Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1998

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication

Major Professor

C. Edward Caudill

Committee Members

Paul Ashdown, James Crook

Abstract

This thesis compares how three television appearances by John Kennedy and three by Richard Nixon, in three crisis situations — foreign policy, political self-defense, and political defeat ~ were assessed by three newspapers ~ the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Boston Globe. The unit of analysis was any news story or editorial pertaining to the appearance that ran in the morning editions of these three papers in the two days after each appearance.

The newspaper themes that emerged showed that coverage of the appearances contributed to the divergent images of Kennedy and Nixon as follows. Coverage of Kennedy's Cuban missile crisis address portrayed him as a mature leader who took a bold and deliberate stand against a communist aggressor. Conversely, coverage of Nixon's announcement of America's invasion into Cambodia portrayed him as a reckless president who had made an unpopular decision that polarized politicians and college students. Kennedy's appearance before the Ministerial Association of Greater Houston led to press coverage that made him out to be a passionate, articulate defender of religious freedom. In the same way, Nixon gained praise and vindication as a politician who earned widespread public support in the coverage of his "Checkers speech." In scant coverage of Kennedy's concession speech before the 1956 Democratic National Convention, he was delineated as a politician whose standing rose after narrowly losing the vice presidential nomination. Contrariwise, coverage of Nixon's "last press conference" depicted him as a politician whose career had acrimoniously ended as a result of his own character.

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