0:00:15 > 0:00:18David Cameron and his lovely kitchen.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Tony Blair and his lovely tennis and his children.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Vladimir Putin stripped to the waist
0:00:25 > 0:00:28with a hunting knife scampering around with the bears.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Nicholas Sarkozi and his lovely...
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Carla Bruni.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38When did it start, this business of politicians selling themselves
0:00:38 > 0:00:42not on the basis of their ideas or their policies
0:00:42 > 0:00:45but on what they get up to in their spare time
0:00:45 > 0:00:48when they're not being politicians?
0:00:48 > 0:00:50The lifestyles!
0:00:50 > 0:00:51Well, look no further.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55It started here at Cape Cod,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59with Jack and the Kennedys.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This is the story not of the presidency, not of a mythical
0:01:02 > 0:01:07king shot down in his prime, but of how John F Kennedy kicked
0:01:07 > 0:01:12his way to power as the little known senator for Massachusetts.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16I believe that the times require imagination
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and courage and perseverance.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21I'm asking each of you to
0:01:21 > 0:01:23be pioneers
0:01:23 > 0:01:26towards that new frontier.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32But the 1960 presidential race saw the triumph of style over substance,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35the influence of vast sums of money
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and the cynical manipulation of voters.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43You might say it marked the beginning of modern politics.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Let's not be too snotty about this.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Kennedy, as a Catholic, was an outsider and felt he had to do
0:01:50 > 0:01:52anything to kick his way to power.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56But what happened in that 1960 campaign did change democratic
0:01:56 > 0:01:59politics everywhere and not for the better.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Hyannis Port is a quiet, relaxed sort of place.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35On the 8th November 1960 it was boiling with tension.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40The eyes of America, the eyes of the world,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45were fixed on the group of houses known as the Kennedy compound.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49One of the richest, most powerful and most ambitious families in
0:02:49 > 0:02:53American political history are huddled together in
0:02:53 > 0:02:58front of their television screens, almost visibly shaking with tension.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03Because the result of the closest presidential election
0:03:03 > 0:03:08campaign in American history is still in the balance.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13That Kennedy had got this far was down to one thing,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17the brilliance of his ground-breaking election campaign.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21At the beginning of 1960, half of America hadn't even heard of him.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Now, barely ten months later, he was on the brink of becoming president.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Our story starts here, in the small
0:03:46 > 0:03:49out of the way state of West Virginia.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52In April 1960,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55this would be the most important place in America for John F Kennedy.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02He was attempting to win the Democratic nomination for president.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08He'd already shown he could succeed in New England and amongst fellow Catholics in Wisconsin.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Now he had to travel to America's heartland to show the sceptical
0:04:11 > 0:04:16bosses of the Democratic Party that he could win over the ordinary
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Joe and working class Wilma of mainstream America.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27It looked quite a hard sell. JFK
0:04:27 > 0:04:33was a wealthy East Coast socialite, 43 years old, blessed and charmed,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37groomed by his millionaire father, Joe.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41The Kennedy's were well connected New England Catholics whose links
0:04:41 > 0:04:46with the Democratic Party went back two generations
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and they had a war chest of millions
0:04:49 > 0:04:53to spend on getting Jack to the White House.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56The family's brimming confidence
0:04:56 > 0:04:59reflected that of most of the country.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Well 1960 is more
0:05:01 > 0:05:06or less smack in the middle of what could well be described as the most
0:05:06 > 0:05:10prosperous, self-congratulatory moment in all of American history.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16But not everywhere shared in the prosperity.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Hard scrabble states with economies dominated by
0:05:20 > 0:05:25farming, coal mines and unions, were shut out and struggling.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Places like West Virginia.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33When the Kennedy bandwagon rolled in
0:05:33 > 0:05:39here in the spring of 1960, JFK had his work cut out.
0:05:39 > 0:05:47In certain areas, you were running as high as 30% unemployment...
0:05:48 > 0:05:52..and we were going through a period when mechanisation was taking over in
0:05:52 > 0:05:59the mines and unemployment was part of the price we had to pay.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05If a Catholic millionaire could win here he could win anywhere.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07High stakes.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Kennedy had a formidable opponent for the Democratic nomination -
0:06:11 > 0:06:16Hubert Horatio Humphrey, the veteran senator for Minnesota.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20He entered the primary contest with a 20 point lead.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23More and cheaper power sources,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27better school buildings and laboratories and greatly expanded
0:06:27 > 0:06:32land water timber conservation practices in appropriate areas.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36These are not expenditures, my friends. These are investments.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38They build dividends.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41I wonder if a certain Gordon Brown ever read
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Hubert Humphrey's speeches!
0:06:45 > 0:06:51Let us pause for a few words about Hubert Humphrey.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Poor, brave, visionary and extremely tough.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00He'd cleaned up his state and kicked out the crooks
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and kicked out the communists.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06He was the first person to raise the issue of civil rights
0:07:06 > 0:07:10on the floor of the Democratic National Convention 12 years
0:07:10 > 0:07:13earlier, against everybody's advice.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16He was experienced, radical,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20an extraordinary, unusual politician
0:07:20 > 0:07:24who did not deserve what was about to happen to him.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33What was about to happen was the birth of a new kind of politics.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38Humphrey's ideas would be drowned out by a rich, glamorous operation
0:07:38 > 0:07:42the like of which West Virginia had never seen before.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Humphrey was bumping around the state in an old bus with a broken
0:07:48 > 0:07:51heater while his wife, Muriel,
0:07:51 > 0:07:57offered the journalists, cold and irritated, her recipe for beef soup.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04Kennedy, meanwhile, was flying overhead, offering the journalist's
0:08:04 > 0:08:10cold Martinis in a private jet bought for him by Daddy.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Humphrey had a truly terrible election slogan.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18"Over the hump with Humphrey."
