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John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
Garry Winogrand's double portrait of John F. Kennedy accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at Los Angeles's Memorial Coliseum calls attention to one of the most historic developments associated with the 1960 election: the introduction of television as a medium of mass communication. The handsome forty-three-year-old senator from Massachusetts adapted quickly to the demands of the new medium. His success in four televised debates against his visibly awkward opponent, Richard Nixon, proved a decisive factor in his electoral victory in November. The Democratic convention was also memorable for Kennedy's speech. Mindful of the rhetoric of his Democratic predecessors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Kennedy spoke of America "on the edge of a New Frontier...a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats."
Garry Winogrand, 1960 (printed 1983) |