On Monday evening, November 3rd, the day before the 1952 election, Burt sits alone in front of his TV watching the first ever presidential debate. NBC's news commentator, John Cameron Swayze, asks the first question, "What is your vision for the future of the country?" General Eisenhower responds first.
"Our aims are clear. to sweep from office an administration which has fastened on every one of us the wastefulness, the arrogance and corruption in high places, the heavy burdens and anxieties which are the bitter fruit of a party too long in power.
Much more than this, it is our aim to give our country a program of progressive policies drawn from our finest Republican traditions; to unite us wherever we have been divided; to strengthen freedom wherever among any group that has been weakened; to build a sure foundation for sound prosperity for all here at home and for a just and sure peace throughout the world.
We now are at a moment in history when, under God, this nation of ours has become the mightiest temporal power and the mightiest spiritual force on earth. The destiny of mankind hangs in the balance on what we say and what we accomplish.
We must use our power wisely for the good of all our people. If we do this, we will open a road into the future on which today's Americans and the generations that come after them can go forward to a life in which there will be far greater abundance of material, cultural and spiritual rewards than our forefathers or we ever dreamed of.
We will so undergird our freedom that today's aggressors and those who tomorrow may rise up to threaten us will not merely be deterred but stopped in their tracks. Then we will at last be on the road to real peace.
We call to go forward with us the youth of America. This cause needs their enthusiasm, their devotion, and the lift their vision of the future will provide. We call forward with us the women of America; our workers, farmers, businessmen. Americans in every walk of life can have confidence that our single-minded purpose is to serve their interest, guard and extend their rights and strengthen the America that we so love."
Burt is not impressed.
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