The Collective Biography in the Memory of JFK

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was extremely savvy with the press. According to Professor Lisa Burns, Kennedy was the first “television president;” that is, he was the first to use the television to communicate to people. His assassination was considered a critical incident, according to Barbie Zelizer, who researched Kennedy’s assassination. She said, “For American journalists, the day had an added significance.” Zelizer said journalists coined the term “cover the body” as a newsbeat for following the president everywhere; she added that this became the term for following Kennedy’s body during the day of the assassination. According to Professor Burns, people flocked to the newspapers after seeing the news of Kennedy being shot on television. She said this was because people couldn’t be sure the news was fact until it was in print. Zelizer said that, for journalists, covering the assassination helped make them “cultural authorities concerning events of the “real world.” However, because television provided accurate information during the assassination, she said “it legitimated televised journalism as a mediator of national public experience. The media’s attitude towards Kennedy ultimately shaped America’s attitude towards him because the media reaches out to Americans collectively. Therefore, the media shaped the collective memory of Kennedy.

Foremost, one should consider Kennedy’s relationship with television. According to Burns, Kennedy had advisors David Sarnoff and William Pailey from the television industry. It could be argued that they helped to get him elected. Burns said, during the period when Kennedy and Nixon ran for office, Kennedy always appeared cleaner during their debates. Burns said Kennedy dressed in clothing of specific colors, wore makeup, had a tanned and was clean-shaven; he also spoke directly into the camera, keeping handkerchief by his side to clean his face periodically. Burns said Nixon had shifty eyes, a dark suit, was sick, had a ‘5-O’clock shadow’ and sweated profusely. She said, according to a poll, the majority of those who listened to the debates on the radio thought Nixon won, but the majority of those who saw the debates televised thought Kennedy won. This is collective memory because those who saw Kennedy’s speeches could enjoy the same image of him.

Kennedy was interviewed on television with Walter Cronkite, according to “John F. Kennedy,” a CBS documentary about him. He did a lot of things that pleased the press, according to the video. It said he let the press videotape him when he relaxed with his wife and children. Also, he had the first televised press conferences in which he would gladly answer any questions the press had, according to the video. In both his speeches and in the documentaries of his home life, Kennedy appears as a young family man (despite his affairs). This was probably something that the Americans of the 1960’s could relate to. People will remember Kennedy as a young president.