The impact of the 1960 JFK-Nixon debate - CNNPolitics.

The Presidential Debates Between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon In the Presidential Election of 1960 John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhouse Nixon were in a series of debates that were different from past debates. The three biggest national television networks arranged for the debate to be televised on all three stations.

Experience political campaigns. 1960 was such a huge year for political hopefuls because it was the first time in American history that a presidential debate was broadcast on television. For the first time, the American masses were able to see and interpret presidential candidates in the debate setting. Kennedy ultimately won the election over.

Vice President Nixon vs. Senator Kennedy. In 1960, the two candidates for President were Vice President Richard Nixon, a Republican, and Senator John F. Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts. Today a presidential debate is very common.

September 26, 1960 Debate Transcript. September 26, 1960. The First Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debate. HOWARD K. SMITH, MODERATOR: Good evening. The television and radio stations of the United States and their affiliated stations are proud to provide facilities for a discussion of issues in the current political campaign by the two major candidates for the presidency.

These television debates (the first time that a presidential debate had been televised) were therefore crucial in winning the election for John Kennedy, and for securing the defeat of Nixon, though the television (and the image created from being on television) had never before played such a pivotal role in an election campaign.

This folder contains an unofficial transcript of the first presidential debate between candidates Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. The candidates answered questions on numerous issues, including agriculture, the economy, education, foreign policy, and medical care for the aged.

The fourth and final debate of the 1960 campaign was broadcast from ABC News studios in New York. Like the previous three, the fourth drew an audience of more than 60 million viewers; an average of 71 million viewers watched each of the four debates, and a total of more than 115 million Americans watched at least some part of the four debates on television or listened to them on the radio.

The First Debate over the Debates: How Kennedy and Nixon Negotiated the I960 Presidential Debates JOHN W. SELF James Madison University The 1960 presidential campaign was historic for a number of reasons, most notably for the first-ever set of general election televised presidential debates between the two major-party candidates.

Richard M. Scammon Personal Papers. Elections Research Center File, 1959-1966. Kennedy-Nixon debates: Analysis of the first Kennedy-Nixon debate, 29 September 1960. RMSPP-008-008. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

During presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates (almost always the candidates of the two largest parties, currently the Democratic Party and the Republican Party) to engage in a debate.The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time, and arguably elections have been nearly decided by these debates.

In the 1960 US Presidential election, the point was made that the Democrat nominee, John F. Kennedy, was Catholic. Never before did the US have a Catholic president. Many people believed that JFK's religion would be a handicap for him in the election.

The next set of presidential debates did not occur until the 1976 contest between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, but there has been some type of single or multiple debate encounter in every subsequent presidential election.