And im kerry sayers. And im your host, bill kurtis. Its political gaffes through the decades. The great edward r. Murrow said when politicians complain that tv turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there and that tv has merely demonstrated that not performers are well trained. Today on through the decades, we look at politicians who didnt give their best performances on the political stage as they attemped to run for office. And the Television Cameras were there to capture their gaffes and preserve them for all of history to remember. So we begin the doomed decision of a president ial hopeful. The 1972 race for the white house was never really close themselves an even deeper hole when their nominee George Mcgovern picked Thomas Eagleton to be his running mate. Senator george h. Mcgovern is hereby declared the 1972 democratic nominee for president of the United States. Heading into the 1972 democratic convention, George Mcgovern was hardly a sure thing. The democrats were considerably the last night of the convention before mcgovern officially secured the nomination. I cant believe weve won the whole thing. Amid the chaos and uncertainty, the Mcgovern Campaign gave little consideration to a potential running mate. The polls indicated senator ted kennedy gave mcgovern his best chance against president nixon but kennedy refused as did established democrats like Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie. Under pressure to make a selection, the process was hurried and out of it emerged a relatively unknown Thomas Eagleton. Good evening. George mcgovern, the democratic candidate for president today chose senator thomas f. Eagleton of missouri as his running mate. Eagletons a 42 year old freshman senator, a Roman Catholic from st. Louis. He supported Edmund Muskie in like mcgovern hes relatively liberal on domestic matters and a dove on vietnam. Senator what whats your reaction . Well, one of being very nervous and almost flabbergasted. When senator mcgovern called he said this is George Mcgovern and i recognized the voice and he said tom id like you to be my running mate and i paused it sounded like four seconds and i said well george before you change your mind, i accept. Catholic with ties to organized labor the Mcgovern Campaign hoped hed balance the ticket. He meets the main requirements senator mcgovern set down when he began his consideration which is a man in whom he would have absolute and complete confidence in whom he believes the American People would have complete confidence to become president of the United States should that occasion arise. But in the rush to pick a vp candidate beyond a minimal but in the rush to pick a vp candidate beyond a minimal background check, the Mcgovern Campaign did little vetting of eagleton and it wasnt long before rumors about his past began to surface. There were concerns about his Mental Health and revelations that hed sought electroshock therapy for depression in the 1960s. Eagleton never mentioned anything to mcgovern but as more and more was leaked, he was forced to address the issue publicly. On three occasions in my life, i have voluntarily gone into hospitals as a result of exhaustion and fatigue. Few in this room know me well tom otned of the post dispatch and ed obrien, of the st. Louis democratic and a few others have followed my career and they know me to be, i think, a rather intense, hard driving person and as a younger man i must say that i drove myself too far. Initially, mcgovern chose to remain defiant, standing by his running mate. Remain defiant, standing by his running mate. Im fully satisfied and if i had known every detail that he discussed with me this morning, which is exactly what he has just told you here now, he would still have been my choice for the vice presidency of the United States. But the matter of eagletons health quickly became a significant distraction following the campaign at every stop. Mcgovern eventually met with advised him that eagelton could be a liability if he were to become president so on august 1, 1972, only 18 days after he was announced as the democratic Vice President ial nominee, eagleton withdrew from the ticket. This decision is one of the most heart rendering and difficult decisions that i ever expect to make in my life. I think were going to win this election and theyll be tough de be no decision that i can imagine thatll be anymore painful or anymore difficult than the decision that senator eagleton and i have reached tonight. For a Campaign Already in crisis, the eagleton affair would all but sink mcgoverns chances. It was sort of my personal belief that the eagleton issue would fade away through this month of august, around the first day of august. One hundred and eightysix years ago you tell us we had our would fade away during this month of august. Id go to enough cities so that Barry Serafin would get tired of asking me in every city of the country about my health and that it would run its course but an argument can be made that it would linger on but im not here to say who was categorically right or whos categorically wrong, ill just say that George Mcgovern could not have been finer to me. I believe in him as much as i did in miami and im going to work for him him as much as i did in miami and im going to work for him. Maybe work for hard. Mcgovern came out of the whole thing looking like a weak and indecisive leader. As a replacement, he chose sargent shriver, an inlaw of the kennedys but the damage had been done. Nixon won reelection decisively and while mcgovern and eagleton both returned to the senate, their 