1960: Television and the Candidate

The election of 1960 established televised Presidential debates as a powerful influence on voter opinion. The campaigns pitted Vice President Richard M. Nixon, a veteran Washington insider, against John F. Kennedy, a young, charismatic idealist. Nixon's nomination was logical. His political experience and years of service to the Eisenhower Administration earned him credibility and approval. Although a seasoned Congressman and Senator from Massachusetts, Kennedy was considered something of a newcomer. Yet he had defeated Democratic stalwarts Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon B. Johnson to win the Party's nomination. The Kennedy campaign stressed his youth, courage and resolve. Just three years earlier, his book, Profiles in Courage, had publicized his heroism during the Second World War, and won the coveted Pulitzer Prize.

In 1960, the Presidential debates were televised for the first time. The debates centered on foreign policy, one of Nixon's strengths. Kennedy boldly attacked the Eisenhower Administration's complacency, returning again and again to the so-called "missile gap" with the Soviet Union. Many who heard the debates over the radio thought that Nixon had won the upper hand, while those who watched on television preferred Kennedy's performances. This seeming paradox has given rise to charges that the American electorate chose Kennedy's style over Nixon's substance. The election itself was the closest since 1884. Kennedy won the popular vote by only two tenths of a percentage point, and won 56% of the electoral vote.

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