Space and the 1960 presidential campaign: Kennedy, Nixon, and “public time”

Abstract

Time is an important source of argument in the rhetoric of political campaigns. Appeals identified by Perelman and Olbrechts‐Tyteca (1969) as loci communes can provide the basis for a candidate's conception of temporality. By inviting audiences to consider time at various levels of awareness or consciousness, a candidate's temporal vision can generate a sense of “public time” (Goodnight, 1987) or urgency concerning the impending electoral decision. During the 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon articulated distinct temporal visions, based respectively on loci of quality and quantity, in their debate about the status and future of America's space program. This essay analyzes Nixon's and Kennedy's temporal visions as articulated in the space debate in order to illuminate the rhetorical dynamics of the 1960 presidential campaign and to enhance understanding of how time functions in political campaign discourse.