Fifty years ago, a little-remembered internationally-televised debate on Vietnam with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., heralded the entrance of Ronald Reagan onto the world stage.
Reagan, governor of California, was in the midst of his first quest for the presidency. Previously, he had commented about foreign affairs only very briefly. This debate was to be his first test as a potential commander-in-chief. Reagan appeared from a studio in Sacramento. RFK was in a studio in the nation’s capital. The debate moderator was in London along with a group of student-questioners. The subject was the image of America in the world. During this time period, of nascent opposition to the Vietnam War, the students proceeded to use the entire debate to attack the United States and its policies of defending South Vietnam from armed aggression from North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.