0:08:18 > 0:08:24But by now, poor old Humphrey was feeling pretty humpy himself.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Ted Sorenson
0:08:26 > 0:08:29was Kennedy's speechwriter and one of his closest aides.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32He'd prepared the ground in West Virginia.
0:08:32 > 0:08:39Nobody campaigns like the Kennedys campaign and John F Kennedy went into
0:08:39 > 0:08:43every hill on the hamlet and the hollow in West Virginia and he
0:08:43 > 0:08:49presented himself to the people there as someone who cared about them.
0:08:49 > 0:08:55Well, I was in Raleigh County, West Virginia for a week during
0:08:55 > 0:08:57the primary, and,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00contrary to what I expected, because on paper it looked
0:09:00 > 0:09:05to be a very strong Humphrey area with the United Mine workers, what I
0:09:05 > 0:09:10found was that much more work was being done on the Kennedy's side.
0:09:10 > 0:09:11What are your plans if elected
0:09:11 > 0:09:16president for the situation existing in the coal mines in West Virginia?
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Well, I think that, and I've been in the Congress now for 14 years,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22and the fact is that in my own state
0:09:22 > 0:09:24of Massachusetts we've had a similar problem.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26We've lost all our textile industry.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29I think there are at least four or five things the government can do.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Kennedy had that ability,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36wherever he went, was to talk to these individuals
0:09:36 > 0:09:38and they would tell him
0:09:38 > 0:09:43the problems they had and he would listen and he made them a promise.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I'll make things better for West Virginia, just
0:09:47 > 0:09:50work for me, vote for me.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53Kennedy's easy charm disguised one
0:09:53 > 0:09:58of the most ruthless tacticians in modern American history.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Like every modern politician, he recognised
0:10:01 > 0:10:06that elections can be won and lost through the influence of the press.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10That was the first time I was out on a presidential
0:10:10 > 0:10:13campaign, so it was all new to me.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19But Kennedy would almost casually walk up to you after an event
0:10:19 > 0:10:23somewhere and say that was a good lead on your story, and you thought
0:10:23 > 0:10:26to yourself, man, the candidate's reading what I'm writing!
0:10:26 > 0:10:31And it was a form of flattery that went very far.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37Kennedy knew exactly how to use journalists to his advantage
0:10:37 > 0:10:42because he'd worked as a reporter before going into politics.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47He was also splashing out cash to secure local voters, with dash and
0:10:47 > 0:10:51no apparent embarrassment at all.
0:10:51 > 0:10:57He had a hugely wealthy operation and was frankly buying support
0:10:57 > 0:10:59everywhere he could go.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Humphrey was no angel.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06In one district, he too tried to buy a little bit of help,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09but the shadowy figures he'd offered the money to
0:11:09 > 0:11:11quickly returned it in a satchel.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The Kennedys had offered a great deal more.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Indeed, Humphrey found all his financial support draining away,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23partly because the Kennedy's had warned the donors
0:11:23 > 0:11:28that if they stuck with Humphrey it would be regarded as an act of war
0:11:28 > 0:11:33and they would be punished if the Kennedy's won the presidency.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38Humphrey was being outsmarted and outspent.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45Kennedy had a budget of 34,000 just for TV advertising.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Humphrey had nothing like that.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53For his last TV ad, he had to raid the 750 stash
0:11:53 > 0:11:56his wife, Muriel, had hoarded for their daughter's wedding.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03He felt as if he were a mom and pop store, as we say, alongside
0:12:03 > 0:12:07some sort of giant supermarket, and so he was overwhelmed by the
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Kennedy money and organisation.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Humphrey or JFK?
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Muriel or Jackie?
0:12:23 > 0:12:25West Virginia was rapidly
0:12:25 > 0:12:29falling for the Kennedy glamour and succumbing to the Kennedy machine.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33But there was still hope for Humphrey.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Kennedy was Catholic, and West Virginia
0:12:35 > 0:12:37was overwhelmingly Protestant.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45America had never had a Catholic president
0:12:45 > 0:12:50and 24% of Americans said they wouldn't consider voting for one.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Kennedy had to convince the people
0:12:53 > 0:12:56that they had nothing to fear from a Roman Catholic candidate.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01The question is whether I think that if I'm elected president
0:13:01 > 0:13:05I would be divided between two loyalties, my church and my state.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Let me just say that I would not.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11I have sworn to uphold the constitution in the
0:13:11 > 0:13:1414 years I've been in Congress, in the years I was in the service.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18The Constitution provides that Congress shall make no laws
0:13:18 > 0:13:20abridging the freedom of religion.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26It was a question that wasn't going to go away easily.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32But West Virginia was a carefully chosen battleground.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Here, Kennedy knew
0:13:34 > 0:13:39that concerns about his religion would be offset by something else.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42His record as a World War II hero.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47In August 1944, John Kennedy was awarded the Navy
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and Marine Corps medal for courage, endurance and leadership.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56As a young naval officer,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00John Kennedy had rescued his men after their boat, the PT109,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03had been cut down in the South Pacific.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Exploiting this story was the key
0:14:07 > 0:14:11that unlocked West Virginia, a state that continues to provide
0:14:11 > 0:14:15one of the highest proportions of volunteers for the US military.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31In 1960, a third of the male voters in West Virginia were war veterans.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34There were more drop-in centres for veterans
0:14:34 > 0:14:39than there were high schools, so the Kennedy campaign bombarded it with
0:14:39 > 0:14:43newspaper and broadcast messages about Kennedy's war time heroism.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And it worked.
