Television and Politics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lyndon Johnson

The famous 1964 'Daisy' spot aired only once but is still remembered as one of the most powerfully effective campaign ads ever. Without mentioning Johnson's opponent, Republican Barry Goldwater, the commercial played to fears that Goldwater was trigger happy and too unpredictable to have in control of the American nuclear arsenal.

Answer: Richard Nixon

In his brief appearance, Nixon delivered the laugh-in tag line, "Sock it to me." The appearance was widely credited with humanizing Nixon and showing his sense of humor.

Answer: Gerald Ford

Ford, who was often mocked by Chevy Chase on the program, appeared in person on April 17, 1976, and delivered the tag-line, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night." Both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush have appeared on the program as well, along with countless other politicians, including Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Senator Paul Simon, Al Gore and New York City mayors Ed Koch and Rudolph Giuliani.

Answer: The Arsenio Hall Show

Along with a question and answer session on MTV, this 1992 appearance contributed to Clinton's image as youthful and hip, compared to his older opponent, George H. W. Bush.

Answer: Willie Horton

The Willie Horton spot stands with the Daisy commercial as one of the most notorious and effective campaign ads in history. The commercial attacked Dukakis' positions on crime, in particular the Massachusetts criminal furlough program; during a furlough, Horton had kidnapped a couple and repeatedly stabbed the man and raped the woman.

The ad prominently pictured the African-American Horton, and critics accused the Bush campaign of using race to scare American voters.

Answer: False

This remains one of America's most enduring political legends: the handsome and debonair Kennedy defeated the ill, shifty-eyed, unshaven Nixon on television, but radio listeners, free of the bias of appearance, believed Nixon had won. Recent studies, however, have concluded that this legend has little factual support.

The reports of Nixon winning on radio that started surfacing after the debate were little more than localized, anecdotal reports and there was no national poll which showed such a finding. Still, the story has come to stand for the widely held belief that television's influence on politics has resulted in triumphs of image over substance.

It is just not clear that those conclusions can be drawn from the particular example of the 1960 presidential debate.

Answer: 1976

There were no presidential debates between 1960 and 1976, when Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter participated in three televised debates. Since 1976, there have been televised presidential debates every year. The first televised vice-presidential debate also took place in 1976.

Answer: John Anderson

In 1980, the League of Women Voters sponsored a presidential debate in which they invited major party candidates Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as well as independent candidate John Anderson. Seeing Anderson as a threat, Carter refused to participate in a debate with Anderson, so Reagan and Anderson debated without Carter. Later that year, Carter and Reagan debated without Anderson. Ross Perot was included in the 1992 televised debates.

There were no debates in 1968, when George Wallace ran for president, and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader was not invited to the 1996 or 2000 debates.

Answer: 1950

Connecticut Senator William Benton, a former advertising executive, is credited with airing the first television campaign commercial in his 1950 race for the senate. He narrowly defeated Prescott Bush, whose son George and grandsons, George and Jeb, would later use the medium to great effect.

The first presidential campaign television commercials were aired in the 1952 Eisenhower/Stevenson race. In 1948, advisors to Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey encouraged him to use television commercials, but he rejected the idea, considering it undignified behavior for a candidate for president of the United States.

Answer: Green Eggs and Ham

On September 28, 1991, four days after the death of Dr. Seuss, Jackson read the book as a tribute. It was certainly one of the more interesting political appearances on television.