Studio Documentary in the Kennedy Era
Studio Documentary in the Kennedy Era
Wolper Productions Begins
The Sputnik launch, the network quiz-show scandals, and the election of President John F. Kennedy inspired the desire to strengthen the body politic through educational forms of mass media. This chapter argues that Wolper Productions occupied an essential position on the cultural front of Kennedy’s New Frontier. Documentaries about citizens, politicians, and the Cold War functioned as narratives of assurance. With the assassination of Kennedy, Wolper Productions became the preeminent custodian of the fallen president’s memory. The studio’s films documenting Kennedy’s rise to the highest office (The Making of the President: 1960 [1963]) and his death (Four Days in November [1964]) performed an important social function during the period of transition to the Johnson administration.
Keywords: New Frontier, John F. Kennedy, mass media, assassination, Cold War
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