First presidential speech on TV - Oct 05, 1947 - HISTORY.com This Day in History: 10/05/1947 - Truman Makes TV Address In this This Day in History video clip learn about different events that have occurred on October 5th. Some of the events include Chief Joseph surrenders and the Beatles releasing their first single, Love Me Do. Also, Barry Bonds hits the most home runs in a single season and President Truman makes the first television address. Lead Story First presidential speech on TV Share this: First presidential speech on TV Author First presidential speech on TV URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1947, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House, asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans. At the time of Truman’s food-conservation speech, Europe was still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine. Truman, the 33rd commander in chief, worried that if the U.S. didn’t provide food aid, his administration’s Marshall Plan for European economic recovery would fall apart.

He asked farmers and distillers to reduce grain use and requested that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays, eggs and poultry on Thursdays and save a slice of bread each day. The food program was short-lived, as ultimately the Marshall Plan succeeded in helping to spur economic revitalization and growth in Europe. In 1947,television was still in its infancy and the number of TV sets in U.S. homes only numbered in the thousands (by the early 1950s, millions of Americans owned TVs); most people listened to the radio for news and entertainment. However, although the majority of Americans missed Truman’s TV debut, his speech signaled the start of a powerful and complex relationship between the White House and a medium that would have an enormous impact on the American presidency, from how candidates campaigned for the office to how presidents communicated with their constituents. Each of Truman’s subsequent White House speeches, including his 1949 inauguration address, was televised. In 1948, Truman was the first presidential candidate to broadcast a paid political ad.

Truman pioneered the White House telecast, but it was President Franklin Roosevelt who was the first president to appear on TV–from the World’s Fair in New York City on April 30, 1939. FDR’s speech had an extremely limited TV audience, though, airing only on receivers at the fairgrounds and at Radio City in Manhattan. Related Videos Presidential Firsts - American Presidents Firsts and Facts POTUS Portraits Presidential Firsts Presidential Firsts. From the first American President George Washington to the current and first African American President in United States History, Barack Obama. PRESIDENT & More Facts George Washington First American President of the United States First future President to become a prisoner of war. Washington was Captured in the French and Indian War First President to Marry a widow Was the only President to not live in Washington D.C.

First President to be depicted upon a United States postage stamp First President to Veto a Bill First President whose son also became the President of the United States First President to be inaugurated by a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court First President to reach the age of 90 First President to be a widower upon inauguration First President who was a Governor of a state First President who had served the cabinet post of Secretary of State First President who was elected by the House Of Representatives First President who also served in Congress First President, as Commander-in-Chief, to lead the nation in war. The War of 1812 The first Inaugural Ball was held the evening after the swearing-in ceremony The last surviving signer of the United States Constitution First President whose daughter was married in the White House First President to ride on a steam boat First Senator to be President of the United States First President whose father was also President of the United States First President whose father signed the First President who was married abroad First President whose son was married in the White House Only President who served in the House of Representatives after the Presidency First President born in a log cabin First President to marry a divorced woman Youngest future President to become a prisoner of war.

Jackson was captured by the British, at the age of 13, while serving in the American Revolution First President to ride on a railroad train First President to have a cabinet member appointee rejected by the Senate Appointed the first Roman Catholic Chief Justice to the Supreme Court First assassination attempt of a sitting President First President to be born a citizen of the United States Only President who spoke English as a second language. His first language was Dutch First President whose son died in a foreign country First President to die in office The last President to be born before the American Revolution President to serve the shortest term Only President whose grandson, Benjamin Harrison also served as President of the United States. First Vice President to take over the presidency upon the death of a sitting President The first President to get married while in office First President whose wife died while still in office First President to have a veto over turned by Congress First President born in North Carolina First President who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives First President who didn't serve in the U.S.