0:14:46 > 0:14:52Kennedy the Catholic became Kennedy the decorated war hero.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56But it wasn't enough just to be a war hero.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00The other man had to be seen to be a coward.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05That's why Franklin Roosevelt Jnr, a Kennedy supporter and son of the
0:15:05 > 0:15:08legendary FDR, was pressurised by the Kennedy's into publicly
0:15:08 > 0:15:14suggesting that Hubert Humphrey was a draft dodger in World War II.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19It wasn't true.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22It was a cruel and vicious lie.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Humphrey hadn't served in the Second World War
0:15:24 > 0:15:27because he had a double hernia and couldn't.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32But as soon as the smear of cowardice
0:15:32 > 0:15:35was well lodged in the voters' mind,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Kennedy denied any involvement,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41washed his hands, and sailed on.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46Well, it was a dirty trick, but as FDR said, well, look at the record.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50He was a hero in World War II, his brother had died in that gallant
0:15:50 > 0:15:54flight over the English Channel and Humphrey had not served.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57As folks said, Humphrey had spent the war defending
0:15:57 > 0:15:59a pharmacy in South Dakota.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Kennedy won easily in West Virginia.
0:16:08 > 0:16:14Money, glitz, organisation, dirty tricks, media manipulation.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Well, you may say, so what!
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Can we expect anything else from politicians?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Humphrey's thoughts about the Kennedy style
0:16:30 > 0:16:32should give us all pause for thought.
0:16:35 > 0:16:42To elect a president it's more important that he be good of heart,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44good of spirit,
0:16:44 > 0:16:51than that he be slick or clever or statesman-like looking.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Has the leader given you something
0:16:55 > 0:17:00directly from his heart, or has it all been planned in advance?
0:17:00 > 0:17:02All been scheduled.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Is it efficient?
0:17:05 > 0:17:09From day to day, I read in the paper that the Hubert Humphrey campaign
0:17:09 > 0:17:13is disorganised.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I think, thank God!
0:17:36 > 0:17:40After the primaries, the scene shifts to Los Angeles
0:17:40 > 0:17:42for the 1960 Democratic convention,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45the most expensive such gathering
0:17:45 > 0:17:47there had ever been.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51In hotel suites and smoke-filled rooms, the same ruthless cutting
0:17:51 > 0:17:55edge was shown by Kennedy as in the small town Main Streets and
0:17:55 > 0:17:57far off smoky valleys.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01His way of campaigning had won him every primary he had
0:18:01 > 0:18:05entered and he had the support of delegates from all over the country.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Even now, other candidates, senior, nationally known politicians,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15barely grasped how he'd up-ended the old rules.
0:18:15 > 0:18:21Most delegations aren't run by US senators in Washington.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Those delegations consist
0:18:23 > 0:18:30of local mayors and legislators and county chairmen and party leaders.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35That's where Kennedy had been, at the grass roots level, and
0:18:35 > 0:18:37by the time he had
0:18:38 > 0:18:43a big lead in the number of delegates it was too late for the others to
0:18:43 > 0:18:48catch up to them, and that's exactly how Obama beat Mrs Clinton.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54Of all his enemies in LA in 1960, none was tougher, rougher or more
0:18:54 > 0:18:58dangerous than the Texas senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who thought
0:18:58 > 0:19:03he's swat the New England upstart posh boy like a horse fly.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Senator Johnson, running behind, took the initiative
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and challenged Kennedy to a debate
0:19:08 > 0:19:11before the combined Texas and Massachusetts delegations.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15After first hesitating, Kennedy accepted and he appeared before
0:19:15 > 0:19:17the heavily pro-Johnson crowd.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19He listened to one of the most
0:19:19 > 0:19:22blistering attacks made against him during the entire campaign.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Johnson was the senate majority leader
0:19:24 > 0:19:30but he hadn't fought any primaries and somehow the upstart didn't seem
0:19:30 > 0:19:36to notice the verbal thrashing LBJ thought he'd just administered.
0:19:36 > 0:19:37..He replied confidently.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Mr Senator Johnson. Full of affection for him.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44In support of a majority leader and I'm confident in that position
0:19:44 > 0:19:47we're all going to be able to work together.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:19:51 > 0:19:54I remember the roll call vote, listening to it on the radio,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59in 1960, and it wasn't decided that Kennedy was going to be the nominee
0:19:59 > 0:20:01until the very last state in
0:20:01 > 0:20:05alphabetical order was polled on the floor. It was the state of Wyoming,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07which in any alphabetical list of the United States is the last one.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It cast its vote for Kennedy and that was it to put him over the top.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It was a new dawn, was it not?
0:20:22 > 0:20:27After 1960, getting selected to run for president meant that primaries
0:20:27 > 0:20:31not connections mattered most.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33A good thing, surely?
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Except that it put the top
0:20:36 > 0:20:40job beyond the reach of those who didn't have the vast sums of money
0:20:40 > 0:20:42required for the
0:20:42 > 0:20:46professional organisation, the jet travel and months of campaigning.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Great candidates would be shut out,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52left staring helplessly upwards from the dusty tarmac.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58All Kennedy's work paid off and he became the Democrat's
0:20:58 > 0:21:00candidate for the presidency.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04But immediately he had to take one very difficult decision.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Who was going to be his running mate?
0:21:07 > 0:21:11All the rival candidates were possibilities but Kennedy
0:21:11 > 0:21:13chose the man most useful to him.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17The man who happened to be his most outspoken critic.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21That was a dangerous thing to do.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Johnson would bring Kennedy lots of parts of the
0:21:24 > 0:21:27US he couldn't reach by himself,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30but Kennedy was putting his old rival
0:21:30 > 0:21:32very close to the presidency.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37Doesn't matter, said Kennedy to his friends, I'm 43.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I'm not going to die in office.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Hug your enemies.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Choosing LBJ was a smart move.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50He made JFK more appealing to the South,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53and, as we'll see, the Southern Democrats were most likely
0:21:53 > 0:21:56to cause trouble when it came to civil rights.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01The great domestic test lying ahead for Kennedy's America.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03And so to the final round.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07'Richard M Nixon was the choice of the Republican party.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13'He has served as vice president for the United States since 1953.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15'Now he was a candidate for the presidency.'
