![]() "I understand jumping on what people perceive as a weakness on the part of a political opponent but equating a gaffe such as this with a diminution of someone's mental capacity is really reaching. This ability to respond to the gaffes of our leaders is simply an unfortunate sign of the times suggested Susan Campbell, distinguished lecturer in the Department of Communication, Film and Media Studies at the University of New Haven. Bush, Donald Trump or Joe Biden been around before social media, their gaffes might have gone largely unnoticed-and likewise, had social media existed during the administrations of President Abraham Lincoln and FDR, they might have faced greater ridicule from their critics, but also from the masses. There was no social media that enabled our immediate response. When Ford or Carter said something, it was often only picked up on the evening news. Bush was arguably the first president to face a backlash on social media, something that has now become the norm. Bush faced just decades later as readers could comment to online news reports. No one would suggest President Ford or Carter were the greatest of speakers, but neither received the criticism that George W. What is also different today is how much easier it is to comment on every statement by our leaders for every word they said. By contrast, there are perhaps thousands of clips and sound bites of our more modern presidents available on social media. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Currently just over 300 speeches and utterances have been digitized and preserved in the Franklin D. Likewise, only a small portion of President Franklin Roosevelt's speeches were likely recorded. Moreover, it is almost impossible to know what the masses actually thought. Neither was exactly known to be great orators, but then again, any opinion is only based on written reports from the day, and those were from a media that could have shown bias. Presidents William Henry Harrison and James Buchanan are now remembered for having two of the worst inaugural addresses in our nation's history. Yet, it is clear from the presidential records that mistakes were made, and some former leaders were noted to be better speakers than others. It is hard to know what verbal gaffes earlier presidents made, simply because there were no recordings of their speeches-except what was literally written down. ![]() Today, any gaffe made by lawmakers is likely to set social media on fire! Gaffes Aren't New-We Just Cover Them More ![]() We remember many of these statements as part of the historic record, but most of these were quickly old news if they were ever really news at all. Among others, he infamously proclaimed, "It has not been easy for me… my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars " and another time stated "I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11-down at the World Trade Center right after it came down," when he obviously meant 9/11. Of course, President Donald Trump has also been shown to be quite a gaffe machine as well, making a number of notable statements over the years. Though it wasn't technically a gaffe, President Ronald Reagan also made a questionable joke during a microphone sound check stating, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. President Richard Nixon's now infamous line, "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal," is just one example of highly questionable statements, while no doubt his successor Gerald Ford likely regretted stating, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." That latter quip, which was made during a presidential debate with then-candidate Jimmy Carter, essentially destroyed Ford's credibility in foreign affairs, and it most certainly contributed to his loss in the 1976 election. ![]()
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