Congress or the Continental Congress First President whose political party did not have majority in the Senate First President to obtain a patent First President to wear a beard Signed first presidential executive order to be numbered and filed First President to be impeached Andrew Johnson Impeachment First President to not have a legal or military background First President to become a Senator after his presidency First President in American History to host an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn First President born in Ohio First President whose parents were still alive when he took the oath of office First President sworn in on March 3, in a White House private ceremony First President in office to visit the West Coast First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize Youngest President to take the oath of office First President to submerge in a submarine First President to visit a foreign country while in office First President to ride in an automobile First President to fly in an airplane. Theodore Roosevelt flew in what was called an "aeroplane" on October 11, 1910 after he left office. First and only President to become Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court First former cabinet member, other than Secretary of State to become a U.S.

President First President to Pitch out the first ball, opening the baseball season First President of the new 48 states, when Arizona was added to the union in 1912 First President to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia First President to be president of a major university First and only President who had two daughters married in the White House First President with a doctoral degree First President to hold a press conference First President to appoint a Jewish American Justice to the United States Supreme Court First President to appoint a Secretary of Labor First President to cross the Atlantic Ocean First President to use radio equipment First and only President buried in Washington, D.C. First President to appoint a woman to a sub-cabinet post First President to have a cabinet member with the same name (William Bauchop Wilao, Secretary of Labor) First President to ride in an automobile to his inauguration First President to have a cabinet member convicted of a crime First president sworn in by his father First President sworn in by a former U.S. President First President to have his inauguration broadcast First President born in Iowa First President to be named for an asteroid.

(Hoveria) Deceased President that lived the longest after serving his term in office (31 plus years) First President to have a phone on his desk First President elected for a third term and then elected to a fourth term First President to have a physical disability First President to be defeated as a Vice Presidential candidate and later elected as President First President to nominate a woman to a cabinet post First President to appoint a woman minister to represent the U.S. in a foreign country First President to visit South America while still in office First President to broadcast from a foreign country First President to visit the Panama Canal while still in office First President to visit Hawaii while still in office First President to ride on a Diesel Train First President to appear on television First President to fly in an airplane while in office. FDR took a flight on January 14, 1943 to Casablanca, Morocco to meet with Prime Minister Winston Churchill First President to leave the United States during wartime First President born in Missouri First President to have a press conference recorded on tape and given from the White House First President to travel in a modern submarine First President to receive a woman ambassador from a foreign country.

(Ambassador of India) First President born in Texas First President of 49 states and then all 50 states First President to have a news conference recorded both by newsreels and television First President to be televised in color First President to be submerged in an atomic submarine First President born in the 20th century First Roman Catholic President First President to hold a live televised press conference First President to win a Pulitzer Prize First President to have served in the United States Navy First Presidential candidate to have televised debates First President to appoint a brother to a cabinet post (Attorney General, Robert Kennedy) First President to have a brother in the U.S. Senate (Senator Edward Kennedy) First President to ride in a armored vehicle to his inauguration First President to be sworn in behind a bullet proof enclosure First President to be sworn in by a woman First President to be inaugurated wearing a business suit First President to appoint an African American to the United States Supreme Court (Justice Thurgood Marshall) First President to nominate a Vice President under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution First President to visit Communist China while in office First President to attend the launching of a manned space flight (Apollo 12) First President to resign from office.

Articles of Impeachment were drawn but President Nixon resigned prior to being impeached First President to be pardoned by his successor. Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford Gerald Ford First President born in Nebraska First President to serve both as Vice President and President without being elected by the people to either position Only President to have worked as a model First President to give a pardon to a former President First President to visit Japan while in office First President to release a full medical report to the public First President from the State of Georgia First President to have graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy First President to have been born in a hospital First President to walk from the Capitol to the White House in the inaugural parade following the swearing in ceremony. First President to do a phone in Q and A from the public Longest living President after leaving the Presidency.