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Understudy to the hugely popular Eisenhower for eight years,
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Richard Milhouse Nixon was tough, experienced and a favourite to win.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29One of the big beasts of the Republican party, he'd been
0:22:29 > 0:22:34observing the rise of the senator from Massachusetts with interest.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39In the draft of his speech accepting
0:22:39 > 0:22:42the nomination, Nixon wrote, "this election must not be decided
0:22:42 > 0:22:45"on the basis of money, who has the most glamour,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49"who has the slickest organisation, who has the best PR experts.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53"It must be decided by the facts."
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Nixon still had good reason to be confident that he,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06not Kennedy, would be the next president of the United States.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Nixon was the favourite.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14A poll was taken which showed that most people thought that
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Nixon would beat Kennedy.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Another poll showed that most members of the Democratic national committee
0:23:20 > 0:23:22thought Nixon would beat Kennedy.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Nixon and Kennedy had been elected to congress in the same year.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29They had offices across the hall from each other.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Nixon was only four years older than his rival.
0:23:32 > 0:23:39And in 1960, Nixon wasn't regarded as particularly right-wing.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41His policies were moderate.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47So did Kennedy take on Nixon with different ideas, as his defeated
0:23:47 > 0:23:50democratic rivals might have done?
0:23:50 > 0:23:52No.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56Kennedy's proposals were almost a mirror image of Nixon's,
0:23:56 > 0:24:01tax cuts and minor reforms to social welfare and education.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05This shouldn't be a surprise. After all, Kennedy had admitted
0:24:05 > 0:24:07he was a realist not a liberal.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10The atmosphere he set during this campaign would matter more than
0:24:10 > 0:24:13his party's platform.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17A lesson for all modern politicians everywhere.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21If at all possible, avoid talking about details.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Ideology. Forget it!
0:24:24 > 0:24:29Your political philosophy may inspire one voter
0:24:29 > 0:24:33but frighten another or two more.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37So don't write a programme.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Paint a mood.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Nixon emphasised his experience and,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45securing Eisenhower's friendly legacy,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48he offered reassurance and stability.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51All he had to do was not rock the boat.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Kennedy's slogan seemed empty.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Getting the country moving again.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02What it meant was youth and energy and what that meant was,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06me, just me!
0:25:06 > 0:25:09New America, new Democrats.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Plenty would learn that game in the years to come.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14Kennedy understood
0:25:14 > 0:25:19that he was a personality and that what people were
0:25:19 > 0:25:24interested in was not simply the policy statements, but the man and
0:25:24 > 0:25:26the whole package he came in.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36Pleasure to have you here.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40I want you to meet my daughter, Caroline, and my wife, Jackie.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43How do you do?
0:25:43 > 0:25:47I'm glad you had a chance to see something of the senate and now
0:25:47 > 0:25:52to see our house, where we've lived a year and since Caroline was born.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I think it was inevitable for politics.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58The television age
0:25:59 > 0:26:01had brought to politics much more
0:26:01 > 0:26:03focus on the person than the personality
0:26:03 > 0:26:07and it's not a question if it's good or bad, because it happened.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Sell Jack.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14He's handsome, young, vibrant, photogenic,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17witty, charming, and it worked.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21The selling of Jack had been orchestrated all along
0:26:21 > 0:26:25by his father, Joe, who'd learned while making millions of dollars in
0:26:25 > 0:26:30business that if you don't market a product properly it won't sell.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34It was an example every politician followed after 1960.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Joe Kennedy
0:26:37 > 0:26:42famously said he was going to sell Jack like soap flakes.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Do you think that something
0:26:44 > 0:26:48bad happened in politics during that 1960 campaign as a result?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54These are things you just have to deal with because you can't turn
0:26:54 > 0:26:57back the clock, you can't pretend these things never got invented.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00In America it had become increasingly
0:27:00 > 0:27:04important to have this kind of high visibility.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08So many of the people who command political attention
0:27:08 > 0:27:13nowadays come out of some other venue, out of Hollywood or out of
0:27:13 > 0:27:16the sports world or out of the business world because they have
0:27:16 > 0:27:19made tons of money.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21And so Joe Kennedy understood
0:27:21 > 0:27:25the importance of public relations and he said at one point, you put
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Jack on the cover of a magazine and it'll sell out overnight.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Of course, politicians have always
0:28:13 > 0:28:16sold themselves on the basis of image.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Grand houses or log cabins or wood chopping.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24What was different about Kennedy was that he wasn't simply selling
0:28:24 > 0:28:29himself as a brave man, though he was, or as a clever man,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33though he was, or as somebody with particularly interesting ideas.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36He was selling a lifestyle.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39That's very different.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45It was said of the Kennedys that they created illusions
0:28:45 > 0:28:50and called them facts, but sometimes the facts were simply false.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52As election day grew nearer,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56nothing that damaged JFK's radiant image was allowed.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02John Kennedy's health was central to the way that he sold himself.
0:29:02 > 0:29:08He was the sun-kissed, super fit, active, young New England boy.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Trouble was this was not true.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Not only did he have agonising back problems.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19More importantly, he had a form of Addison's disease,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23which is an adrenal disease which in those days was often fatal.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27He was dealing with it by carrying everywhere with him
0:29:27 > 0:29:30a little bag of hypodermic syringes and pills.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36When he was challenged about Addison's disease, he flatly denied that he had it or ever had had,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40and his doctor, Janet Travail, backed him up.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45As his medical records, released here at the John Kennedy Library 40 years
0:29:45 > 0:29:51after his death, make absolutely clear, he and she were lying.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56It was a cover-up. All these pictures of him,
0:29:56 > 0:30:02touch football and on the sea, on the ocean, yachting and vigorous.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07The word vigour, the Massachusetts dialect, as they used it.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10He was the embodiment of vigorous youth.
