Cold Open

It’s September 26th, 1960 in a television studio in Chicago, Illinois.

Vice President of the United States Richard Nixon waits backstage. He’s exhausted and running a low-grade fever, but he’s about to go on live TV in front of 65 million people. Tonight is the first debate of the 1960 presidential campaign, and it’s a critical moment for Nixon’s bid to be elected to the top job in the country.

Nixon looks through his notes, written longhand on a yellow-lined legal pad, memorizing his opening remarks. He’s focused on the substance of the debate, but members of his campaign staff are more concerned with his appearance. They want him to wear make-up, but he’s refused that, thinking it might make him look weak. Instead, Nixon's only agreed to wear a thin powder called Lazy Shave to cover up his five o’clock shadow.

With thirty seconds to air, Nixon takes a seat beside the moderator, Howard K. Smith. Across from him is Nixon’s opponent, the senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.  After eight years as Vice President, Nixon has more experience than his opponent. But under the bright lights of the studio, Kennedy looks tanned, well-rested, and at ease - everything Nixon is not.

Beads of sweat are already beginning to seep out from beneath his Lazy Shave powder. But there’s no time to do anything about that now - the stage manager begins his countdown and the light on the camera glows red. America’s first-ever televised presidential debate is underway.

HOWARD K. SMITH: "Good evening. The television and radio stations of the United States and their affiliated stations are proud to provide facilities for a discussion of issues in the current political campaign by the two major candidates for the Presidency…"

Nixon grins awkwardly and doesn’t look at the camera as the moderator introduces him. But when his turn comes, Kennedy looks straight down the lens - as if he’s looking every single watching American right in the eye. He seems strong and resolute. He seems… Presidential.

Soon after this debate ends, Richard Nixon’s mother calls him, concerned about how he looked on television. The next morning, the New York Times describes Nixon as seeming “unwell.” It’s clear that, in the first live presidential debate on television, Nixon has lost. The clash will reveal the growing power of television in politics. But the debate between Nixon and Kennedy won’t only reshape the election of 1960. It will also help establish a new event in the political calendar, one that will continue to mold American history long after voters first sat down in their living rooms to watch a televised debate between their presidential candidates on September 26th, 1960.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 26th, 1960: America’s First Televised Presidential Debate.

Act One

It’s August 16th, 1960 at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, a month before John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon face off in front of the cameras.

Nixon waves to the enormous crowd of North Carolina Republicans. He’s just delivered his speech - and received a raucous reception.

His campaign staff is thrilled with the turnout - over nine thousand supporters are packed into the arena, with more waiting outside. Now, Nixon wants to meet the public, shake some hands, and kiss some babies. His Secret Service agents warn against it, but Nixon doesn’t listen.

The crowd of well-wishers outside the stadium is so big that Nixon decides to stand on top of his car to let everyone see him. From there, he waves to his fans, smiling broadly, obviously pleased by his reception. But when it’s time to come down, Nixon stumbles, and badly bashes his left knee. Blood trickles down his pant leg, but wanting to appear strong, he quickly gets back to his feet and waves to the crowd once again before being ushered away by aides.

Over the next week, though, Nixon remains in severe pain. He then develops a fever before finally agreeing to see a White House doctor on August 27th.

This lands Nixon in Walter Reade Hospital in Washington, D.C. for ten days - an eternity of time for a man running for president. And while Nixon’s in traction and on antibiotics for an infection, his opponent John F. Kennedy begins to gain in the polls.

The two men vying for the Oval Office could hardly be more different. Nixon is the son of a poor lemon farmer and grocer from Southern California. Kennedy is the son of a wealthy businessman who was once US Ambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy is also handsome, intelligent, and athletic. But despite those advantages, he’s the underdog in the Presidential campaign.

