Week of June 18: The Highest National Urgency - Oval Office Addresses

By Sylvia Gurinsky

President Barack Obama delivered his first televised address from the Oval Office of the White House this week, about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It brings to mind the significance of the location, and of some of the televised speeches that have been delivered there.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower may have been the first president to deliver a televised address from that location, and it was a major one: He dealt with the matter of sending federal troops to Arkansas to make sure Central High School in Little Rock followed the law and was integrated.

Above all, there are three televised speeches that are most remembered and still discussed by scholars today.

*The first was delivered by President John F. Kennedy Oct. 22, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, after Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had said Kennedy would make an announcement "of the highest national urgency."

In his speech, Kennedy revealed to the public the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, announced a "quarantine" of all Soviet ships and stressed that "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."

Fortunately, it never came to that; Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles.


*The second speech was delivered by President Lyndon Johnson March 31, 1968, when the Vietnam War was tearing at the nation. Most of the speech was about Vietnam, but five paragraphs from the end came a surprising announcement:

"I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

It was the first of numerous earth-shattering events of 1968.


*The third speech was delivered by the president who succeeded Johnson, Richard Nixon, Aug. 8, 1974. To no one's surprise after the turmoil of the Watergate scandal, Nixon was announcing his resignation. He said he did not have a strong enough political base to continue:

"I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interests of America first."

Nixon announced he would resign at noon the following day, and Vice President Gerald Ford "will be sworn in as President, at that hour, in this office."

All three speeches, as well as other Oval Office speeches, are available online.

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This week, Jimmy Dean died. Dean, a country singer, made a fortune with his sausages and other breakfast products, and made a name for himself on television, too.

"The Jimmy Dean Show" achieved its greatest success on ABC during the 1960s. Dean's folksy humor and variety of music and comedy helped the network, which was then running a distant third to CBS and NBC. Some have credited him with helping to bring country music to a new generation with the show.

He also helped one other person - Jim Henson, whose Muppets were a staple of variety shows. While Kermit the Frog is the most famous Muppet, Rowlf, the adorable dog with the floppy ears (and my mother's favorite Muppet) became a star on Dean's show.

Here's a clip, via YouTube (Note: Despite the name of my blog, I have no YouTube connection.), from "The World of the Muppets," featuring Dean and Rowlf, along with interviews with Frank Oz and Jane Henson. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKTbq5_L1dA

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!