opinion that themasses who gather to hear him then highest pi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidnation191jul, bookyear1865