(1981-Present) 34 years First President born in Illinois First President to have been divorced First President to appoint a woman Justice to the United States Supreme Court (Sandra Day O-Connor) First President to have been a union leader (President of the Screen Actors Guild) The Oldest President to take office and the oldest upon leaving office Ronald Reagan had the highest number of electoral votes in United States election history, 525 out of 538 First President who served as the Ambassador to the United Nations First President who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) First President to become acting President First President born in Arkansas First President to participate in a live Internet chat First President to appoint the First Lady the head of a presidential commission First President to be named in a sexual harassment suit Second President to be Impeached but the first elected president to be Impeached. President Clinton's impeachment First President to use the Line-Item Veto First President to be born in Connecticut First President to have an M.B.A Degree Second President who was a son of a former President.

Bush's father was President 41 George Herbert Walker Bush First African-American President of the United States Barack Obama is the First President to publicly acknowledge the existence of Area 51 in Nevada History of Television - Mitchell Stephens History of Television Article by Mitchell Stephens Few inventions have had as much effect on contemporary American society as television. Before 1947 the number of U.S. homes with television sets could be measured in the thousands. By the late 1990s, 98 percent of U.S. homes had at least one television set, and those sets were on for an average of more than seven hours a day. The typical American spends (depending on the survey and the time of year) from two-and-a-half to almost five hours a day watching television. It is significant not only that this time is being spent with television but that it is not being spent engaging in other activities, such as reading or going out or socializing. EXPERIMENTS Electronic television was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 1927. The system was designed by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year-old inventor who had lived in a house without electricity until he was 14.

While still in high school, Farnsworth had begun to conceive of a system that could capture moving images in a form that could be coded onto radio waves and then transformed back into a picture on a screen. Boris Rosing in Russia had conducted some crude experiments in transmitting images 16 years before Farnsworth's first success. Also, a mechanical television system, which scanned images using a rotating disk with holes arranged in a spiral pattern, had been demonstrated by John Logie Baird in England and Charles Francis Jenkins in the United States earlier in the 1920s. However, Farnsworth's invention, which scanned images with a beam of electrons, is the direct ancestor of modern television. The first image he transmitted on it was a simple line. Soon he aimed his primitive camera at a dollar sign because an investor had asked, "When are we going to see some dollars in this thing, Farnsworth?" EARLY DEVELOPMENT RCA, the company that dominated the radio business in the United States with its two NBC networks, invested $50 million in the development of electronic television.

To direct the effort, the company's president, David Sarnoff, hired the Russian-born scientist Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, who had participated in Rosing's experiments. In 1939, RCA televised the opening of the New York World's Fair, including a speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was the first president to appear on television. Later that year RCA paid for a license to use Farnsworth's television patents. RCA began selling television sets with 5 by 12 in (12.7 by 25.4 cm) picture tubes. The company also began broadcasting regular programs, including scenes captured by a mobile unit and, on May 17, 1939, the first televised baseball gameÑbetween Princeton and Columbia universities. By 1941 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), RCA's main competition in radio, was broadcasting two 15-minute newscasts a day to a tiny audience on its New York television station. Early television was quite primitive.

All the action at that first televised baseball game had to be captured by a single camera, and the limitations of early cameras forced actors in dramas to work under impossibly hot lights, wearing black lipstick and green makeup (the cameras had trouble with the color white). The early newscasts on CBS were "chalk talks," with a newsman moving a pointer across a map of Europe, then consumed by war. The poor quality of the picture made it difficult to make out the newsman, let alone the map. World War II slowed the development of television, as companies like RCA turned their attention to military production. Television's progress was further slowed by a struggle over wavelength allocations with the new FM radio and a battle over government regulation. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) 1941 ruling that the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) had to sell one of its two radio networks was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1943. The second network became the new American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which would enter television early in the next decade. Six experimental television stations remained on the air during the warÑone each in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Schenectady, N.Y., and two in New York City.

