University of Virginia Library

A Little More
Powder, Mr. President?

The age of television is truly upon us,
to a degree that perhaps only Marshall
McLuhan realizes for sure. The latest
indication of this video victory was the announcement
by former Vice President Nixon
last week that poor television makeup may
have cost him the Presidency. He was
referring, of course, to his first debate in
1960 when John Kennedy's healthy tan
contrasted too obviously with Mr. Nixon's
own gray jowls.

What lessons this confession might have
for the incumbent in the White House remain
to be seen, in a very literal sense to
the word. Mr. Johnson has always projected
a robust physiognomy, except for an
occasional indiscreet exposure of his
abdomen before the cameras. How will he
fare, though, in a contest with the silver hair
of senator McCarthy, the boyish
glamor of a Senator Kennedy or the hawkish
gaze of a George Wallace?

Who knows? Mr. Nixon, at any rate,
will have a new makeup expert in 1968.
May the cleanest-shaved man win!