Was the influence of the news media the main reason for the decline in
confidence in the American presidency in the years 1968–80? (20 marks)
During the time period 1968-80 confidence in the presidency was in a constant state of
decline. In my opinion, the main reason for this decline was because of the impact the news
media had on the general population. One argument I will discuss in my essay is the media’s
uncovering of the Watergate scandal and how Nixon was deeply involved. Another argument
I will be covering is the fact that leading up to and during the time period the media became
a lot more widespread and popular due to the advancements in technology. Another
argument I will use to support my opinion is the influence Walter Cronkhite’s damning
statement had on the confidence in the presidency. However, in order to present both sides
of the argument and come to a balanced conclusion I will be including the following
arguments as to why the influence of the media was not the main reason for the decline in
confidence in the presidency. One of these being that the media were simply reporting on
the actions of the presidents and therefore the presidents’ own actions were the main reason
for the decline. Another being the rise in interactionist foreign policies were not popular and
the final one being the fact that there were serious economic problems during this time
period. All of these would have led to declining confidence in the presidency.
In my opinion, I believe that the news media was the main reason for the declining
confidence in the presidency. One reason as to why I believe this is because of Nixon and
the Watergate scandal. Watergate was hailed as one of the most scandalous events in
American history and to some extent still is today. The Washington Post reported that
President Nixon had attempted to cover up his involvement in the 1972 break-in at the
Democratic Party’s National Committee, where he used CIA agents to break into the building
and attempt to steal information on the Democrats. However, the intruders were caught and
the money they were paid with was traced back to the Nixon re-election campaign, clearly
showing Nixon’s involvement even though he firmly denied these claims. The media’s
coverage of this event caused outrage in the US because it showed the American people
that Nixon was fully prepared to lie to them and abuse his power as president in order to get
his own way. Watergate combined with the fact that President Johnson was found to have
lied about progress during the Vietnam war caused confidence in the presidency to plummet.
Another reason as to why the media was the main reason for the decline in confidence in the
presidency was because of the wider access people had to the media than in previous years
such as the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s. Televisions and radios were now common household
items and news could be reported very quickly due to the advances in technology. For
example, during FDR’s administration people used to crowd around radios to hear his show
called ‘fireside chats’ but now radios/televisions were far more common meaning news could
spread more rapidly. The rise of the media led to decreasing confidence in the presidency as
any stories that were harmful towards the President could spread very easily and make the
presidency appear to be untrustworthy and broken. For example, the Watergate scandal
spread like wildfire in the media and caused an extreme dip in the confidence in the
presidency despite Nixon winning a second term. My final argument in favour of the media
being the main reason for the declining confidence in the presidency in the period 1968-80 is
Walter Cronkhite’s damning statement against the Vietnam War and therefore the
presidency. In 1968, Cronkhite said on live television that the war could not be won even
though the government had said that they were making advances and that it could be won.
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