But full-scale commercial television broadcasting did not begin in the United States until 1947. THE BEGINNING OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION By 1949 Americans who lived within range of the growing number of television stations in the country could watch, for example, The Texaco Star Theater (1948), starring Milton Berle, or the children's program, Howdy Doody (1947Ð60). They could also choose between two 15-minute newscastsÑCBS TV News (1948) with Douglas Edwards and NBC's Camel News Caravan (1948) with John Cameron Swayze (who was required by the tobacco company sponsor to have a burning cigarette always visible when he was on camera). Many early programsÑsuch as Amos 'n' Andy (1951) or The Jack Benny Show (1950Ð65)Ñwere borrowed from early television's older, more established Big Brother: network radio. Most of the formats of the new programsÑnewscasts, situation comedies, variety shows, and dramasÑwere borrowed from radio, too (see radio broadcasting and television programming).

NBC and CBS took the funds needed to establish this new medium from their radio profits. However, television networks soon would be making substantial profits of their own, and network radio would all but disappear, except as a carrier of hourly newscasts. Ideas on what to do with the element television added to radio, the visuals, sometimes seemed in short supply. On news programs, in particular, the temptation was to fill the screen with "talking heads," newscasters simply reading the news, as they might have for radio. For shots of news events, the networks relied initially on the newsreel companies, whose work had been shown previously in movie studios. The number of television sets in use rose from 6,000 in 1946 to some 12 million by 1951. No new invention entered American homes faster than black and white television sets; by 1955 half of all U.S. homes had one. McCARTHYISM In 1947 the House Committee on Un-American Activities began an investigation of the film industry, and Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy soon began to inveigh against what he claimed was Communist infiltration of the government.

Broadcasting, too, felt the impact of this growing national witch-hunt. Three former members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published "Counterattack: The Newsletter of Facts on Communism," and in 1950 a pamphlet, "Red Channels," listed the supposedly Communist associations of 151 performing artists. Anti-Communist vigilantes applied pressure to advertisersÑthe source of network profits. Political beliefs suddenly became grounds for getting fired. Most of the producers, writers, and actors who were accused of having had left-wing leanings found themselves blacklisted, unable to get work. CBS even instituted a loyalty oath for its employees. Among the few individuals in television well positioned enough and brave enough to take a stand against McCarthyism was the distinguished former radio reporter Edward R. Murrow. In partnership with the news producer Fred Friendly, Murrow began See It Now, a television documentary series, in 1950. On Mar. 9, 1954, Murrow narrated a report on McCarthy, exposing the senator's shoddy tactics. Of McCarthy, Murrow observed, "His mistake has been to confuse dissent with disloyalty." A nervous CBS refused to promote Murrow and Friendly's program.

Offered free time by CBS, McCarthy replied on April 6, calling Murrow "the leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose Communist traitors." In this TV appearance, McCarthy proved to be his own worst enemy, and it became apparent that Murrow had helped to break McCarthy's reign of fear. In 1954 the U.S. Senate censured McCarthy, and CBS's "security" office was closed down. THE GOLDEN AGE Between 1953 and 1955, television programming began to take some steps away from radio formats. NBC television president Sylvester Weaver devised the "spectacular," a notable example of which was Peter Pan (1955), starring Mary Martin, which attracted 60 million viewers. Weaver also developed the magazine-format programs Today, which made its debut in 1952 with Dave Garroway as host (until 1961), and The Tonight Show, which began in 1953 hosted by Steve Allen (until 1957).

The third network, ABC, turned its first profit with youth-oriented shows such as Disneyland, which debuted in 1954 (and has since been broadcast under different names), and The Mickey Mouse Club (1955Ð59; see Disney, Walt). The programming that dominated the two major networks in the mid-1950s borrowed heavily from another medium: theater. NBC and CBS presented such noteworthy, and critically acclaimed, dramatic anthologies as Kraft Television Theater (1947), Studio One (1948), Playhouse 90 (1956), and The U.S. Steel Hour (1953). Memorable television dramas of the eraÑmost of them broadcast liveÑincluded Paddy Chayefsky's Marty (1955), starring Rod Steiger (Ernest Borgnine starred in the film), and Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men (1954). By the 1955Ð56 television season, 14 of these live-drama anthology series were being broadcast. This is often looked back on as the "Golden Age" of television. However, by 1960 only one of these series was still on the air.

