WEBVTT

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[lively band music]

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(male voiceover) 
Richard Nixon was the favorite to

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win the Republican presidential

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nomination in 1960.

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Just 14 years after he was tapped by a

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group of small town businessmen to run for

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Congress in California, Richard Nixon

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stood at the top of his party.

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As he mapped out an ambitious

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50-state campaign,

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he was challenged by his opponent,

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John F. Kennedy, to a series of televised

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debates; the first in American history.

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Even when hospitalized for two

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weeks with a knee injury,

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Nixon remained confident,

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anxious for the debates to begin.

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Eager once again to use television

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to talk directly to the voters.

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(moderator) 
The Republican candidate,

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Vice President Richard M. Nixon and

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the Democratic candidate,

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Senator John F. Kennedy.

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According to rules set by

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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

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chose their presidents.

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Political rallies and old-fashioned

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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

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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

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he has a certain characteristic

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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,

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but that he really needed it

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in order to have what we would call

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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

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over California with the top down.

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He looked like a bronze warrior when

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he came into Chicago, he really did.

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(Richard Nixon)
I know what it means to see

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people who are unemployed.

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I know Senator Kennedy feels as

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deeply about these problems as I do.

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But our disagreement is not

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about the goals for America, but only

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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

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history had seen the Vice President

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haggard and drawn, and had been given its

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first sustained look at the Kennedy style.