think we can do a better job. I think we’re going to have to do abetter job if we are going to meet the responsibilities which time and eventshave placed on us. We cannot turn the job over to anyone else. If the UnitedStates fails then the whole cause of freedom fails.” (The First Kennedy NixonDebate, p.2) After Kennedy was finished Smith announced for Vice PresidentNixon to give his opening statement. Nixon agreed with Kennedy about theU.S. having to move. Nixon compared his thoughts on Communism to adeadly competition, and that the U.S. was ahead and needed to stay that way. He disagreed with Kennedy because Kennedy said that the U.S. had beenstanding still, and Nixon pointed out that we had been moving. He stated thatour gross national product was the highest in the world, that more schools hadbeen built, we had developed more hydroelectric power, and the wages ofpeople had gone up. Nixon said the programs he supported would give allAmericans an equal chance for education, better medical care for elders, andmore housing. He quickly shot down Kennedy’s programs and said that withKennedy the U.S. would quit moving and go stagnate. One of Nixon’s major points was the spending of each of the politicalplatforms. He showed that with the Democratic platform would spendeighteen billion more dollars a year than what was currently being spent. Nixon and his Republican platform would only spend five billion dollars morethan was being spent. In the final part of his opening he said the differencebetween he and Kennedy was the means of reaching the goals that the twoproposed.After the opening statement the questions then were asked by the newscorrespondents. One question was, “Why do you think people should votefor you rather than the Vice President?” (The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate,p.4). Kennedy responded by saying that the programs that he advocatescompared to the programs advocated by Nixon was...