Viewers apparently preferred dramas or comedies that, while perhaps less literary, at least had the virtue of sustaining a familiar set of characters week after week. I Love Lucy, the hugely successful situation comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had been recorded on film since it debuted in 1951 (lasting until 1957). It had many imitators. The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason, was first broadcast, also via film, in 1955 (lasting until 1956 with the original cast). The first videotape recorder was invented by Ampex in 1956 (see video; video recording; video technology). Another format introduced in the mid-1950s was the big-money quiz show. The $64,000 Question (1955Ð58) and Twenty-One (1956Ð58) quickly shot to the top of the ratings. In 1959, however, the creator of The $64,000 Question, Louis C.

Cowan, by that time president of CBS television, was forced to resign from the network amid revelations of widespread fixing of game shows (see Van Doren, Charles). TELEVISION AND POLITICS Television news first covered the presidential nominating conventions of the two major parties, events then still at the heart of America politics, in 1952. The term "anchorman" was used, probably for the first time, to describe Walter Cronkite's central role in CBS's convention coverage that year. In succeeding decades these conventions would become so concerned with looking good on television that they would lose their spontaneity and eventually their news value. The power of television news increased with the arrival of the popular newscast, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, on NBC in 1956 (see Huntley, Chet, and Brinkley, David). The networks had begun producing their own news film. Increasingly, they began to compete with newspapers as the country's primary source of news (see journalism). The election of a young and vital president in 1960, John F. Kennedy, seemed to provide evidence of how profoundly television would change politics.

Commentators pointed to the first televised debate that fall between Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican's nominee. A survey of those who listened to the debate on radio indicated that Nixon had won; however, those who watched on television, and were able to contrast Nixon's poor posture and poorly shaven face with Kennedy's poise and grace, were more likely to think Kennedy had won the debate. Television's coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, and of the events that followed, provided further evidence of the medium's power. Most Americans joined in watching coverage of the shocking and tragic events, not as crowds in the streets, but from their own living rooms. A newscast that would soon surpass the popularity of Huntley-Brinkley, The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, debuted in 1962 (and was broadcast until 1981). By the end of the decade Cronkite had become not just a highly respected journalist but, according to public opinion surveys, "the most trusted man in America." His role in coverage of the Vietnam War would be important.

While the overwhelming majority of television news reports on the Vietnam War were supportive of U.S. policy, television news film of the fighting sometimes gave Americans back home an unfamiliar, harsh, and unromantic view of combat. Many believed it contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with the war. And some of the anger of those defending U.S. policy in Vietnam was leveled against television news. In 1965, CBS reporter Morley Safer accompanied a group of U.S. Marines on a "search and destroy" mission to a complex of hamlets called Cam Ne. The Marines faced no enemy resistance, yet they held cigarette lighters to the thatched roofs and proceeded to "waste" Cam Ne. After much debate, Safer's filmed report on the incident was shown on CBS. Early the next morning the president of CBS received an angry phone call from the president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, accusing the network of a lack of patriotism. During the Tet offensive in 1968, Cronkite went to Vietnam to report a documentary on the state of the war. That documentary, broadcast on Feb.

28, 1968, concluded with what Cronkite has described as "a clearly labeled editorial": "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out will be to negotiate," he said. President Johnson was watching Cronkite's report. According to Bill Moyers, one of his press aides at the time: "The president flipped off the set and said, `If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America.'" THE THREE NETWORKS AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POWER In 1964 color broadcasting began on prime-time television. The FCC initially approved a CBS color system, then swung in RCA's favor after Sarnoff swamped the marketplace with black-and-white sets compatible with RCA color (the CBS color system was not compatible with black-and-white sets and would have required the purchase of new sets). During the 1960s and 1970s a country increasingly fascinated with television was limited to watching almost exclusively what appeared on the three major networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC. These networks purchased time to broadcast their programs from about 200 affiliates eachÑstations in each of the major cities or metropolitan areas of the United States.

