1970
The National Committee for an Effective Congress, an organization started by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948 to help elect progressive candidates, takes up the cause of campaign finance reform. Partly as a result of its lobbying efforts, Congress passes the Political Broadcast Act, which limits the amount of money that candidates can spend on television and radio advertising to seven cents per vote cast for the office in question in the previous election or $20,000, whichever is greater. But the bill is vetoed by President Nixon, who complains that “in doing so, it unfairly endangers freedom of discussion, discriminates against the broadcast media, favors the incumbent officeholder over the office-seeker and gives an unfair advantage to the famous.” Nixon also points out that the $20,000 minimum ceiling would still allow candidates in some parts of the country to blanket a large area with broadcast ads. As an example, he cites the Wichita-Hutchinson metropolitan area in Kansas, where a 30-second spot on prime-time television costs just $145.
SOURCES: National Committee for an Effective Congress; Julian P. Salisbury, “U.S. Campaign Finance Regulation: An Examination of the Federal Election Commission’s Enforcement Process,” doctoral dissertation, Keele University, November 2002; Veto of a Political Broadcasting Bill, Public Papers of the Presidents, October 12, 1970.
Previous year: 1971
Previous election year: 1948 - Truman vs. Dewey
Next year: 1939
Next election year: 1940 - Roosevelt vs. Wilkie