This course will examine closely the relationship between American presidents and the media since 1960. The media role in observing presidents has grown considerably since that time, and more than ever, presidents are in the public eye through the media.

The objectives of the course will be (1) to increase students' understanding of the presidential-media relationships; (2) to provide a solid historical background on those relationships; (3) to examine using cases studies the media coverage of the nine presidents since 1960; and (4) to assess the overall media coverage of each president.

Required Books:

Johnson, Haynes. The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001.

Kovach, Bill, and Rosenstiel, Tom. Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media. New York: The Century Foundation Press, 1999.

Watson, Mary Ann Watson. The Expanding Vista: American Television in the Kennedy Years. Durham: Duke University Press, 1994.

Woodward, Bob, and Bernstein, Carl. All the President's Men. Any edition will be acceptable.

Other Readings:

Students also will be doing extensive readings of books on reserve in Cowles Library and of numerous sites on the World Wide Web relating to the American presidency and the media. Thanks to C-Span, for example, the links under the photos of eight former presidents on this site will take students to detailed information and Web links on each of the presidents since 1960. The class will use the C-Span pages as starting points for our discussions on each president. The link under the ninth photograph--that of current President George W. Bush--will take visitors to a page concerning the president on the White House Web site.

Keeping Up With the News:

To provide common ground for our class discussions of contemporary presidential news, you should be regularly reading The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Each student also will be assigned a television news network to monitor throughout the semester for presidential news coverage. You will be expected to analyze critically how the networks cover President George W. Bush and his administration, and you will be asked to place the coverage in its historical context.

Subjects to Be Covered:

The course will address subjects from both the historical and contemporary perspective. We will follow a chronological development as we address the various presidencies and the media, but the study of each president will be related when necessary to contemporary situations. Among the many subjects to be addressed are: Presidents and televised crises (Cuban missile crisis, Iran hostage crisis, terrorists' attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon); presidents and allegations of wrongdoing (Nixon and Watergate, Bush and Iran-Contra, Bill Clinton and impeachment proceedings in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal); presidents and war (Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and the war on terrorism); presidents and domestic issues (civil rights, education, the economy, the environment, criminal justice); presidents and their images (JFK as the first TV president, Ronald Reagan as the Great Communicator, Bill Clinton and his TV image); and presidents and the polls (Who was popular and why?).

Course Requirements:

Each student will write several short discussion papers (1 to 2 pages) during the semester. Those papers will receive credit/no credit grades.

Each student also will write three short essays (5 to 6 pages) on assigned subjects and a major research paper (20 pages plus endnotes/footnotes and a bibliography) on the television coverage of the presidency or the coverage by another medium of your choice.

Grading:

Your grades will be determined by your work on your three essays and your major research paper; on your participation in class discussions and forums on the World Wide Web; on your work on other class assignments, and on your attendance.

Student Mentors:

Two juniors will serve as mentors in this class. In addition to doing class assignments, they will aid the professor in carrying out classroom discussions, and they will conduct their own class sessions on assigned topics.

Web Forum Discussions:

During the semester, we will use the University's Blackboard Web forum for additional class discussions on subjects relating to the media and the presidency. Each student will be expected to participate in such discussions.

Essays and Major Research Paper:

First short essay (5 to 6 pages)--This essay should examine John F. Kennedy as the first president to use live television. You can determine the approach to your paper--for example, Kennedy's use of television in times of crisis; Kennedy and his image on TV, the media coverage of the Kennedy assassination, etc.

Second short essay (5 to 6 pages)--This essay should deal with (1) the role of a press secretary (or secretaries) in helping tell the story of a president or presidents or (2) the role of a reporter (or reporters) in determining the news concerning a president or presidents.

Third short essay (5 to 6 pages)--This essay should center on your study through the semester of President George W. Bush and the media coverage of him.

Major research paper (20 pages plus endnotes/footnotes and a bibliography)--Choose your subject wisely on this project. We will talk extensively in class about the subjects on which you can write your major paper. Your research can be historical in nature (on any president since 1960) or contemporary (i.e., President Bush and the America media).

 

 

(Photo credits: On this Web site, the black-and-white photographs of eight former presidents were selected from the Library of Congress collections maintained by the Prints and Photographic Division. The color photograph of President George W. Bush came from the Republican National Committee Web site.)

John F. Kennedy
1961-1963

Lyndon Johnson
1963-1969

Richard M. Nixon
1969-1974

Gerald R. Ford
1974-1977

Jimmy Carter
1977-1981

Ronald Reagan
1981-1989

George Bush
1989-1993

Bill Clinton
1993-2001

George W. Bush
2001-