You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 20

PLAYS: 14

(Abraham Ribicoff - Secretary of Health, Education And Welfare in 1961 - also Hand Holder, Paranoia Assuager, Debunker)

In 1961, JFK introduced a bill that would provide medical assistance to the Aged. It later became known as Medicare and would later pass in 1965 during the Johnson Administration. As is always the case, the mere mention of anything connection with a government aid program where Healthcare is concerned is immediately tossed into the realm of Socialized Medicine. And in 1961 it was no different.

Newly appointed Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham Ribioff was confronted by a dizzying array of skepticism from the Insurance and Pharmaceutical industries who instantly labeled any kind of Healthcare reform as Socialized Medicine. As is evidenced by this exchange between Ribicoff and Meet The Press co-founder Lawrence Spivak:

Lawrence Spivak: “ Mister Secretary, as you know the AMA and others have charged that the Medical Bill for the Aged under Social Security is an opening wedge to Socialized Medicine. Now if you thought there was a chance that the bill might be an opening wedge to Socialized Medicine, would you still be for it?”

Abraham Ribicoff: “ Well, it’s not an opening wedge to Socialized Medicine, I’m for the bill.

Spivak: “No, I’m asking if you thought that it was an opening wedge . . .

Ribicoff: “I would be against it . . .I would be against the bill if it were Socialized Medicine. . . “

Spivak: “If it opened the door to Socialized Medicine?”

Ribicoff: “It doesn’t open the door to Socialized Medicine”

Spivak: “Would you tell us what makes you so sure that it doesn’t?”

Ribicoff: “Because you and I and every other American, Mister Spivak has the right to choose his own doctor. There is nothing in this bill that has anything to do with doctors. This bill takes care of the health needs to the people of America, our aged over sixty-five, and basically takes care of their hospital bills, their nursing home bills and their visits to the home for home care. The bill specifically provides that each and every American has the right to choose his own doctor and his own hospital.”

The bill wound up being defeated, owing to a Congress recess and an overheated paranoia campaign (sound familiar?). But the Medicare Bill did finally pass in 1965.

The eerie sense of Deja-vu is everywhere.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 1403

PLAYS: 450

(JFK - Berlin - 1963 - Bringing the message to the worlds largest group of shut-ins)

With the Cuban Missile Crisis a fresh memory only eight months earlier, President Kennedy toured Europe in the summer of 1963 and stopped in Berlin on June 26, 1963 to address a crowd of over 150,000 against the ominous backdrop of the Wall that divided the two Berlins.

"Today the proudest boast is, Ich Bin ein Berliner"

The day before, Kennedy spoke at the Assembly Hall in Frankfurt and offered a similar message.

Kennedy: “For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 120

PLAYS: 233

All in all, JFK did much to bolster the confidence of the German people, in light of the increased Cold War posturing going back and forth in the divided city. Still, it wasn't until 26 years later that the Wall would finally come down.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 38

PLAYS: 9

(Sargent Shriver in 1964 - Peace Corps to The War On Poverty in one fell swoop)

As an extension of the JFK Administration, the LBJ Administration launched a number of Programs focusing on domestic poverty. As former head of The Peace Corps (a successful program begun in 1961 under the Kennedy Administration) Sargent Shriver was put into service as head of the Poverty Program, a wide range of social services designed to raise the economic and basic standards of the nations poor. No small feat, even in 1964. And of course, there were the detractors.

On March 22, 1964, Meet The Press did an interview with the newly installed head of the Poverty Program Sargent Shriver to answer the critics and to outline just what the program entailed.

Lawrence Spivak: “Mister Shriver, as you must know, that there are people, and they’re not all Republicans, who believe that this is just another political gimmick, and that there’s going to be a great deal of talk about it up until election time but that we’re not going to see many results. Now how long do you think it’s going to take you to show some tangible results?

