American History Since 1877 Until Term Paper

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Based on Thumim's work, it is possible to suggest that the reason John Fitzgerald Kennedy won the White House had little to do with his wealth, his brains, the party's backing, his WWII heroism or even his obviously intelligent wife. In view of Thumim's claims, it is possible to conclude that a nation of devalued women -- 'put down' on television sitcoms for more than a decade -- were looking for a knight in shining armor to, if not save them, at least be charming to them while keeping them under lock and key. Certainly, that would have to be counted as a stunning impact of television on American politics. If this is only partly true, then one would have to conclude that television helped sunder the political sensibilities of voters in the United States along gender lines.

It should be noted, too, that broadcast personnel were virtually all men. Even Barbara Walters, in her early career in the early 1960s, was only allowed to do 'puff' pieces about things of interest mainly to men; as late as 1975, her assignments included undercover work at a Playboy nightclub.

Thumim notes that coverage of the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco was considered the best in 'women's political reportage in the 1950s.

That might be considered status quo in terms of political coverage on early television except for that fact that, Thumim points out, the major networks both in the U.S. And Europe disregarded the visit of Russian leaders to the west because of the need to cover the 'women's story of Grace Kelly and her prince. In their bid to denigrate women, television's early programming chiefs arguably changed the course of world politics as well, by how much it would be impossible to say.

Changing a way of life

The repression of women was carried over into movies, Thumim notes.

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That alone would not constitute an effect on American politics caused by television, except for this: television had diminished the audiences for movies. So, even if movies had offered a more balanced portrayal of women, fewer women -- and fewer men -- were going to the movies anyway. Changing the conduct of the American public, a public, which had used movies throughout the Depression for escapism and during WWII for encouragement, must certainly have had an effect on politics. Indeed, it was now possible to assume one was well-informed simply because one had watched a television news show; arguably, moviegoers who had seen a short piece on the Movietone News between the main feature and the second feature would not think they were well informed. They might then have gone home to read the newspaper and find out more about any given political issue. With television waiting at home, they could forego the newspaper. And, as the news shorts and double-features disappeared from the movie theatres, that once again forced the American public into a narrower selection of sources form which to obtain political information, and, unfortunately, the most common remaining source was gender-skewed and sound-bite heavy. The result had necessarily to be one thing; the start of the erosion of political intelligence in the American public, an erosion that certainly demonstrated itself in the last presidential campaign, no matter which side of that fence one was on.

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