In the larger cities, there might also be a few independent stations (mostly playing reruns of old network shows) and perhaps a fledgling public broadcasting channel. Programming on each of the three networks was designed to grab a mass audience. Network shows therefore catered, as critics put it, to the lowest common denominator. James Aubrey, president of CBS television, doubled the network's profits between 1960 and 1966 by broadcasting simple comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies (1962Ð71). In 1961, Newton Minow, then chairman of the FCC, called television a "vast wasteland." Programming became a little more adventurous with the arrival of more realistic situation comedies, beginning with CBS's All in the Family in 1971 (broadcast until 1979). Along with situation comediesÑusually a half-hour focused on either a family and their neighbors or a group of co-workersÑthe other main staple of network prime-time programming has been the one-hour drama, featuring the adventures of police, detectives, doctors, lawyers, or, in the early decades of television, cowboys.

Daytime television programming consisted primarily of soap operas and quiz shows until the 1980s, when talk shows discussing subjects that were formerly taboo, such as sexuality, became popular. The three major networks have always been in a continual race for ratings and advertising dollars. CBS and NBC dominated through the mid-1970s, when ABC, traditionally regarded as a poor third, rose to the top of the ratings, largely because of shrewd scheduling. PUBLIC BROADCASTING A Carnegie Commission report in 1967 recommended the creation of a fourth, noncommercial, public television network built around the educational nonprofit stations already in operation throughout the United States (see television, noncommercial). Congress created the Public Broadcasting System that year. Unlike commercial networks, which are centered in New York and Los Angeles, PBS's key stations, many of which produce programs that are shown throughout the network, are spread across the country. PBS comprises more than 300 stations, more than any commercial network. Some of the most praised programs on PBS, such as the dramatic series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971), have been imports from Britain, which has long had a reputation for producing high-quality television.

Perhaps the most influential of PBS's original contributions to American television were the educational program for preschoolers, Sesame Street, which first appeared in 1969Ñand is still a popular programÑand a thoughtful news program called The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (1995; originally The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, first broadcast in 1975Ñsee MacNeil, Robert and Lehrer, Jim). Among the many special series produced for public broadcasting, The Civil War (1990), a five-part historical documentary, was particularly successful and won some of the largest audiences ever achieved by public TV. PBS funds come from three major sources: congressional appropriations (which suffered substantial cuts beginning in 1982), viewer donations, and private corporate underwriters. None of these types of contributions are problem-free. Government funding brings the possibility of government interference. Conservatives, dating back to the Nixon administration, have pressured PBS to make its programming less liberal. The search for viewer donations has led to long on-air fundraising campaigns. And some critics contend that the need to win corporate support discourages programming that might challenge corporate values.

THE RISE OF CABLE The force that would challenge the dominance of the three major television networks and offer Americans the choice of dozens and potentially hundreds of television channelsÑcable TVÑbegan quietly in a few geographically isolated towns. Large antennas erected in high places gave everyone connected the chance to receive all the channels available in the nearest city. By 1960 the United States had about 640 such CATV (community antenna television) systems. It soon became apparent, however, that the "television deprived" were not the only viewers who might want access to additional channels and additional programming. In New York City, cable operators contracted to broadcast the home games of the local basketball and hockey teams. By 1971 cable had more than 80,000 subscribers in New York. Then networks specifically designed to be distributed by the cable system began to appear: Time Inc.'s Home Box Office (HBO) in 1975; Ted Turner's "superstation," soon renamed WTBS, in 1976; C-SPAN (live broadcasts of the House of Representatives), ESPN (sports), and Nickelodeon (children's programming), all in 1979.