18 days together would carry a legacy of infamy. A lesson in the pitfalls of oversight. When our journey continues, appeared in an adult magazine that some thought was a little too honest. The debate that turned gerald fords campaign on its head. We turn back the lens of time on the simple question that a senator could never quite answer in his failed 1980 campaign for the white house. Plus, the personal scandal that gary hart could never bounce back from. Then, the embarassingly awkward photo op that made a democratic president ial candidate a laughingstock and why at the peak of his popularity, a president ial candidate suddenly dropped out of race. Its all still ahead right here on through the decades. It was an interview that could have cost him the white house. While running for president in 1976,the former georgia governor jimmy carter made honesty one of the cornerstones of his campaign, but after honesty one of the cornerstones of his campaign, but after opening about his religious beliefs, many felt the democratic nominee went too far. Disenchanted and disillusioned by vietnam and the watergate scandal, voters in the 1976 president ial election wanted a washington outsider. They found him in the devoutly religious peanut farmer, the former senator and governor of georgia, jimmy carter. Truth, was facing off against republican incumbent gerald ford in office after nixon resigned and had been holding a double digit lead but with just weeks to the election, things began unraveling for him. Among other issues he was facing, carter had granted an interview to Playboy Magazine that to some, was a little too honest. A consensus is developing amongst supporters of jimmy carter thali is becoming his own worst enemy. Carters startegy calls for him to appear, decent, consistent and president ial while portraying mr. Ford as weak, inconsistent and unpresident ial but by using earthy language in a Playboy Magazine interview, appearing to flip flop on the issue of grain embargos, seeming to call for middle income families to pay higher taxes and sounding contradictory on whether to fire fbi director clarence kelly, carter, his backers agree, seems to be the playboy interview covered a variety of topics but when it touched on carters religious beliefs, some thought he overshared. Playboy magzine today, released the text of an interview with carter that it will publish next month and in it, he says that because of his religious beliefs he does not think he could ever lie, cheat and distort the truth as he said former president s nixon and johnson did. In that article, he discusses sexual morality and in a couple in that article, he discusses sexual morality and in a couple of places uses words mil for playboy but perhaps a little racy for sunday school. Carter noted that quote, christ set some almost impossible standards for us. Christ said, i tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust and has in his heart already committed adulteryand carter added, ive looked on a lot of women with lust. Ive committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something god recognizes i will do and god forgives me for it. mean he condemns those who carry their lust farther than he, that christ taught that one person should never think he was any better than anybody else. Many voters were shocked and appalled by the president s candor but carter defended his interview. I thought it was a good way to let the American Public, particularly the playboy readers, know about my religious beliefs. I think it was perhaps typical of my campaign. I might say this, i would rather run that kind of campaign and even make a mistake every now and then and let the American People have contact with me, than to hide in the rose garden for eight weeks and ignore the real needs of this campaign than to isolate myself from the American People. I made the right choice. Are you sorry that you granted it . No. Do you think its been misunderstood . Oh, i dont think its hurt any. Not surprisingly, the carter staff discounts these problems as the natural result of an active campaign and they seem see it that way too. Fords people tried capitalizing on it too by depicting a cartoon carter at a Church Pulpit holding the bible in one hand and in the other, a Playboy Magazine the caption read, all things to all people. It does violate the principles of ethics and the standards that mr. Ford and i have both agreed on in written statements to common cause that we would uphold. During one of his whistlestop handed out copies of the interview to reporters hoping to put his quotes in proper context. His wife, rosaylnn, defended her husband. The article, on whole i think was good, i havent read it but i heard that it was and jimmy was trying to explain his christian religion to people and so that. That doesnt concern me. Its sort of implied though. Prying into your marriage. Prying into your privacy there . Marriage, if i was worried about my marriage it might bother me, but jimmy and i have a very good marriage. Weve been married 30 years and weve always worked together and no, i dont have to worry about that. In the end, despite his quotes that will live in infamy, on novemeber 2, 1976 jimmy carter was elected the thirtyninth president of the United States. In the age of television, its become a timehonored tradition commit mindboggling blunders, gaffes and bungles along the campaign trail. None more so than during a debate. When we return, well relive the answer that made america question gerald fords understanding of world affairs. Plus, we remember when gary harts career suffered as political journalism went i know you [laughs] welcome hi were your neighbors. We live across the street. Thanks for this. I see youve got Time Warner Cable like the rest of the hood. Genius. Yeah, they offer tons of free hd channels. And you can record six shows at the same time. And with the super fast internet, entertainment nirvana switch to Time Warner Cable for 89. 