Memorable Political Moments

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:15:42 +0000

With media playing an ever-larger role in American politics, more and more attention is paid to how radio and television shape the course of events.

Recently, the Museum of Broadcast Communications polled scholars, politicians, commentators and analysts to produce a list of the “Top 125 Most Memorable Political Moments,” beginning with radio’s commercial debut on Election Night, 1920.

Here are the Top 10:

1. John Kennedy Assassination and Funeral (November 22, 1963)

2. 9-11 World Trade Center Attack (September 11, 2001)

3. Kennedy-Nixon: First Televised Debate (September 26, 1960)

4. Franklin Roosevelt: Pearl Harbor Speech (December 8, 1941)

5. Moon Landing (Neil Armstrong) (July 21,1969)

6. 1968 Democratic Convention Riot (Chicago) (August 26-29, 1968)

7. Franklin Roosevelt: First Inaugural Speech (March 4,1933)

8. Richard Nixon: “Checkers” Speech (September 23, 1952)

9. Martin Luther King: “I Have a Dream” speech (August 28, 1963)

10. Richard Nixon: White House Farewell Speech (August 9, 1974)

Ready to see the rest? Visit the official MBC site.

Presidents and Their Dogs

Cyndi Hughes — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:54:46 +0000

Forget the vice president; the president’s best friend and most reliable colleague is his dog. Bet you didn’t know about all of these dogs in the White House. And it was JFK who started the tradition of dogs meeting the presidential helicopter at the White House, after an assistant who cared for the dogs had them line up to greet the president once or twice as a gag. From then on, JFK insisted that they always be there when he got off the helicopter.

Here’s a sampling of presidential dogs:

John Tyler: Le Beau, an Italian greyhound

Theodore Roosevelt: Pete, a bull terrier; Sailor Boy, a Chesapeake Bay retriever: Skip, a Heinz 57; and Manchu, a spaniel

Warren G. Harding: Laddie Boy, an Airedale terrier, had his own chair to sit on at cabinet meetings.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Fala, a Scottish terrier (pictured), even starred in a Hollywood movie on the typical day of a dog in the White House.

John F. Kennedy: Charlie, a Welsh terrier; Pushinka, a gift from Khrushchev; Shannon an Irish cocker spaniel given by the president of Ireland

Lyndon B. Johnson: Him and Her, beagles; J. Edgar, a beagle given to LBJ by J. Edgar Hoover; Blanco, a white collie; and Yuki, a mongrel. Sadly, Him was run over and killed on the White House grounds. Yuki made the front page of the Wall Street Journal

Gerald R. Ford: Liberty, a golden retriever memorialized by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live.

George H. W. Bush: Millie, a springer spaniel and the author of a book

GetListy » JFK

Memorable Political Moments

Presidents and Their Dogs