Sargent Shriver: “Well let me, right off the bat deny that it’s a political gimmick. I wouldn’t have anything to do with it Mister Spivack, if that’s all it was. We have tried to establish . . . create a program which would meet the test of criticism and represent the consensus of intelligent thinking in this country. And I’ve been very much gratified by the number of leading businessmen, for example, as well as labor leaders who have been attracted by this program. You’ll notice that so far in Congress that it has not been attacked once on its substantive merits. There hasn’t been one criticism from the Republican or Democratic side about the substance of this program.”

The Poverty Program or The Great Society as it came to be known, probably would have been a great success, had it not been for a little thing called Vietnam and Nixon in 1968. The war managed to suck the life out of a lot of things, and the Nixon Administration gutted most of what the program was about, and good intentions were the first to go.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 159

PLAYS: 9

(John McCormack - rumored to have thrown up and fainted when told he might be President in 1963)

The opening of the 2nd session of the 87th Congress - January 10, 1962. A pretty busy year. Former speaker of the House Sam Rayburn had suddennly died, leaving the seat open. John McCormack was voted to succeed him. McCormack had the dubious distinction of informing the House on November 22, 1963 that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. When told there was a rumor Vice-president Lyndon Johnson may also have been assassinated - the thought he may be next in line as President was a bit too much.

In this broadcast, Senators Eugene McCarthy and Leverett Saltonstall are interviewed to discuss upcoming Legislation. Eugene McCarthy was to become a Presidential candidate in 1968 and 1972 and was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. Here he talks about the proposed Medicare Bill - one which didn't pass during this congress, but did eventually pass in 1965.

Eugene McCarthy: “ I do expect that we will have a good fight on the Medical Aid question. This would be drawn I suppose, quite clearly on party lines. In my judgment we can pass a bill which is somehow tied to Social Security, which is the kind of bill I think we ought to pass in the Senate. I’m not sure as to what the response will be in the house, but I do think this is a proposition which the Democratic party and certainly the President are both firmly committed and that we should make a total kind of political fight on this one.”

I am always amazed, listening to these old broadcasts, how civilized two people from opposite sides of the aisle could be towards each other.

Or is it just me?

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (43)

PLAYS: (71)

August 11, 2009 PBS News Hour

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 161

PLAYS: 8

(Senator Kenneth Keating, 1962 - Politics with a civil tongue)

I don't think it's any surprise that Sunday Morning talk shows have changed dramatically over the years. Formats are no longer the same. Programs like Meet The Press and Face The Nation were only two of the almost dozen programs on most weekends. Usually a panel of three interviewers fielding questions to a single guest. The questions ran the gamut but they were always on point and they always dealt with real issues and real concerns to most people.

The days of news as info-tainment were a long ways off.

One of the more popular shows was a radio-only series run on CBS called "Capitol Cloakroom". This show, typical of their format, featuring George Herman, Wells Church and Nancy Dickerson was from May 6, 1962 featuring newly elected Senator Kenneth Keating (R-New York). The questions were regarding legislation introduced by the Kennedy Administration, including the Medicare Bill (which died the first time in 1962).

Keating gives his assessment of the first year of the JFK administration.

Wells Church(CBS News):

“It would appear to the casual viewer that things are in trouble. What’s the situation, really?”

Senator Keating:

“Well, not only a casual observer but I would think anyone intimately associated with the entire program would realize that the Administration program is in trouble. You could go right down through the list. The Medical Care for the Aged is opposed by the Democratic Chairman, both in the house and in the Senate of the committees that deal with that matter. The tax bill passed the House, but as Senator Byrd, the Chairman of the Finance committee in the Senate has said it doesn’t seem to have the support of anyone – I don’t know of anybody that’s for the tax bill, if the House bill were before the Senate today I’d vote against it."

No drama. No screaming. Nothing shrill. Just solid information about the goings on in Capitol Hill.

Kind of refreshing. Makes you wonder when did it all go wrong.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 897

PLAYS: 1459

(Pres. Kennedy - The Independence Hall address - July 4, 1962)

The first time a President spoke at Philadelphia's Independence Hall since Woodrow Wilson. July 4, 1962

Have a listen while you're setting up the barbecue and breaking out the Buds.

Stay sane everyone!

