The Expanding Vista

As American politics and television became more closely intertwined in the early 1960s, each underwent enormous and long-lasting changes. In The Expanding Vista, originally published in 1990 (Oxford University Press), Mary Ann Watson looks at how television was woven into the events and policies of John Kennedys presidency, not only in his unprecedented use of the medium in campaigning and image projection, but in the vigorous efforts of his administration to regulate and improve the content of network programs. Examining the legacy of the New Frontier and its relationship to the new medium, she traces the Kennedy influence across a spectrum of programming that includes news, documentary, drama, situation comedy, advertising, childrens shows, and educational TV. Through extensive archival research and oral histories Watson reconstructs key moments of an extraordinary time in the television age. The Expanding Vistas analysis and interpretation of that era continue to enlighten our understanding of culture and communication as the themes sounded in the 1960s resonate in todays complex media marketplace.