Since winning the Democratic nomination in July 1960, Kennedy has struggled to make a breakthrough in the polls. Hoping to turn things around, his campaign team has suggested a televised presidential debate. Kennedy’s advisors believed that though he's inexperienced, he would seem Nixon’s equal in the nation’s eyes if they were placed side-by-side on the same platform. Nixon’s team recognized this danger and wanted to reject the offer - but they were overruled by Nixon himself. He believed he could out-debate Kennedy and turn what was already a healthy lead in the polls into a crushing one.

Now, however, Kennedy's preparations for the debate and his entire campaign are threatened by his prolonged stay in the hospital. And on September 9th, Nixon can stand it no longer. He leaves his hospital bed early against his doctor’s orders. Hoping to make up for lost time, he then embarks on a punishing schedule of public appearances. He makes speeches all over the country, even in places he has no chance of winning, as part of an ill-advised campaign promise to visit all 50 states. Two weeks before the debate, though, Nixon’s grueling schedule gets the better of him. He catches the flu in Fargo, North Dakota, and orders his personal doctor to give him shots to keep going.

Tired and unwell, on September 26th, Nixon lands in Chicago to prepare for the night’s televised debate. Kennedy is there too - spending the morning with his three closest advisors and their boxes of research material. They have a special file on Nixon they’ve dubbed their “Nixopedia”, as well as all Kennedy’s talking points written out on three-by-five index cards. Kennedy’s strategy is to present himself as a new start for America. If he can frame Nixon as the candidate of the past, and himself as the nation’s hope for the future, then he might be able to win over some undecided voters.

But while Kennedy rests and prepares, the already exhausted Nixon decides to make a speech to the Carpenters Union of Chicago. It’s unlikely they'll endorse him, but Nixon is still determined to show his face. It’s only after this event that he finally goes back to his hotel to get ready for the debate. But instead of joining his staff, he prepares alone, writing and rewriting his opening and closing statements in total seclusion.

But while Nixon is busy preparing by himself, a member of his campaign staff realizes that he may not be ready for primetime television, forcing the adviser to make one last ditch attempt to salvage Nixon’s image - and save his presidential campaign.

Act Two

It’s September 26th, 1960 in a television studio in Chicago, Illinois, a few hours before the first televised presidential debate in America’s history.

40-year-old Edward “Ted” Rogers pleads with a stagehand on set. Ted is a member of Vice President Richard Nixon’s campaign staff - and he’s not happy. He insists that he was told the studio walls would be painted a dark gray. But the backdrop is clearly a light gray.

Ted is the Nixon campaign’s television expert and he was alarmed when he saw his underweight and exhausted candidate shuffle into the studio earlier and refuse make-up. That was bad enough. But now Ted has realized that on black and white television screens, Nixon’s pale blue suit will look the exact same hue as the light gray studio wall. If the walls don’t get repainted a darker color, Nixon might fade into the background. So, Ted convinces the harassed stagehand to repaint the wall - not once, but twice.

Ted hopes it will be enough. If it does work, it won’t be the first time Ted has helped Nixon pull off a television miracle. Eight years ago in 1952, Nixon was running for Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower when he was accused of corruption. With Ted’s advice, though, Nixon made a nationwide speech live on television that saved his political career. Nixon spoke warmly of his young daughter and her dog, Checkers, connecting with viewers and garnering their sympathy. The speech was a hit, and Nixon and Eisenhower won the election. 

Now, eight years later, Nixon is in need of Ted’s magic again. But by the time the debate is about to start, the paint on the set walls hasn’t dried. And when Ted takes his place in the control room to watch the broadcast and sees Nixon walk up to his seat, Ted realizes the last-minute redecorations haven’t made the difference he hoped for.

Meanwhile, in living rooms all across the United States, voters turn on their bulky television sets to see John F. Kennedy looking tanned and sharp in a dark suit that stands out perfectly against the pale background. Richard Nixon is an unappealing charcoal smudge of gray from head to toe. Watching on TV, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley reportedly exclaims, “My god, they’ve embalmed him before he even died!”

