Political "moments" worth remembering.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

John F. Kennedy's assassination and funeral, the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, and the first televised presidential debate in 1960 between JFK and Richard Nixon head the "most memorable" political moments in American radio-television history, announced the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago. These events top a list of 125 moments chosen by scholars, politicians, commentators, and analysts from the period since radio's commercial debut on Election Night 1920.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"For decades, American politics has used---and been shaped by--radio and TV," says Bruce DuMont, MBC founder and president. "Most of the domestic and foreign events on this list are landmarks in our lives. Many have shaped America and strongly influenced its role in the world."

The events receiving the most votes were as follows: 1963 Kennedy assassination and funeral; Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack; first televised JFK-Nixon debate in 1960; Franklin Roosevelt's "Date that will live in infamy" speech following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941; Neal Armstrong talking to the Oval Office from the moon in 1969; 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago; FDR's "Only thing we have to fear" Inaugural Address in 1933; Nixon's 1952 "Checkers" speech; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 "I have a dream" speech; and Nixon's 1974 "My mother was a saint" farewell speech.

Pres. Ronald Reagan leads all individuals with 14 moments, including addresses on the Challenger explosion, D-Day, the "Evil Empire," and the Berlin Wall ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."). Other moments include his 1964 address on behalf of Barry Goldwater, the 1981 attempt on his life, the 1964 debate with Walter Mondale, the Iran-Contra apologia, and Reagan's funeral.

Among Nixon's 12 moments, which include four of the top 15, are his seminal "Checkers" speech; debates with the...