Grassroots Voter 1960; Economy

Item Information

Title:
Grassroots Voter 1960; Economy
Description:
The issue of Life Magazine calls "the pocketbook pitch," the Economy, is discussed in Denver and Boston. At the end of the program, Mr. Higgins points out that the key strength of any nation rests with its economy, the way it manages its raw materials and its industry, the way its people work to make these things emerge as useful items to man. In Boston, grassroots voters are most concerned about foreign competition and our economy. In Denver, they are concerned about the day technicians suddenly find themselves out of defense work. From Boston, WGBH-TV, newscaster Louis Lyons, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University hosts the program. He is joined by Charles Coolidge, president of Greater Boston and Mrs. Mary Ann Wolfe, housewife and mother. Business leader Charles Coolidge is concerned about America's wag price spiral. He sees mounting foreign competition which may lead to pricing ourselves out of the world market and increasing unemployment at home. Mrs. Wolfe is concerned, as are most housewives across the nation, about the cost of living index reported to be rising for the fourth successive month. Mr. Harriman notes that the American people must learn to live with the theory of sound money even at the expense of some temporary deflation in their domestic economy and they must learn to live without inflation or face chaos. He supports continued public spending as long as it is done on a very sound basis. Other subjects discussed are unemployment, consumer prices, interest rates and taxes. From Denver and KRMA-TV, Caper Hegner, an architect, moderates the discussion of the following: Robert D. Knowlton, vice president of an investment company; Maynard Jacobson, a small business owner, George Cavender, president of the Colorado Federation of Labor, and Mrs. Jack Lowery, a housewife. Mr. Cavender feels any termination of defense efforts will result in unemployment in the Denver area, requiring substantial government activity to prevent chaos. Mr. Knowlton says that Denver's rapid growth includes activities other than armaments and that our economy is not threatened by possible disarmament. Mrs. Lowry is concerned about the rising cost of living and supporting a family. She notes that it is demoralizing not to be able to buy objects one would like to have for a family. To remain economically sound, Mr. Jacobson feels that this country must compete in a foreign market and to do so, must make the quality of its product far better than it is now. Other subjects discussed are the plight of the small farmer, his necessity or non-necessity to a sound economy, the possibility of depression and the purchasing power of the consumer. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) Grassroots Voter 1960 puts before the American people a series of seven one-hour episodes designed to encourage the voter to clarify his thinking so that he can vote intelligently on the seven most important issues of the campaign. Each episode defines the issue and then switches to groups discussing the problem in two cities particularly concerned with that issue. The moderators and guests are not personalities. The issue under discussion is each episodes hero. Through the unfolding of the relationship between the issue and each of the persons on the panel chosen to represent various viewpoints, the viewer becomes involved. Because there is no political axe being ground painfully before the viewers eyes, because there is no authority analyzing and spooning his interpretation to the viewer, the result is a series in which the viewer is stimulated to agree or disagree with the ideas put before him. Each half-hour segment is joined into a one-hour episode. Each one-hour episode is coordinated with introductory, joining and concluding remarks by the host for NET, TFX Higgins. TFX (Ted) Higgins is a member of the Pittsburgh Foreign Policy Association and the moderator of a Pittsburgh telecast Focus on World Affairs. The series is sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association. The 7 episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on videotape. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Production company:
University of Michigan
Moderator:
Lyons, Louis
Host:
Higgins, TFX
Panelist:
Wolfe, Mary Ann
Panelist:
Lowery, Mrs. Jack
Panelist:
Knowlton, Robert D.
Panelist:
Jacobson, Maynard
Panelist:
Coolidge, Charles
Moderator:
Hegner, Caper
Date:
September 18, 1960
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Talk Show
Location:
Library of Congress
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Library of Congress > Grassroots Voter 1960
Subjects:
Economics
Employment
Politics and Government
Extent:
00:59:44
Link to Item:
http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-n58cf9k73d
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 1