0:30:10 > 0:30:15But in fact he was someone with lots of medical problems,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19so it's so interesting as to how the image and the reality,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21there was a serious gap there
0:30:21 > 0:30:24but they managed to carry that off brilliantly.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49They could carry it off by tapping into America's latest boom industry.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52This was the era of Madison Avenue -
0:30:52 > 0:30:59advertising agencies and commercials on billboards, radio and TV.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03Kennedy's advertising agency was Guild, Bascom and Bonfigli.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07They merged with the company that later became Saatchi & Saatchi,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11creators of some of the most famous political advertising of all time.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15# Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
0:31:15 > 0:31:18# Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy for me. #
0:31:18 > 0:31:21- Kennedy!- Kennedy!- Kennedy!- Kennedy!
0:31:21 > 0:31:25# Do you want a man for president who's seasoned through and through?
0:31:25 > 0:31:29# But not so doggone seasoned that he won't try something new
0:31:29 > 0:31:32# A man who's old enough to know
0:31:32 > 0:31:34# And young enough to do
0:31:34 > 0:31:36# Well it's up to you It's up to you
0:31:36 > 0:31:38# It's strictly up to you. #
0:31:38 > 0:31:40What they lacked in sophistication,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44the early JFK commercials made up for in hummability.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Within days it seemed that the whole country was singing along
0:31:47 > 0:31:49to the Kennedy theme tune.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51# It's strictly up to you.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53# Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
0:31:53 > 0:31:55# Kennedy, Kennedy Candidate for me. #
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy!
0:32:02 > 0:32:03KENNEDY!
0:32:04 > 0:32:08It does seem to me, and it's not an original observation with me,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10that there has been a certain degradation
0:32:10 > 0:32:15of the level of political seriousness in political campaigns
0:32:15 > 0:32:19as major complicated issues get reduced to 15-second or 30-second
0:32:19 > 0:32:25TV advertisements, or now internet advertisements.
0:32:25 > 0:32:32That kind of thing can't enhance the complicated process of political decision-making.
0:32:32 > 0:32:38Nixon would have agreed. He refused to be sold like a commodity.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Look, he said, I am and am going to be Nixon.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46I will not change to please TV or Madison Avenue.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50I am going to be what I am, for good or bad.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58But no campaign can entirely ignore the big issues.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03In July 1960, polls concluded that across America
0:33:03 > 0:33:05the overwhelming majority regarded
0:33:05 > 0:33:09relations with Russia as being the primary problem facing the nation.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14There's all this anxiety about a potential nuclear exchange
0:33:14 > 0:33:16with the Soviet Union.
0:33:16 > 0:33:17Three years earlier,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20the Soviets had launched their space satellite Sputnik.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Ever since, America feared that if the Soviets were ahead on rocket
0:33:24 > 0:33:29technology then they must be ahead on nuclear missiles as well.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33The fact that the country was in a dispirited mood
0:33:33 > 0:33:38over the fact that the Soviets had eclipsed us with Sputnik,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42and there was a lot of anxiety that there would be a missile gap
0:33:42 > 0:33:45and the US was going to be behind the Soviet Union
0:33:45 > 0:33:46in technology of this kind.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51Both Nixon and Kennedy knew this wasn't true.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56Secret intelligence reports showed the US was well ahead.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00As vice-president, Nixon couldn't reveal the truth for fear
0:34:00 > 0:34:02of compromising government security...
0:34:04 > 0:34:08..but Kennedy was always looking for political advantage.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12He made many speeches demanding more missiles,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15even though he knew they weren't necessary.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19This administration has failed to recognise the changing nature
0:34:19 > 0:34:23of our times and we now see the Soviets heading to the moon
0:34:23 > 0:34:27and what is true of outer space is true of every area of national
0:34:27 > 0:34:29and international government.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Nonsense, actually, but it made Nixon look weak.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37A master class in political manipulation.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Kennedy played on the fears of the public.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42He had a sixth sense for what people wanted to hear.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47There's something called a political athlete, who is the natural,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50and he has enormous gifts that are quite natural
0:34:50 > 0:34:54and Kennedy had those gifts. They develop more later on.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Ronald Reagan had them.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58I don't think Richard Nixon had them.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04He had to develop as a candidate and as a campaigner.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Kennedy's final problem was his inexperience.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13How would he square up to the former Vice President?
0:35:14 > 0:35:20Here he had a faithless, dangerous, addictive ally.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It's the thing you're watching right now.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27Television debates between would-be presidents had long been
0:35:27 > 0:35:29the dream of the broadcasters.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32For years they'd worked to clear every obstacle.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38With six weeks left in the campaign, Kennedy was given his golden chance.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42- BROADCASTER:- The presidential candidates meet face-to-face in television debates
0:35:42 > 0:35:43seen and heard by millions.
0:35:43 > 0:35:50The same people who will decide which of these two men shall lead the country for the next four years.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58In 1950, 10% of American households had a television set.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02By 1960, only 10% didn't.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07The TV studio became a kind of political courthouse
0:36:07 > 0:36:11but playing by very strange and unfair rules.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15I think everybody in the United States
0:36:15 > 0:36:18sees that 1960 debate as the touchstone.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22Kind of the beginning of modern politics, television politics.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28The problem is, as future generations of politicians have found to their cost,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32if you're not perfect for television, you're stuffed.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37It's unfair, capricious, shallow.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40You're the wrong shape, you're bald.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44You won't do well on television.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Conclusion.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48There is no choice.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53If the television studio doesn't become your personal theatre,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57its cameras will be your firing squad.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02Eisenhower had warned Nixon not to take part but Nixon
0:37:02 > 0:37:08believed television would show up Kennedy's shallowness and lack of experience.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Ha-ha! Nixon the naive.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18He had his staffers stand him up and ask questions, they constantly threw
0:37:18 > 0:37:22them at him, and so he did it verbally back and forth
0:37:22 > 0:37:26whereas Nixon sat down there like a student grind,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30but working and studying and preparing and then walking out
0:37:30 > 0:37:32for the performance.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37As many as 70 million Americans tuned in to watch the debates.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Good evening. The television and radio stations of the US
0:37:40 > 0:37:44and their affiliated stations are proud to provide facilities
0:37:44 > 0:37:47for discussion of issues in the current
0:37:47 > 0:37:51political campaign by the two major candidates for the presidency.
