Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image

The Living Room Candidate

"Debate," Kennedy, 1960



MALE NARRATOR: In his historic debate with Richard Nixon, Senator John F. Kennedy has made an impression by being direct, by being specific, by facing the issues squarely. He is meeting the challenge of the '60s; he's offering new American leadership for the country, for the world.



KENNEDY: This is a great country, but I think it could be a greater country. And this is a powerful country, but I think it could be a more powerful country. I'm not satisfied to have 50 percent of our steel mill capacity unused. I'm not satisfied when the United States had, last year, the lowest rate of economic growth of any major industrialized society in the world. Because economic growth means strength and vitality. It means we're able to sustain our defenses. It means we're able to meet our commitments abroad.



I'm not satisfied when we have over nine billion dollars of food, some of it rotting, even though there is a hungry world, and even though four million Americans wait every month for a food package from the government which averages five cents a day per individual. I saw places in West Virginia, here in the United States, where children took home part of their school lunch in order to feed their families. I don't think we're meeting our obligations towards these Americans.



I'm not satisfied when the Soviet Union is turning out twice as many scientists and engineers as we are. I'm not satisfied when many of our teachers are inadequately paid, and many of our students go in part-time shifts. I think we should have an educational system second to none.



I'm not satisfied until every American enjoys his full constitutional rights. When a Negro baby is born, he has about one half as much chance to get through high school as a white baby. He has one third as much chance to get through college as a white student. He has about a third as much chance to be a professional man. About half as much chance to own a house. He has about four times as much chance that he'll be out of work in his life as the white baby. I think we can do better. I don't want the talents of any Americans to go to waste.



I know that there are those who say that we want to turn everything over to the government. I don't at all. I want the individual to meet their responsibility. And I want the states to meet their responsibilities. But I think there is also a national responsibility.



If you feel that everything that is being done now is satisfactory, that the relative power and prestige and strength of the United States is increasing in relation to that of the Communists, that we are gaining more security, that we are achieving everything as a nation that we should achieve, that we are achieving a better life for our citizens and greater strength, then I agree. I think you should vote for Mr. Nixon. But if you feel that we have to move again in the '60s, that the function of the president is to set before the people the unfinished business of our society, as Franklin Roosevelt did in the '30s, the agenda of our people, what we must do as a society to meet our needs in this country and protect our security and help the cause of freedom.



As I said in the beginning, the question before us all, that faces all Republicans and all Democrats, is: can freedom in the next generation conquer? Or are the Communists going to be successful? That's the great issue. And if we meet our responsibilities, I think freedom will conquer. If we fail--if we fail to move ahead, if we fail to develop significant military, economic, and social strength in this country--then I think that the tide could begin to run against us. And I don't want historians ten years from now to say: These were the years when the tide ran out from the United States. I want them to say: These were the years when the tide came in. These were the years when the United States started to move again. That's the question before the American people, and only you can decide what you want--what you want this country to be, what you want to do with the future. I think we're ready to move. And it is to that great task that, if we are successful, we will address ourselves.



MALE NARRATOR: You have been watching an important excerpt from the Kennedy-Nixon debates presented by Citizens for Kennedy. Vote for new American leadership. (Cheering) The country needs it, the world needs it. John Kennedy for president.