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The 1960 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1960 presidential election.
Four presidential debates were held between Republican nominee Richard Nixon and Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. All four presidential debates were the first series of debates conducted for any US presidential election. [1] The next presidential debate did not occur until 1976, after which debates would become a regular feature of all presidential campaigns.
In 1960, 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] John F. Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts, was nominated by the Democratic Party as their presidential nominee. [3] He chose the Senate Democratic leader Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate. [3] Most polls after the party conventions showed the Nixon–Lodge ticket having a six point lead over the Kennedy–Johnson ticket. [4]
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 | Monday, September 26, 1960 9:30 –10:30 p.m. EDT [5] | WBBM-TV studios | Chicago, Illinois | Howard K. Smith of CBS | P | P | |||||||||
2 | Friday, October 7, 1960 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. EDT [6] | WRC-TV studios | Washington, D.C. | Frank McGee of NBC | P | P | |||||||||
3 | Thursday, October 13, 1960 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. EDT [7] | ABC studios | Los Angeles, California (Nixon) New York City, New York (Kennedy) | Bill Shadel of ABC | P | P | |||||||||
4 | Friday, October 21, 1960 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. EDT [8] | ABC studios | New York City, New York | Quincy Howe of ABC | P | P |
First presidential debate | |
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Date(s) | September 26, 1960 |
Duration | 60 minutes |
Venue | WBBM-TV studios |
Location | Chicago, Illinois |
Participants | Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy |
Moderator(s) | Howard K. Smith of CBS |
Transcript | September 26, 1960 Debate transcript |
The first presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy took place on Monday, September 26, 1960, at the WBBM-TV studios in Chicago, Illinois. The debate was moderated by Howard K. Smith of CBS 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. [9]
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. [10]
Second presidential debate | |
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Date(s) | October 7, 1960 |
Duration | 60 minutes |
Venue | WRC-TV studios |
Location | Washington, D.C. |
Participants | Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy |
Moderator(s) | Frank McGee of NBC |
Transcript | October 7, 1960 Debate transcript |
The second presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy took place on Friday, October 7, 1960, at the WRC-TV studios in Washington, D.C.. The debate was moderated by Frank McGee of NBC with Paul Niven, Edward P. Morgan, Alvin Spivak and Harold R. Levy as panelists. Questions were related to internal American matters, foreign relations, economy, etc. The format decided was:
Third presidential debate | |
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Date(s) | October 13, 1960 |
Duration | 60 minutes |
Venue | ABC studios in Los Angeles (Nixon) ABC studios in New York City (Kennedy) |
Location | Los Angeles, California (Nixon) New York City, New York (Kennedy) |
Participants | Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy |
Moderator(s) | Bill Shadel of ABC |
Transcript | October 13, 1960 Debate transcript |
The third presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy took place on Thursday, October 13, 1960, were held virtually at the ABC studios in Los Angeles, California (for Nixon) and New York City, New York (for Kennedy). The debate was moderated by Bill Shadel of ABC with Frank McGee, Charles Van Fremd, Douglass Cater and Roscoe Drummond as panelists. To ensure fairness, the journalists (who were in Los Angeles) and Nixon were placed in separate studios. All participants addressed the camera directly, with Kennedy and Nixon both situated without aides in studios that Shadel described as "identical in every detail." A major 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. [11] The format decided was:
This debate was considered a "monumental step for television".
Fourth presidential debate | |
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Date(s) | October 21, 1960 |
Duration | 60 minutes |
Venue | ABC studios |
Location | New York City, New York |
Participants | Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy |
Moderator(s) | Quincy Howe of ABC |
Transcript | October 21, 1960 Debate transcript |
The fourth and final presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy took place on Friday, October 21, 1960, at the ABC studios in New York City, New York. The debate was moderated by Quincy Howe of ABC 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, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. The Democratic ticket of Senator John F. Kennedy and his running mate, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, narrowly defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon and his running mate, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. 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 in which 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. Between 1988 and 2020, the CPD organized all general election presidential debates.
The 2004 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 2004 presidential election.
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 1968 Republican National Convention was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, USA, from August 5 to August 8, 1968, to select the party's nominee in the general election. It nominated former Vice President Richard Nixon for president and Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew for vice president. It was the fourth time Nixon had been nominated on the Republican ticket as either its vice presidential or presidential candidate (1960). Symbolic of the South's changing political affiliation, this was the first Republican National Convention held in a prior Confederate State.
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.
"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice presidential debate by Democratic nominee Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Republican nominee Senator Dan Quayle in response to Quayle's comparison of his experience in Congress to that of John F. Kennedy, the Democratic 35th president of the United States, whom Bentsen knew from their time as congressmen from the 80th to 82nd Congresses. Since then, the words "You're no Jack Kennedy," or some variation on the remark, have become a part of the political lexicon as a way to deflate politicians or other individuals perceived as thinking too highly of themselves. Michael Dukakis and Bentsen later went on to lose the 1988 United States presidential election to George H. W. Bush and Quayle, who thus succeeded Bush as vice president of the United States.
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.
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."
Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey and former governor of Minnesota Harold Stassen engaged in the first United States presidential debate on May 17, 1948. The two candidates were competing for the Republican Party nomination for the 1948 presidential election and held the debate shortly before the Oregon primary election. It focused on a single issue: whether the United States should outlaw the American Communist Party. Stassen argued that it should, while Dewey argued that it should not. The debate was broadcast over radio on approximately 900 networks, with an estimated 40–80 million listeners.
Six Crises is the first book written by Richard Nixon, who later became the 37th president of the United States. It was published in 1962, and it recounts his role in six major political situations. Nixon wrote the book in response to John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize–winning Profiles in Courage, which had greatly improved Kennedy's public image.
The 1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 8, 1960. All 50 states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
This article lists those who were potential candidates for the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 1960 election. After winning the Republican presidential nomination at the 1960 Republican National Convention, Vice President Richard Nixon needed to choose a running mate. President Dwight D. Eisenhower strongly supported UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Though Lodge lacked charisma as a campaigner, his foreign policy experience and stature as ambassador made him an appealing candidate. However, Lodge was unpopular with the Republican right, who did not want a Northeastern moderate on the ticket. Nixon also strongly considered conservative Minnesota Representative Walter Judd and moderate Kentucky Senator Thruston Morton. After a closed session with Republican Party leaders, Nixon announced his choice of Lodge. The Republican convention ratified Nixon's choice of Lodge. The Nixon–Lodge ticket lost the 1960 election to the Democratic ticket of Kennedy–Johnson.
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.
The 1996 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1996 presidential election.
The 1976 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1976 presidential election.
The 1980 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1980 presidential election.
The 1992 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1992 presidential election.
The 1988 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 1988 presidential election.
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