99 per month, youll get free hd channels, 30 meg internet with no data cap, and unlimited calling. Call now. Looks like youre all hooked up. Games about to start. Lets do it. Were watching here . Oh yeah. Ohh. How about you and i go watch my favorite show . Switching is easy. Youll get our exclusive onehour arrival window, a moneyback guarantee, and theres no contract to sign. Oh youve got the twc phone. Its unlimited calling to like half the world. Including mexico, canada, india, european union. Dont ah it says. Fragile. Get tv, internet and phone for 89. 99 per month. Plus free installation, tv equipment, and epix included. Call now. It was one of the more infamous misstatements in the history of involving the United States cold war nemisis, the soviet union. It came from president gerald ford in a debate against his opponent, jimmy carter, in october, 1976. President gerald ford faced a unique challenge as he campaigned for reelection in 1976. Ford had not been elected as commanderinchief. He had been the House Minority as Vice President in 1973 after agnew was forced to resign due to a bribery scandal. I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. And then ford replaced Richard Nixon as president in 1974 after nixon was forced to resign due to the watergate scandal. Ford was seen as a weak candidate due to his pardoning of nixon, a weak economy and a jaded population fed up with beltway politics. Well that the United States who tore up the paris peace accords and with the aid of the soviet union overran south vietnam. Ford struggled in the republican primaries against Ronald Reagan who accused the president of being soft with the soviet union and other communist regimes. That race went all the way to the Republican National convention in kansas city where ford finally secured enough delegates to win the nomination. General election was former georgia governor, jimmy carter. Gallup polls had carter leading ford by 33 Percentage Points after the democratic National Convention in july. But ford was able to build momentum and by the fall, he was only two Percentage Points behind carter in some polls. Good evening. Im Pauline Frederick of npr, moderator of this second of the historic debates of the 1976 campaign between gerald r. Ford of michigan, republican candidate for president and jimmy carter of georgia, democratic candidate for president. On october 6, 1976, the two men debated each other at the palace of the Fine Arts Theatre in san francisco. Ford hoped to gain on carter with a strong performance. Instead, ford jeopardized his campaign after being asked soviet union and other Eastern European countries. His answer . There is no soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a ford administration. Moderators were stunned by fords declaration and asked for clarification. Im sorry. Could i just. Did i understand you to say, sir, that the russians are not using Eastern Europe as their occupying mo most of the countries there and in making sure with their troops that its a that its a communist zone, whereas on our side of the line the italians and the french e still flirting with the possibility of communism . I dont believe, uh mr. Frankel that uh the yugoslavians consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. I dont believe that the romanians consider themselves dominated by the dont believe that the poles consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. Each of those countries is independent, autonomous. It has its own territorial integrity and the United States does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the soviet union. Supporters later said fords statements were taken out of context and that he meant to say that the us would never accept soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the free world. Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the free world. Something which ford did indeed say while campaigning against reagan. Recent charges that the United States is in a position of military inferiority, that we have accepted soviet World Domination are complete and utter nonsense. But many thought that fords comments made him seem naive and uninformed about global politics. Fords progress in the polls stalled after his debate statement about the soviets. His name is jimmy carter and the next president of the United States. And ford lost the general election to carter who won the popular vote by a mere three Percentage Points. Ford would live another 29 years after his defeat and he never thought that his debate gaffe cost him the election. Finally, i feel that richard have suffered enough. Instead, he felt his unconditional pardoning of nixon led to his downfall back in 1976. Journalists are often responsible for asking the questions that lead to botched political careers. Still ahead, well look back on when a journalists question caused a campaign for the implode almost before the race had even begun. In the fall of 1979, senator ted kennedy was the favorite to win the democratic nomination for president over incumbent, jimmy carter. But his undoing would be a hesitant, unprepared answer to a seemingly straightforward question posed by cbs news man roger mudd. Dashed kennedys hope of eve