[lively band music]

(male voiceover) 
Richard Nixon was the favorite to

win the Republican presidential

nomination in 1960.

Just 14 years after he was tapped by a

group of small town businessmen to run for

Congress in California, Richard Nixon

stood at the top of his party.

As he mapped out an ambitious

50-state campaign,

he was challenged by his opponent,

John F. Kennedy, to a series of televised

debates; the first in American history.

Even when hospitalized for two

weeks with a knee injury,

Nixon remained confident,

anxious for the debates to begin.

Eager once again to use television

to talk directly to the voters.

(moderator) 
The Republican candidate,

Vice President Richard M. Nixon and

the Democratic candidate,

Senator John F. Kennedy.

According to rules set by

the candidates themselves,

each man shall-

(male voiceover) 
The Nixon-Kennedy debates would forever

change the way Americans

chose their presidents.

Political rallies and old-fashioned

hand shaking became much less important

than the image on the television screen.

(Ted Rogers) 
You must understand that Nixon himself

had said, I don't want any makeup on for

these particular debates.

What I tried to explain to Dick was

he has a certain characteristic

of his skin where it's almost transparent.

And it was a very nice thought to say,

you know, I don't want any makeup,

but that he really needed it

in order to have what we would call

even an acceptable television picture.

And of course, JFK here,

he'd been riding in motorcades all

over California with the top down.

He looked like a bronze warrior when

he came into Chicago, he really did.

(Richard Nixon)
I know what it means to see

people who are unemployed.

I know Senator Kennedy feels as

deeply about these problems as I do.

But our disagreement is not

about the goals for America, but only

about the means to reach those goals.

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

The radio audience thought he had won.

But the largest television audience in

history had seen the Vice President

haggard and drawn, and had been given its

first sustained look at the Kennedy style.