Turner followed with the Cable News Network (CNN) the next year. INTERNATIONAL GROWTH Television's development followed different patterns in other countries. Often government, not private corporations, owned some, most, or all of the major networks. In Great Britain the British Broadcasting Corporation, the country's dominant radio broadcaster, established and retained dominance over television. The BBC, funded by a tax on the sale of television sets, established a worldwide reputation for producing quality programming. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, also freed by government support from many commercial pressures, was praised by some observers for the seriousness of much of its news and public-affairs programming. France's major television networks were also supported by the government; however, in France that support was seen as encouraging a tilt in news coverage toward the side of whatever party happened to be in power. By the late 1980s and 1990s, as cable and direct-satellite television systems increased the number of channels, the hold of these government-funded networks began to weaken. Most countries around the world began moving more toward the U.S. model of privately owned, advertiser-supported television networks.

POLITICS ADAPTS TO TELEVISION By the 1980s politicians and government leaders were familiar enough with the workings of television to be able to exploit the medium to their own ends. This seemed particularly apparent during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, himself formerly the host of a television show (General Electric Theater, 1954Ð62). Reagan's skilled advisors were masters of the art of arranging flags and releasing balloons to place him in the most attractive settings. They also knew how to craft and release messages to maximize positive coverage on television newscasts. The Persian Gulf War in 1991 provided further proof of the power of television, with pictures of U.S. bombs falling on the Iraqi capital broadcast live in the United States. Both Iraqi and U.S. leaders admitted to monitoring CNN to help keep up with news of the war. However, the U.S. Defense Department, armed with lessons learned in Vietnam, succeeded in keeping most reporters well away from the action and the bloodshed. Instead, pictures were provided to television by the military of "smart" bombs deftly hitting their targets. NEW TECHNOLOGIES In the 1980s, home videocassette recorders became widely available.

Viewers gained the ability to record and replay programs and, more significantly, to rent and watch movies at times of their own choosing in their own homes. Video games also became popular during this decade, particularly with the young, and the television, formally just the site of passive entertainment, became an intricate, moving, computerized game board. The number of cable networks grew throughout the 1980s and then exploded in the 1990s as improved cable technology and direct-broadcast satellite television multiplied the channels available to viewers. The number of broadcast networks increased also, with the success of the Fox network and then the arrival of the UPN and WB networks. The share the broadcast networks attracted continued to erode, from well over 90 percent in the early 1980s to under 50 percent by 1997. Although the population of the United States has continued to grow, the Nielson Media Research company estimated that fewer people watched the highly publicized final episode of Seinfeld in 1998 (first aired in 1990; see Seinfeld, Jerry) than watched the final episode of MASH in 1983 (first aired in 1972).

The trial of former football star O. J. Simpson in 1994 for the murder of his wife (he was acquitted) further demonstrated the hold that cable networks had on American audiences. Some stations carried almost every minute of the lengthy trial live and then filled the evening with talk shows dissecting that day's developments. The effects of television on children, particularly through its emphasis on violence and sex, has long been an issue for social scientists, parents, and politicians (see children's television). In the late 1980s and 1990s, with increased competition brought on by the proliferation of cable networks, talk shows and "tabloid" news shows seemed to broaden further frank or sensational on-air discussion of sex. In response to government pressure, the television industry decided to display ratings of its programs in 1996. The ratings were designed to indicate the age groups for which the programs might be suitable: TV-G (for general audiences), TV-PG (parental guidance suggested), TV-14 (unsuitable for children under 14), and TV-MA (for mature audiences only).

In response to additional complaints, all the networks except NBC agreed the next year to add V (for violence), S (for sex), L (for course language) and D (for suggestive dialogue) to those ratings. Also, the "V-chip" imbedded in new television sets, in accordance with a provision of a telecommunications bill passed in 1996, gave parents the power to automatically prevent their children from watching television programs with inappropriate ratings. Critics of the ratings saw them as a step toward censorship and questioned whether a TV-14 rating would make a program seem more, not less, attractive to an inquisitive child. In 1997 the federal government gave each U.S. television broadcaster an additional channel on which to introduce high definition television, or HDTV. Initial transmissions of this high-resolution form of television, in which images appear much sharper and clearer, began in 1998. Standard television sets cannot pick up HDTV and will presumably have to be replaced or modified by 2006, when traditional, low-definition television broadcasts are scheduled to end and broadcasters are scheduled to return their original, non-HDTV channel to the government.