Nixon also isn’t helped by the fact that he spends most of the debate on the defense, seeming to agree with almost everything Kennedy says. This is part of an agreed strategy. Nixon has a reputation as an attack dog, with a “win at all costs” attitude that’s earned him the nickname “Tricky Dick.” But his attempts to appear more reasonable and less confrontational in the debate instead make him look weak. The response, both in the studio and later in newspapers around the country, is unanimous. Nixon lost the debate.

Nixon is of course disappointed - but he learns his lesson. Two weeks later, for the second televised debate with Kennedy, he decides to listen to his aide Ted Rogers. He rests well, submits to a professional make-up artist, and wears a dark suit. Nixon appears much healthier on camera, and the second debate is an improvement on the first. But by then it's too late. Almost half the people who watched the first debate don’t tune in for the second, and it's the sickly image of a pale and sweating Nixon that is cemented in the public’s mind.

Still, Nixon’s debate performance is not enough to seal the deal for Kennedy. He is the more inexperienced candidate of the two, and more controversially for some, if elected, Kennedy would be the United States’ first Roman Catholic President. Many Americans in 1960, especially those living in the South, fear that a Catholic president would be unduly influenced by the Pope and make political decisions based on religious beliefs. It’s an issue that dogs Kennedy throughout his campaign and leaves him worried it will cost him the election.

So, it’s a neck-and-neck race all the way to the end. The results prove to be extraordinarily close. Kennedy wins the popular vote by just 118,000 ballets or about .02%. But crucially he secures victories in Texas and Illinois that are enough to secure him the Presidency. Nixon’s campaign staff, including Ted Rogers, pleads with him to contest the results, accusing the Kennedy campaign of dirty tricks. But again, Nixon doesn’t listen to his team, and the day after the election, he concedes defeat.

John F. Kennedy will become the first Catholic President of the United States and the youngest elected - thanks in part to being the first politician to master the art of looking presidential on television.

Act Three

It’s January 20th, 1961 in Washington D.C., four months after the presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

The city is alive with thousands of workers shoveling snow and salting roads to prepare for the inauguration of the country's new president.

In another first, President Kennedy’s swearing-in is to be broadcast in color for the lucky few with televisions advanced enough to receive it. But even if it’s just in black and white, there are millions of Americans watching as their new young president gives an inspirational speech:

KENNEDY: "And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Watching Kennedy’s speech alongside other politicians, dignitaries, and diplomats, is the defeated Republican candidate, Richard Nixon. He smiles outwardly. But gnawing at his guts is a bitter grudge against the Kennedys that will remain with him for the rest of his life. After the inauguration, he flees the freezing cold of Washington to return to Los Angeles. Two years later, he runs for governor of California - only to lose again. After this defeat, he makes a rambling speech to reporters, telling them he’s quitting politics for good.

NIXON: "Just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore. Because gentlemen, this is my last press conference." 

But the coming years will bring unexpected twists to both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Kennedy’s first term as president will be tragically cut short by an assassin’s bullet in 1963. Five years later, Nixon will make a comeback, running for President and winning in a landslide.

But Nixon’s second campaign will be different not just because of the result. This time around, he will refuse to appear in another primetime debate with his opponent. And it won't be for another 16 years, that two candidates for the Oval Office will face each other across a television studio.

Now, televised debates are a mainstay of presidential campaigns. Those vying for the White House no longer just have to convince voters their policies are better - they have to go head-to-head with their opponents under the pressure of studio lights as well. Campaigns have been made and unmade live on television, and the road to the White House is lined with political careers ruined by gaffes and flubs. But in all the many debates over the years, few have had such an impact as the very first between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon on September 26th, 1960.

Outro

Next on History Daily. September 27th, 1822. The age-old mystery of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs is solved when a French scholar announces he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Jack O’Brien.

Edited by Dorian Merinda.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.