The Great Debate

Reporter: Senator Kennedy, you have claimed that your plans for expanding federal programs could be carried out without a sizable budget increase. But what about this tunnel you're planning to build from the White House to the Vatican? Won't that cost a pretty penny?

Kennedy: I have stated time and again that my religion is a purely private matter. Any tunnel I build to the Vatican will be financed on personal not private funds.

Nixon: I am sure the Senator will respect my sincerity as I do his . . . sincerity when I sincerely state that I agree with Senator Kennedy on the ends but differ on the means of achieving them. A tunnel to the Vatican would not be one of my means. Besides, I couldn't finance the project personally, as I am closer to poverty, less rich, and poorer than the Senator.

Reporter: Mr. vice-President, one of your local campaign managers has stated that you can't lose because you have had a transaction in which you sold your soul to the Devil. Is this true?

Nixon: No. Let me emphasize that I never had one, do not now, and never will have one. And even if I did, I certainly wouldn't sell it to the Devil.

Kennedy: Vice-President Nixon and I are agreed on this issue. Just let me add that this country has never been in a worse position as regards the Soviet Union. What we need is strong, new youthful leadership to get us out of this mess. To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt, to whom I bear a striking resemblance: "This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

Reporter: Senator, the issue of clothing has come up in this campaign. Many American women feel that your wife is "snobby" because she buys her clothes in Paris and has a fancy hair-do. Do you agree with this opinion?

Kennedy: I certainly do not, I do not think my wife is snobby. I think she is nice. But this is beside the point. I have stated repeatedly that as far as I am concerned clothing is not an issue in this campaign. I would certainly not want anyone to vote for or against me because of the clothing of my wife, who is pregnant. In fact, I would go so far as to call any attack on my pregnant wife's clothing unprincipled. It is the kind of attack that President Roosevelt characterized on December 8, 1941, as "a sudden and dastardly attack."

Nixon: I agree with the Senator that the clothing of a candidate's wife has no place in the political arena, and I repudiate all those who have used it on my behalf. But just to set the record straight I would like to point out that my wife buys most of her clothes off the racks of budget-priced stores, except for an occasional dress at Elizabeth Arden, a good American establishment patronized by the wife of our beloved President whose administration it has been my honor to run. If elected First Lady my wife would of course continue to shop as she does now.

Reporter: Mr. Nixon, is it true that in the event of a recession you would appoint Herbert Hoover Secretary of the Treasury?

Nixon: First let me state here and now that I do not believe we are going to have a recession. Senator Kennedy has expressed the opinion that the U.S. economy is weak. He prophesics Depression, bread lines, soup kitchens, hungry, crying children, weeping mothers, misery, dejection, doom, and despair.

This is not my picture of America. I think we are strong and healthy and debonair and young. We will not have a recession. But if we do--and we will not--but if we should (and we won't), I would not hesitate to take any measures for the safety of this healthy nation, including the appointment of Mr. Hoover. But, of course, we won't.

Kennedy: I always have difficulty in recognizing my statements when quoted by the vice-President. I never said we were going to have a Depression. I never said anything about crying children or weeping mothers or any of the other things the vice-President mentioned. I only said that we are going to have a Depression, crying, hungry children, weeping mothers, and misery if this country does not get some new, youthful. Democratic leadership. This country is behind. I want to put it ahead. I have, to use Franklin Roosevelt's phrase, "a rendezvous with destiny." That is the issue in this campaign. Let me add that in the great world conflict with Russia we are losing politically, we are losing militarily, and we are losing economically. Our position stinks and we'd better do something quick.

Nixon: I was somewhat taken aback by Mr. Kennedy's final words. He is running down our great country at a time when we can't afford to be divided. More disturbingly, he used a word starting with "st" and ending with "ks" to describe the situation created by President Eisenhower. That kind of word is not becoming to a candidate for the highest office in our great country. That kind of word should not be used to describe the position of the United States to a television audience of mothers and children. I only went to a state university but I don't use words like that. That's the difference between me and Senator Kennedy. He had all of the opportunities but doesn't know how to use them, while I have best use of the scant opportunities life has meagerly provided. For example, Senator Kennedy has easily gotten a brain trust. I have worked to get one too. My Harvard professors like Senator Kennedy's provide honest advice, principle, consistency, and moral fiber for my campaign, but unlike Senator Kennedy I don't let these things get in my way.