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The 1960 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1960 presidential election between Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Richard Nixon. The four presidential debates were the first series of debates conducted for any presidential election. The next presidential debate did not occur until 1976, after which debates would become a regular feature of all presidential campaigns.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts was nominated by the Democratic party as their presidential nominee. [1] He chose the Senate Democratic leader Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate. [1] The Republican party nominated the incumbent vice president Richard Nixon as their presidential nominee, with Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the United States ambassador to the United Nations, as his running mate. [2] Most polls after the party conventions showed the Nixon–Lodge ticket having a six point lead over the Kennedy–Johnson ticket. [3]
1960 United States presidential election debates | |||||||||||||||
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No. | Date and time | Host | Location | Moderator | Participants | ||||||||||
Key: P Participant | Republican | Democratic | |||||||||||||
Vice President Richard Nixon of California | Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||
1 | September 26, 1960 9:30 –10:30 p.m. EDT | WBBM-TV | Chicago, Illinois | Howard K. Smith | P | P | |||||||||
2 | October 7, 1960 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. EDT | WRC-TV | Washington, D.C. | Frank McGee | P | P | |||||||||
3 | October 13, 1960 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. EDT | ABC Studios | New York City, New York (Kennedy) Los Angeles, California (Nixon) | Bill Shadel | P | P | |||||||||
4 | October 21, 1960 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. EDT | ABC Studios | New York City, New York | Quincy Howe | P | P |
First presidential debate | |
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Date(s) | September 26, 1960 |
Venue | WBBM-TV |
Location | Chicago, Illinois |
Participants | John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon |
Moderator(s) | Howard K. Smith of CBS |
The first presidential debate was held at WBBM-TV, Chicago on Monday September 26, 1960. Howard K. Smith moderated the debate with Sander Vanocur, Charles Warren, Stuart Novins and Bob Fleming as panelists. Questions were restricted to internal or domestic American matters. The format decided was:
Nixon refused make-up for the first debate, subsequently his facial stubble showed prominently on black-and-white television screens. During the debate, Nixon started sweating under the studio lights. His light gray suit faded into the backdrop of the set and seemed to match his skin tone. Reacting to this, his mother immediately called him and asked whether he was sick. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in an interview said:
My God, they’ve embalmed him before he even died. [4]
Nixon blamed his poor performance on hitting his knee on a car door in Greensboro, North Carolina, after which he had to be hospitalized for a staph infection. [5]
The second presidential debate was held at WRC-TV, Washington, D.C., on Friday October 7, 1960. Frank McGee moderated the debate with Paul Niven, Edward P. Morgan, Alan Spivak and Harold R. Levy as panelists. Questions were related to internal American matters, foreign relations, economy, etc. The format decided was:
The third presidential debate was held virtually at ABC studio in Los Angeles for Nixon and ABC studio in New York City for Kennedy on October 13, 1960. Bill Shadel moderated the debate with Frank McGee, Charles Van Fremd, Douglass Cater and Roscoe Drummond as panelists. Shadel moderated the debate from a different television studio in Los Angeles. The topic of the debate was whether military force should be used to prevent Quemoy and Matsu, two island archipelagos off the Chinese coast, from falling under Communist control. [7] The format decided was:
This debate was considered a "monumental step for television".
The fourth presidential debate was held at ABC studio, New York City on Friday October 21, 1960. Quincy Howe moderated the debate with Frank Singiser, John Edwards, Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor as panelists. Questions were related to Foreign affairs. The format decided was:
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. This was the first election in which 50 states participated, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not. This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president—in this case, Dwight D. Eisenhower—was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.
During presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the candidates to engage in one or more debates. 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. Candidate debates are not constitutionally mandated, but they are now considered an intrinsic part of the election process. The debates are targeted mainly at undecided voters; those who tend not to be partial to any political ideology or party.
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates and undertakes research and educational activities relating to the debates. It has run all of the presidential debates held since 1988. The commission's debates are sponsored by private contributions from foundations and corporations as well as fees from hosting institutions.
The United States presidential election debates were held in the 2004 presidential election. Three debates were held between Republican incumbent George W. Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry, the major candidates, and one debate was held with their vice presidential running mates, incumbent Dick Cheney and John Edwards. All four debates were sponsored by the non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has organized presidential debates since its establishment in 1987.
Willard Franklin "Bill" Shadel was an American news anchor for CBS Radio and ABC Television. Shadel was born in Milton, Wisconsin, one of five children and the younger of two sons of Franklin Luther and Ida Louise Pachel Shadel. He was musically talented and in his early years provided music for silent movies. He graduated from Andrews University in Michigan. Shadel assumed direction of the college band and orchestra in 1929, while still a student and then worked as an assistant program manager for the college's radio station, responsible for music presentations that included his performing as a soloist on marimba, saxophone, clarinet, and trombone and him directing bands and choirs for the station. His work as a soloist and with these groups, which also gave programs for the school, was an immediate hit with their members and the campus at large. While at Andrews University, he married Marion I. Kocher and they had two sons, Willard F., Jr. and Gerald I. He led the groups for two years following his graduation in 1932, while teaching political science courses, and then left to lead the band, orchestra, and choirs at Washington Missionary College, now Washington Adventist University, in Washington, D.C. He received a master's degree in history from the University of Michigan. Shadel began his career as a musician in silent-movie theaters before taking his marimba to live radio. Shadel began writing for The American Rifleman - a journal of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). Shadel received press credentials from CBS and shipped overseas to cover the European Theater. His duties were taken over by his associate editors, and The American Rifleman carried articles and interviews by Shadel up until the end of the war. Edward R. Murrow recruited Shadel while he was working in Europe as a correspondent for the National Rifle Association. During World War II, Shadel covered the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion for CBS Radio. During his years at CBS, Shadel worked alongside Murrow, Howard K. Smith, Walter Cronkite, and Eric Sevareid. He and Murrow were the first reporters in the German concentration camp at Buchenwald. They came by jeep and were swarmed by the starving and dying. Mr. Shadel said it was the memory of the living, not the multitudes of dead, that stayed with him most. After the war, Shadel reported from Washington, D.C., trying his hand at television at WTOP-TV as a Capitol Hill reporter for the local CBS news program then anchored by Walter Cronkite. Each week on WTOP-TV, a local department store sponsored a fashion show; Shadel met and fell in love with one of the models. She became his wife of more than 56 years, Julie Strouse.
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles, California, on July 11–15, 1960. It nominated Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts for president and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas for vice president.
The 1960 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, from July 25 to July 28, 1960, at the International Amphitheatre. It was the 14th and most recent time overall that Chicago hosted the Republican National Convention, more times than any other city.
David Pietrusza is an American author and historian.
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The "last press conference" of US politician Richard Nixon took place on November 7, 1962, following his loss in the 1962 California gubernatorial election to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown. Appearing before 100 reporters at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Nixon lashed out at the media, proclaiming that "you don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."
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The 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then junior United States senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on January 2, 1960, as Senator Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1960 presidential election.
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The 1988 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held for the presidential election.
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