0:37:51 > 0:37:56Famously, Nixon had a very strong beard and was badly made up.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59He also wore a light suit for the first debate,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03so light that he seemed to disappear against the backdrop.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09On the day of the debate, they kept repainting it in the agreed grey colour, to try to make it darker.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Every time they painted it, it dried light.
0:38:12 > 0:38:19Bill Wilson was a young TV producer who'd left his job at the networks to join the Kennedy camp.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22He was very happy with the colour of the paintwork.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25I just said, "Lighter's better.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28"Lighter's better. Relax, everybody. Light is fine."
0:38:29 > 0:38:33With a dark suit and a good tan,
0:38:33 > 0:38:35JFK just sparkled.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln said that
0:38:39 > 0:38:44the question was whether this nation could exist half-slave or half-free.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47In the election of 1960, and with the world around us,
0:38:47 > 0:38:52the question is whether the world will exist half-slave or half-free.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56Nixon, before the debate, several weeks before, he had smacked
0:38:56 > 0:39:01his knee on a car door, had an infection and was hospitalised
0:39:01 > 0:39:04for, I think, 12 days, and then when he got out
0:39:04 > 0:39:07for the debate he smacked his knee again.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11He was in pain, he had a bit of a fever, he looked pallid.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15A couple of the TV experts there suggested,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18"Do you want to postpone this debate?"
0:39:18 > 0:39:22because they looked at him and he didn't look really well
0:39:22 > 0:39:26and Nixon, of course, "I'm not going to back out of anything."
0:39:26 > 0:39:27He went ahead with it.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Somebody said, "You look like a sinister chipmunk," and Kennedy,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34who had the right clothes on him, the right make up,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38they understood how to create this image.
0:39:38 > 0:39:43We got to the stage with about a minute to air
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and JFK said, "I got to go the bathroom."
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Well, you don't say, "You can't go to the bathroom,"
0:39:49 > 0:39:52so I took him to where it was.
0:39:52 > 0:39:59We came back to the entrance to the stage as the stage manager
0:39:59 > 0:40:02was going, "Three, two, one..."
0:40:02 > 0:40:07and he hit that stage at exactly the time
0:40:07 > 0:40:09that we hit the air.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13At that moment, everybody on the stage, including Nixon,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15didn't know what to think.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18He wasn't there but there he was.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21The comfort break to cause maximum discomfort.
0:40:21 > 0:40:22Maximum discomfort!
0:40:24 > 0:40:28It froze the room, psyched Nixon out completely,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30and it was glorious.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33You yourself said to Khrushchev, "You may be ahead of us
0:40:33 > 0:40:36"in rocket thrust but we're ahead of you in colour television."
0:40:36 > 0:40:39I think colour television is not as important as rocket thrust.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43When I was in the control room, it was Nixon's man
0:40:43 > 0:40:47on one side of the director and I on the other side of the director,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50and I saw we were winning hands down.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54I said, "We need a cutaway, we need another shot of Nixon,"
0:40:54 > 0:40:58because I could see the streams of sweat going down his face
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and I wanted to see that in a close-up.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04Chicago mayor Richard Daly said of Nixon,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08"They've embalmed him before he even died."
0:41:08 > 0:41:11People who heard that debate on radio thought Nixon had won,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and those who watched it on television,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16which was the great bulk of the population,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19thought Kennedy had bested Nixon.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24Nixon had imagined the debates would be about statesmanship,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27but in the end, like everything about the Kennedy campaign,
0:41:27 > 0:41:31they were about showmanship and, quite simply,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33the greater showman won.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37Kennedy had shown he could stand on a stage as Nixon's equal.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39That was dramatic.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Secondly, Kennedy's very attractive appearance,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45and third when Nixon, in his debating style, kept saying,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50"I agree with Senator Kennedy," and still people judged it pretty close.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55But then everybody waited for what the pollsters said the result was.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Most of us are suggestible creatures. We like to go
0:41:58 > 0:42:03with the flow, and so it was very important that immediately after
0:42:03 > 0:42:07the debate the pollsters called it for Kennedy.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- BROADCASTER:- Four times he and Nixon met on the nation's television screens.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Kennedy appeared the equal of the Vice President and this represented
0:42:14 > 0:42:15a tremendous gain for him.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Once again, Kennedy had met his opposition face-to-face,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21and, once again, he had won.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25When we were looking at the debates in 2008,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28and I was coordinating the debate prep,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33it felt like a great deal of the same dynamic in terms
0:42:33 > 0:42:37of the argument at the time that Obama might be too inexperienced,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39maybe not quite ready to be president,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42and that the debate is the single best opportunity
0:42:42 > 0:42:45to demonstrate, to show - not to tell people - that you're ready.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50# I'm ready Ready as anybody can be
0:42:53 > 0:42:58# I'm ready Ready as anybody can be
0:43:01 > 0:43:06# I am ready for you I hope you're ready for me... #
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Kennedy may have believed that he was ready
0:43:16 > 0:43:18but his lead in the polls was tiny.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23His religion was still a major issue for many voters.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27Kennedy was not the first presidential candidate who was a Catholic.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32Errol Smith in 1928 was a Catholic and of course he lost miserably to Herbert Hoover.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38That left a mark on the American Catholic community - it reinforced a feeling of marginality,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42a feeling that no-one of theirs could actually make it to the top
0:43:42 > 0:43:43of the political ladder.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Kennedy's response was to take his biggest problem
0:43:49 > 0:43:54and charge at it head-on, getting there before the critics did.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04As part of a campaign swing through the South West states,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07Kennedy was invited to defend himself
0:44:07 > 0:44:12in front of 300 local Protestant ministers in Houston, Texas.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17I believe in an America where no man is denied public office merely
0:44:17 > 0:44:21because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23or the people who might elect him.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Do you say that with the approval of the Vatican?
