President Kennedy and Sander Vanocur at the April 21, 1961 press conference following the Bay of Pigs.
CSPAN will be airing “The Kennedy White House and the Press” Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 8:30 a.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on C-SPAN3. Tune in to watch a panel of distinguished reporters who were there originally to report on the first live televised presidential press conferences of President John F. Kennedy.
The panelists, moderated by former press secretary Mike McCurry, discuss the press coverage surrounding the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, and space, reflect on how President Kennedy’s relationship with reporters evolved, and analyze the role of the televised press conference as a new forum to bring the presidency into the American home. Their discussion is interspersed with historical footage of Kennedy’s press conferences, which illustrate the president’s humor and his relationship with individual reporters and the press as a whole.
From left: Moderator Mike McCurry and panelists Sander Vanocur, Haynes Johnson, Sid Davis, Don Larrabee, and John Palmer at the National Heritage Lecture event “The Kennedy White House and the Press” May 16, 2011.
The program was filmed at the U.S. Department of State on May 16, 2011 for the National Heritage Lecture hosted by the White House Historical Association. The panelists include Sander Vanocur, Haynes Johnson, Sid Davis, Don Larrabee, and John Palmer. The program also includes introductory remarks by Undersecretary of State Patrick F. Kennedy and White House Historical Association President Neil Horstman. Martha Joynt Kumar provided an historical overview, Presidential Press Conferences: Windows on the Presidency and Its Occupants, for the event.
