IT was a momentous moment in TV history that became a game-changer in election campaigns. Now, 60 years on from the first-ever televised debate between US Presidential candidates, Trump and Biden are preparing for their first on-screen head-to-head.
Sixty years ago?
On this day in 1960, Republican candidate, Vice President Richard Nixon, went head-to-head with Senator John F Kennedy, the Democratic candidate, together in a TV studio in Chicago, Illinois, in what was the first of a series of four debates.
It was a record-breaking TV event?
More than 60 million Americans - 40 per cent of the country - tuned in to watch history being made as the candidates were both given eight minutes to make their opening speeches, before answering questions from a panel of correspondents and then taking the floor again for three minutes and 20 seconds each to make their final statements.
Kennedy was viewed as the winner?
The first of the “Great Debates” - as they became known - was regarded as Kennedy’s hour, with the future-President appearing camera-ready, youthful, tanned and relaxed, in contrast to a frail Nixon, who was battling flu and had spent two weeks in hospital for a knee operation. He had refused make-up and looked pale and thin and in a stroke of bad luck, while getting out of his car at the TV studio, banged his bad knee again only moments before going on air.
The power of TV?
Radio listeners largely declared the debate a draw, with some even leaning toward Nixon as the winner, but the visual element meant that on TV, it was no contest. Former Senator Bob Dole summed it up in an interview later, saying: “I was listening to it on the radio…and I thought Nixon was doing a great job. Then I saw the TV clips the next morning and he didn't look well. Kennedy was young and articulate and wiped him out."
The debate’s influence endures?
Aware that it was a way to reach millions of people instantly, politicians embraced the concept, while TV companies embraced the high audience figures. Bruce DuMont, a US broadcaster and founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in America, said: "I don't think it's overstating the fact that, on that date, politics and television changed forever. After that debate, it was not just what you said in a campaign that was important, but how you looked saying it."
Now America is preparing for the 2020 debates?
The highly-anticipated first debate between Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Trump will take place on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio, where the topics will include the economy, race and violence in America and Covid-19.
It is expected to be a ratings record-breaker?
An estimated 84 million Americans watched Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in their first TV debate in September 2016, but it is estimated that more than 90 million will tune in on Tuesday to see Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, face-off on camera, which would make it second only to the Super Bowl for the biggest ratings in America this year.
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