0:44:26 > 0:44:29I don't have to have approval in that sense.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31APPLAUSE
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Get there first!
0:44:33 > 0:44:40As for Kennedy and Catholicism, so Obama and race, or Tony Blair
0:44:40 > 0:44:42and middle-class fears of Labour,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46or indeed David Cameron and being too posh.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51But in 1960, pleas for a more tolerant society applied
0:44:51 > 0:44:55more directly to another group - not Catholics, but black Americans,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58held back behind the colour bar.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Not slaves. Not fully free.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06# See the arrow on the doorpost
0:45:09 > 0:45:13# Saying this land is condemned
0:45:16 > 0:45:21# All the way from New Orleans
0:45:21 > 0:45:25# To Jerusalem... #
0:45:29 > 0:45:34The American South was still broadly segregated along racial lines.
0:45:34 > 0:45:41Plans to integrate schools and buses were being approved but many states were digging in their heels.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Tensions were reaching fever pitch.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47# See them big plantations burning
0:45:50 > 0:45:53# Hear the cracking of the whips... #
0:45:54 > 0:45:57It's the most vexed issue in American life historically.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Incidentally, I think it's no accident that the race issue
0:46:01 > 0:46:05really gets grasped in that time of national self-confidence,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08in the post World War II era. That's not an accident.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15By 1960, neither presidential candidate could ignore civil rights
0:46:15 > 0:46:17but Kennedy had a problem.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20His party was split down the middle.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23If he came out too strongly for African Americans,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27he risked losing the support of the white Democratic south.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31And his backing to date
0:46:31 > 0:46:36of the civil rights movement had been at best lukewarm.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39This is Ben's Chili Bowl.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41A Washington legend and landmark.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45They've all been here. Martin Luther King. Jessie Jackson.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Ella Fitzgerald. Nat King Cole.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50Barack Obama.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53But not John F Kennedy.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57It's been said that the only black people that Kennedy knew
0:46:57 > 0:46:59were valets and drivers.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04Many people remember Kennedy as the great champion of civil rights,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and Nixon being on the other side.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11That wasn't entirely true, was it?
0:47:11 > 0:47:14Richard Nixon, quite frankly, even when I was with him,
0:47:14 > 0:47:15really had a soft spot
0:47:15 > 0:47:18for African Americans and how badly they had it in this country.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22He was a Quaker and his mother was a Quaker,
0:47:22 > 0:47:27and this idea that these people have had it tough and they need a break,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30that was ingrained in Richard Nixon.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Richard Nixon was clearly more pro-civil rights than Jack Kennedy.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38Kennedy may have had little instinctive empathy for civil rights,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40but in some states
0:47:40 > 0:47:45there were votes to be had by being seen to support black Americans.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Two weeks before the election, Martin Luther King was in jail
0:47:49 > 0:47:52for a ludicrous technicality.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55JFK made a clever tactical move.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Behind the scenes, he pulled strings to get him out.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04The Kennedy campaign treated the news very carefully.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08They released it to the black news organisations and churches
0:48:08 > 0:48:13to garner black votes but played it down for the white press,
0:48:13 > 0:48:15and for one very important reason.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Some of the most virulent racists around in 1960
0:48:19 > 0:48:23were in Kennedy's own party, the Southern Democrats.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29By selectively distributing the news of how they helped the King family,
0:48:29 > 0:48:36the Kennedy's gained, in one district alone, a 16% swing of the black vote for JFK.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40There's not much ambiguity in the Kennedys. They're all calculation
0:48:40 > 0:48:45and they're very good at it but it was a coldly calculated decision.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50So how did this play out when Kennedy became president?
0:48:50 > 0:48:55It was a touchstone issue after all.
0:48:55 > 0:49:01But after the election, Kennedy got no civil rights legislation through Congress.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Two-and-a-half years into his presidency,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11a quarter of a million people marched on Washington
0:49:11 > 0:49:16and Martin Luther King had a dream, because it was still a dream.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21Kennedy didn't herald a new era of radical liberal law-making,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25as so many of his supporters had hoped.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31If one takes a hard, thoughtful look at the Kennedy administration
0:49:31 > 0:49:32on the domestic side,
0:49:32 > 0:49:38there wasn't really all that much you could point to in the way of significant accomplishments.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42He, however, thought of himself as a foreign-policy president.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45His goal was to deal with the Communist threat,
0:49:45 > 0:49:47the Soviet Union and emerging China,
0:49:47 > 0:49:55the danger from nuclear weapons, and there, one can say he did have significant achievements.
0:49:55 > 0:49:56All of that was still to come.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00But for the making of modern politics,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04it was the 1960 campaign that made the difference.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17In the final week, Nixon surprised Kennedy by outspending him
0:50:17 > 0:50:19in a campaign advertising blitz.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21They were now neck and neck.
0:50:21 > 0:50:2770 million voters made their choice between Nixon's experience
0:50:27 > 0:50:31and Kennedy's vigour.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36- BROADCASTER:- Tuesday November 8th is election day all over the country.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Streets and buildings are decked with flags.
0:50:41 > 0:50:47The campaign clamour has died down and given way to quiet reflection.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52In Hyannis Port, Kennedy and his family gathered for the results.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Ted Sorenson was with them.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58We weren't certain he was going to win.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02The polls had shown a very narrow race
0:51:02 > 0:51:06and the lead changing back and forth.
