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This thesis has explored the function of the Presidential television technical adviser beginning with the Eisenhower and continuing through the Nixon Administrations. The persons who acted in the advisory capacity to each President analyzed in this study are: Robert Montgomery, Pierre Salinger, Robert Fleming, and Roger Ailes.This study traced the historical usage of the television medium by each President and the function that each adviser or group of advisers performed in the television appearances.It was concluded that the function of a Presidential television technical adviser has been to assist the President in his endeavor to fuse viewer experiences into a successful television image by control of a defined. area.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Frederick D. Kershner, Jr. Dissertation Committee: Richard S. W. Whittemore. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-250).

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-102).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, 1998. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-258).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Louisville, 1997. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [202]-206).

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was greatly divided over the question of how to select the new nation’s chief executive. The method finally adopted was a compromise between direct election and election by the national legislature and provided that individual states, as they saw fit, choose electors equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives. From the beginning, most of delegates considered the proposal awkward and irrational almost to the point of absurdity, but as they argued about it, they became convinced that it was then the only plan which could overcome the objections raised by other methods. The Convention had barely adjourned, however, when dissatisfaction over election of the President arose once again. Reform efforts began in the earliest Congresses. In the past one hundred and eighty years, more than 1000 amendments—perhaps more than on any other subject—have been introduced. These may be divided into two distinct classifications—direct and indirect methods of election. These may be divided into two distinct classifications—direct and indirect methods of election. From the district system proposed in the early 19th century to the proportional system advanced most prominently after World War II, each of the direct proposals has had its day and has been found wanting. It has become clear that other indirect methods of election would merely turn in some old problems for some new ones. The present system, however, is in serious need of reform. Its dangers are well documented. Failure of electors to vote in accordance with the desires of the voters and the present allocation of electoral votes makes it possible that under the present system a President can be elected who is not the choice of a majority of the citizens. Furthermore, the present system provides for an election in the House of Representatives if no candidate received the necessary 270 electoral votes. In a House election, each state casts one vote regardless of population. In view of these factors, the electoral college is an undemocratic institution, an historic remnant of a nation vastly different from the United States in the twentieth century. Through this nation’s years of development, the ideal of popular choice has become the most deeply ingrained of our governmental principles. Through our national experience we have learned that there is no safer or better way to elect our public officials. No matter how wisely or foolishly the American people choose their President, he is still their President. The electoral college should therefore be amended to insure that the chief executive is the voice of all 200 million Americans in practice as well as in theory. Only one type of proposed reform can claim to give the people this voice without creating other problems in the election of the President. It is the direct popular vote proposal under which each citizen’s vote regardless of where it is cast, would count equally with all other votes. The candidate receiving a majority or plurality, as decided by Congress, would be the new President. A run-off election would replace election by the House of Representatives if no candidate received the specified number of votes. No one, of course, can guarantee that direct election would never involve risks in the election of the President, but if one’s premise is based upon an overriding consideration of democracy, the risk seems worth taking.

Character of Inaugural Addresses. Research concerning the character of the Inaugural Address reveals great diversity of opinion among writers. The New York Herald Tribune, after President Kennedy’s address, concluded that the function of an Inaugural address “to express… the essence of what (the President) proposes to do in the White House.” Dr. Claudius O. Johnson, in his book Government in the United States - after reviewing President Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural, wrote that in his address, the President “usually tries to smooth over some of the ill-feeling which recent partisan strife may have caused, appeals to all good citizens to help him in his task, and outlines his programs, sometimes rather specifically.” Conversely, it is pointed out by Wilfred E. Binkley in The Man In The White House. His Powers and Duties that “there have been presidents elected who entered the office on inauguration day almost utterly innocent of what the election signified and what was expected of them - Ulysses S. Grant, for example.” Today Americans accept and anticipate the elaborate inaugural ceremony of which the inaugural address is a part. Author Binkley points to the feelings of the post-revolutionary “purists,” who thought it to be “a conspicuous violation of Republican simplicity and an inexcusable aping of monarchy.” Furthermore, it is noted that George Washington was deeply concerned “as to what the public expected of him…” Mr. Binkley’s conclusion, with which this writer concurs, is that “while the inauguration itself has no legal force, it nevertheless symbolises the fact that the president is… chief executive.” There are three reasons for writing on this topic. First, the inaugural address is the first Presidential policy statement and may be compared with policies actually carried out. Second, they have popular audiences in this country and abroad who may be affected by their policies. And, thirs, they are the oldest of our official presidential statements. Furthermore, the United States’ Presidents have the longest history without charge of any of the heads of state in the world. Therefore, a study of inaugural addresses provides consistent information on a type of address for a longer period of time then is possible for any other head of state.

The Whig party, which existed in the United States approximately twenty years, 1834-1854, was a coalition of diverse economic, political and social groups united by their disapproval of Jacksonian politics and methods. This minority organization derived its strength from powerful congressional leaders, who held strongly nationalistic ideas regarding economic policy and governmental function, which had a profound and lasting influence on American political and economic thought. In the battle for the presidency, however, Whig leaders sometimes resorted to the expediency of subverting their views and choosing military heroes as candidates in order to attract a larger electorate. This study examines the Whigs in the context of the presidential campaigns of 1840, 1844, and 1848, with major emphasis on the national issues which dominated each election and influenced the choice of candidates and development of tactics.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1955 O96 / Master of Science