The HDTV format approved in the United States calls for television signals to be transmitted digitally. This will allow for further convergence between computers, the Internet, and television. In 1998 it was already possible to view video on the World Wide Web and to see and search television broadcasts on a computer. As computers become more powerful, they should be able to handle video as easily as they now handle text. The television schedule may eventually be replaced by a system in which viewers are able to watch digitally stored and distributed programs or segments of programs whenever they want. Such technological changes, including the spread of new cable networks, have been arriving slower in most other countries than in the United States. Indeed, according to one survey, it was only in the 1990s that the spread of television transmitters, television sets, and electricity made it possible for half of the individuals in the world to watch television. However, television's attraction globally is strong. Those human beings who have a television set watch it, by one estimate, for an average of two-and-a-half hours a day. Mitchell Stephens Bibliography: Barnouw, Erik, Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television, 2d ed.

(1990); Fisher, David E. and Marshall J., Tube: The Invention of Television (1997); Stephens, Mitchell, Broadcast News, 3d ed. (1993), A History of News (1996) and The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word (1998); Watson, Mary A., Defining Visions: Television and the American Experience since 1945 (1997). First President on TV The Question: Who was the first president to give a televised speech? My daughter answered FDR but her teacher says Truman. I have found several web sites, including The History of Television, that says FDR. I need a definitive answer. Please help. The Answer: We'll do our best to set the record straight. According to our sources, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to speak on television . Roosevelt spoke at the opening session of the New York World's Fair on April 30, 1939. Perhaps this is the source of your confusion: The first presidential address broadcast from the White House was Harry S. Truman's speech about food conservation and the world food crisis on Oct.

5, 1947. We hope this helps. Harding becomes first president to be heard on the radio - Jun 14, 1922 - HISTORY.com Harding becomes first president to be heard on the radio Share this: Harding becomes first president to be heard on the radio Author Harding becomes first president to be heard on the radio URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1922, President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key, becomes the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio. The broadcast heralded a revolutionary shift in how presidents addressed the American public. It was not until three years later, however, that a president would deliver a radio-specific address. That honor went to President Calvin Coolidge. In 1920, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced that Harding was the official winner of that year’s presidential election. it was the first time election returns were broadcast live. Harding was an advocate for advanced technology. In 1923, he recorded a speech on an early “phonograph” that recorded and played back sound on wax discs.

Harding was also the first president to own a radio and was the first to have one installed in the White House. According to the White House Historical Association, the way presidents have communicated to the public has changed with each advance in technology over the years. In early America, presidents such as George Washington and James Monroe traveled by horseback or carriage to address crowds in person and published statements in “broadsheets” and early newspapers. Lincoln had the relative advantage of traveling by locomotive or using the telegraph. Telephones appeared in the White House in 1877 while Rutherford B. Hayes was president. Like Harding, President William Taft used the phonograph to distribute recordings of his speeches. However, the most rapid advancement in communication for presidents occurred in the 20th century. With the invention of radio and television and then the internet, politicians could transmit information instantaneously. Franklin Roosevelt proved a master at utilizing the radio during the 1930s and 1940s. Many credit John F. Kennedy’s “telegenic” good looks and calm demeanor in televised presidential debates for his victory in the 1960 presidential election.

Bill Clinton was the first president to set up a White House website. Improvements in communication technology have also allowed presidents to reach substantially greater numbers of their constituents: In 1829, President Andrew Jackson spoke to approximately 10,000 people at his inauguration. Harding’s Francis Scott Key memorial dedication was heard by 125,000. President Coolidge’s inaugural radio address reached 23 million via the radio. White House historians estimate that if George Washington had addressed a crowd of 1,000 people every day during his three month pre-inaugural tour of the country in 1789, he would have been heard by only 100,000 Americans. By comparison, media poll groups estimate that as many as 26 million viewers watched President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address in 2006. Related Videos

Question: Who was the first US President to appear on television while still in office?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt