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[lively band music]

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(male voiceover) 
Richard Nixon was the favorite to
win the Republican presidential

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nomination in 1960.

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Just 14 years after he was tapped by a
group of small town businessmen to run for

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Congress in California, Richard Nixon
stood at the top of his party.

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As he mapped out an ambitious
50 state campaign,

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he was challenged by his opponent,
John F. Kennedy,

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to a series of televised debates; 


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the first in American history.

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Even when hospitalized for
two weeks with a knee injury,

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Nixon remained confident,
anxious for the debates to begin.

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Eager once again to use television
to talk directly to the voters.

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(moderator) 
The Republican candidate,
Vice President Richard M. Nixon and

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the Democratic candidate,
Senator John F. Kennedy.

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According to rules set by
the candidates themselves,

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each man shall-


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(male voiceover) 
The Nixon-Kennedy debates would forever

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change the way Americans
chose their presidents.

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Political rallies and old fashioned
hand shaking became much less important

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than the image on the television screen.

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(Ted Rogers) 
You must understand that Nixon himself
had said, I don't want any makeup on for

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these particular debates.

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What I tried to explain to Dick was
he has a certain characteristics

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of his skin where it's almost transparent.

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And it was a very nice thought to say,

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you know, I don't want any makeup,
but that he really needed it

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in order to have what we would call
even an acceptable television picture.

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And of course, JFK here,

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he'd been riding in motorcades all
over California with the top down.

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He looked like a bronze warrior when
he came into Chicago, he really did.

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(Richard Nixon)
I know what it means to see
people who are unemployed.

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I know Senator Kennedy feels as
deeply about these problems as I do.

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But our disagreement is not
about the goals for America,

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but only about the means to reach those goals.

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(male voiceover) 
The first debate was costly to Nixon.

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The radio audience thought he had won.

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But the largest television audience in
history had seen the Vice President

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haggard and drawn, and had been given its
first sustained look at the Kennedy style.