Jimmie Walker got his start performing comedy in small clubs, and ultimately became a 1970s icon playing J.J. Evans on Good Times.
Walker will be talking about his memoir at the National Archives on Friday, May 3, at noon.
He was the first successful young black sitcom star, and his catchphrase—“Dyn-o-mite!”—remains an indicator of the era. In Dynomite!, Walker talks candidly about his rise and the tensions on the set of Good Times that contradict the show’s image of a close-knit blue-collar family.
A book signing will follow the program.
“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
On March 31, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to the nation about the situation in Vietnam and concluded with his decision not to seek re-election.
Read the entire address at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum »
The First Lady can tell you how to get to Sesame Street
Sesame Street premiered on television sets across America on November 10, 1969. Since then, four First Ladies have been guests on the show.
This week is also the anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act on November 7 of that year.
Happy birthday to the Muppets and minds that make Sesame Street!
Here’s Hilary Clinton with Big Bird and Rosita in 1993. Can you name the other 3 First Ladies (not including Abigail Bartlet) who have been guests on Sesame Street? What topics would you like to see First Ladies talk about on the show?
“That’s the way it is.”
-Walter Cronkite’s nightly sign-off for the CBS evening news
Walter Cronkite, the iconic newsman, was born on November 4, 1916. His career as a broadcast journalist spanned 5 decades and 9 U.S. presidents. From the 1930s to the 1980s Cronkite reported on the biggest news of the day including D-Day, the Nuremberg Trials, the Vietnam War, civil rights, the moon missions, and Watergate. It was Cronkite who broke the news of President Kennedy’s assassination, and he covered the subsequent killings of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, and John Lennon.
Cronkite’s broadcasts seemed to capture the emotions of the country. His excitement for the Apollo 11 moon mission was so great that he reported live on the event for 27 hours straight and exclaimed, “Go, baby, go!” at blast off.
In 1972, a nationwide poll determined that Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America.” Other choices in the poll had included contemporary journalists, the Vice President, and the President.
Here are photos of Cronkite and a CBS news crew with Marines during the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam, interviewing President Kennedy, and with President Carter in the White House.
Happy birthday Walter Cronkite
November 4, 1916 - July 17, 2009
The 1st Televised Kennedy/Nixon Debate
On September 26, 1960 Democratic candidate Senator John F. Kennedy and Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon participated in the first of four televised debates. Americans for the first time could tune in and watch presidential debates on television, or listen on the radio.
About 70 million people tuned in for the Kennedy/Nixon debates. When they turned on their television sets, they were actually able to see Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Nixon had refused makeup for the cameras, and hadn’t gained back his natural weight after a serious knee injury and two weeks in the hospital. Kennedy, on the other hand, had been campaigning in southern California and appeared on camera with a healthy tan.
The story has it that those Americans who tuned in over the radio believed the two candidates were evenly matched, but tended to think Nixon had won the debates. But those 70 million who watched the candidates on the television believed Kennedy was the clear victor.
While there aren’t any qualified statistics to back up this claim, what is certain is that Kennedy took a leap in the polls after the debate. Appearances, it seemed, suddenly mattered in Presidential races, far more than they ever had before. Kennedy himself said after the election that “it was TV more than anything else that turned the tide” toward his victory.
It’s curious to think who might have been elected if modern technology had been around throughout U.S. history. Washington wore dentures. Lincoln had a high-pitched voice. William Howard Taft weighed over 300 pounds. James Madison was 5′ 4″.
-from The National Archives’ Prologue: Pieces of History
What pre-television President would you most like to see speak?
Chart Showing a Day of Television Programming in Chicago, 09/16/1954
An exhibit from the Senate Judiciary Special Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency during its investigation on the effect of television programming on juvenile delinquency.