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 133

PLAYS: 17

(Handed a rather overflowing plate in 1961)

With all the recent reflection on Presidential 100 days and crisis management, I was reminded just how much the Kennedy Administration had been handed in the area of Foreign policy and crisis management in their first 100 days.

Senator J. William Fulbright was Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, overseeing a host of hotspots, including the Congo, Berlin, Laos (in fact the whole Southeast Asia region) and Cuba. Ironically, five days before this Meet The Press was recorded, the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion took place - a bungled attempt at toppling the Castro regime on the part of the CIA causing a big black eye in our policy towards Latin America in general.

The deck was pretty stacked and there was no shortage of fires to put out. Fulbright was a big advocate of education and foreign assistance as a means of overcoming the increasing Communist influence in these regions. He was no advocate of armed conflict, particularly in SouthEast Asia, citing the French excursion and terrain as reasons to avoid it. His solution to funding the campaign of education and Foreign Aid was probably tainted by those two most lethal words in politics, "higher taxes".

This Meet The Press, from April 30, 1961 features Fulbright answering a battery of questions from Lawrence Spivak and Company.

Lively.

(JFK meets DeGaulle, while Jackie charms Paris)

"President Kennedy began his first day in Paris by saying at Orly Airport 'I come not merely because of the past, but because of future associations in defense of the West'. He ended his day by telling an Elysee Palace dinner 'American forces will remain in Europe as long as they are required. Ready to meet any threat with whatever response is needed'. All this was aimed at the question uppermost in President DeGaulle's mind - resisting Soviet pressures on Berlin with the utmost Western strength. Privately, President Kennedy has given this assurance to DeGaulle. For this reason, he's very welcome here." - Sandor Vanocur, NBC News

As the first European visit of President Obama comes to an end, I was thinking of an earlier Presidential visit, during his first year in office. John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy arrived in Paris on the first leg of a European visit which included several conferences and a much anticipated meeting with Nikita Khruschev in Vienna. Europe was intrigued by the new President and, then as now, was charmed by the new first Lady. The only difference was, Kennedy was about to face two of the biggest challenges of his Presidency: Cuba and Berlin, all direct results of the Cold War. Today the world is different. But the challenges are just as severe.

JFK on the campaign trail, pushing back on bipartisanship. Open thread below...

In what I hope will be a series of "First Hundred Days", I'm starting off with an evaluation NBC Radio did on May 1, 1961 regarding the first hundred days of the Kennedy Administration. This is excerpted from an original 1-hour broadcast, but the essential flavor is there. And so are the parallels between the first days of the JFK White House and the Obama White House.

A legend in political reporting, Helen Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, earning the nickname “First Lady of the Press.” Now in her 80s, the venerable journalist sits down to review her life and career in depth for the first time, engaging in a one-on-one interview with award-winning director Rory Kennedy, THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT: HELEN THOMAS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Back in 1963, Barry Goldwater and John F. Kennedy were seriously mulling the idea of chartering a campaign plane and traveling around the country together, debating actual issues and letting the electorate decide who would be the better candidate based on actual policy differences. Tonight on MSNBC, in light of the news that McCain and Obama would perhaps be open to holding moderator-free town-hall debates, Tim Russert wonders whether an election based not on petty, manufactured "character gaps," but on actual substantive differences is possible. Can you even begin to imagine that level of civility in today's political culture?

Download | play Download | play

"The tone of the campaign is going to be very interesting to me. Both men have said publicly that they really want to elevate the discussion. This discussion back and forth about having joint town meetings throughout the summer brought me back to 1963 when John Kennedy and Barry Goldwater had all but agreed to fly around the country in the same plane, have town meetings - robust differences - and then shake hands, go back on the plane and go to the next city. I always wondered aloud, 'would that ever be possible in 2008?' And McCain and Obama seem to be suggesting it may be do-able. And if they both hold true to try close down these 527s, these so-called independent groups, could we have a real debate about Iraq, and about health care, and about taxes where people take pride in their position, and openly acknowledge it's different than the other candidates, and then say to the voters, 'you decide which one of us should be Preisdent.' That would be pretty interesting to cover."

Indeed, it would, Tim. Indeed, it would.