The Great Debate: Kennedy vs. Nixon
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On Sep. 26, 1960 Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy squared off against Vice President Richard Nixon in Chicago for the first of four debates between the two. It was also the first televised presidential debate in U.S. history -- a fact that proved key to the outcome of the election.
The tanned, confident and media-savvy Kennedy wowed the estimated 80 million television viewers, while the pallid, fidgety and sickly Nixon paled in comparison. Nixon refused to wear makeup on screen and appeared haggardly as he was still recovering from a knee-injury-turned-infection sustained on a campaign swing through North Carolina while on his 50-state tour.
Most radio listeners -- oblivious to the cosmetic disparity between the two contenders -- said Nixon won the night. In the ensuing debates, Nixon performed more effectively on television -- and even took to wearing makeup -- but viewership declined sharply after the first televised encounter and the damage done may have been insurmountable.
Kennedy went on to win the White House in one of the closest elections in the nation's history and the era of modern presidential debates was born.
Electoral map source: National Atlas of the United States
Audio of the Kennedy-Nixon debate is courtesy of John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara. Learn more at www.AmericanPresidency.org