0:51:06 > 0:51:11We weren't certain how some states, which were very important states, were going to go.
0:51:11 > 0:51:16Finally, Kennedy, in the early hours of the next morning, went to bed.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22I stayed by the television, watching. I wasn't going to give up till I knew.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Huge boards post the returns as they come in,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28minute by minute, hour by hour.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33The sun was up and I walked over to his house.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36I noticed there were secret service men around the house now.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40That had not been true the previous day. That was a good sign.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44I walked in and one of his domestic staff said,
0:51:44 > 0:51:49"I heard him stirring upstairs, go on up."
0:51:49 > 0:51:54So I went up and I walked into his bedroom and I said,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57"Good morning, Mr President."
0:51:58 > 0:52:04Kennedy beat Nixon by just 0.2%.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07"So what?" you may say.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11Kennedy may have won 49.7% of the vote,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15but he had 100% of the White House.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19- BROADCASTER:- Shortly after Vice President Nixon officially concedes the election
0:52:19 > 0:52:21on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 9th,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25Senator Kennedy appears before the press in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34With him are his wife, his father and mother, his many brothers and sisters.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39After acknowledging congratulatory wires from President Eisenhower
0:52:39 > 0:52:41and Mr Nixon, he addresses all Americans.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Every degree of mind and spirit that I possess
0:52:44 > 0:52:49will be devoted to the long range interests of the United States
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and to the cause of freedom around the world.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56So now my wife and I prepare for a new administration,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59and for a new baby, thank you.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Nixon learned lessons from his narrow defeat.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05He recognised the new realities.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Next time, he would sell himself like Kennedy.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13So would many others.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24You, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, do solemnly swear.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28I, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, do solemnly swear.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32That you will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38And will to the best of your ability...
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Perhaps the greatest lesson that modern politicians have learned
0:53:42 > 0:53:46from Kennedy is that voters will always respond to a candidate
0:53:46 > 0:53:49who makes anything seem possible.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51We dare not forget today
0:53:51 > 0:53:55that we are the heirs of that first revolution.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58One of the things that everybody knows about Kennedy
0:53:58 > 0:54:02is that he was an absolute master of political rhetoric
0:54:02 > 0:54:03and speech-making.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08Ever since, politicians all around the world have tried to mimic him.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13Let the word go forth from this time and place,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16to friend and foe alike,
0:54:16 > 0:54:22that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26When I listen to this, my heart rate starts to increase,
0:54:26 > 0:54:31my spine stiffens slightly, and a little smile comes across my face.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Once we had a president who made people feel hopeful
0:54:34 > 0:54:39about America and brought us together to do great things.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Today, Barack Obama gives us that same chance.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45He makes us believe in ourselves again,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49that when we act as one nation, we can overcome any challenge.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52People always tell me how my father inspired them.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54I feel that same excitement now.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59We have to feel energised and enthusiastic and optimistic
0:54:59 > 0:55:03about the new leader from time to time,
0:55:03 > 0:55:09otherwise none of us would bother voting or funding or working for political parties at all.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12And that was Kennedy's great secret.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14He made people interested again.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17And so my fellow Americans,
0:55:17 > 0:55:21ask not what your country can do for you,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25ask what you can do for your country.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:55:29 > 0:55:34And he remains a kind of liberal West Wing icon
0:55:34 > 0:55:38because he didn't have time for the fresh paint to fade.
0:55:40 > 0:55:46So potent is the Kennedy myth that even today, like a drum beat,
0:55:46 > 0:55:50the question is asked, what would have happened if Kennedy had lived?
0:55:50 > 0:55:53He would have had authority, a bit more authority.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57I think an angrier looking man,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00because being in power makes people angry.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05When you try to imagine that kind of Kennedy,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09something rather extraordinary happens.
0:56:10 > 0:56:16You get President Bartlett from The West Wing.
0:56:16 > 0:56:24That is in many ways the old Kennedy admirers' final poem of praise
0:56:24 > 0:56:28and admiration to the lost king.
0:56:29 > 0:56:36When it comes to verdicts, then most of us in the hurtle and buzz
0:56:36 > 0:56:42of the modern world prefer to focus on the pretty picture. The image.
0:56:42 > 0:56:48Isn't this really the story of the triumph of the flat
0:56:48 > 0:56:53and the glossy and the perfectly posed?
0:56:57 > 0:57:03After JFK, we expected our politicians to look good,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07to make heart stopping speeches, have beautiful children,
0:57:07 > 0:57:11to be masters of marketing and artists of spin.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15But the higher the hope, the greater the fall,
0:57:15 > 0:57:17the inevitable disillusion.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21If you campaign in poetry, govern in prose,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24you may be remembered in curses.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Kennedy escaped that for the worst of reasons
0:57:28 > 0:57:30but the more you look at his campaigning,
0:57:30 > 0:57:35the more the message must be that he is a better memory than a model.
0:57:37 > 0:57:43Life would be better if today's politicians enjoyed the uplift
0:57:43 > 0:57:46without copying the style.
0:57:48 > 0:57:53JFK: 'I'm asking each of you to be pioneers towards that new frontier.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58'My call is to the young at heart, regardless of age.
0:57:58 > 0:58:04'To the stout in spirit, regardless of party.
0:58:04 > 0:58:10'To all who respond to the scriptural call, be strong and of good courage.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12'Be not afraid, neither be dismayed.'
0:58:16 > 0:58:19# From a jack to a king
0:58:21 > 0:58:25# From loneliness to a wedding ring
0:58:25 > 0:58:31# I played an ace and I won a queen
0:58:31 > 0:58:34# And walked away with your heart
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# For just a little while
0:58:39 > 0:58:44# I thought that I might lose the game
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# I played an ace and I won a queen
0:58:49 > 0:58:52# You made me a king of your heart. #
0:58:52 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:54 > 0:58:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk