"YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AS DAZZLING AS YOUR SUBJECTS"

Sunday, September 26, 2010

FIRST OF THE KENNEDY-NIXON DEBATES, A HALF-CENTURY AGO

FIRST TELEVISED 
U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 
SEPTEMBER 26, 1960 


PHOTOGRAPHED IN FORT KNOX, 
KENTUCKY, FROM TV TRANSMISSION 

Richard M. Nixon (l) and John F. Kennedy (r) were to have four broadcast debates altogether in that autumn of 1960. Both men were subsequently elected president: Senator Kennedy in 1960, and Vice-President Nixon in 1968. President Kennedy was assassinated; President Nixon driven to resign by the Watergate scandal. 

Some reflections on the debates by speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, who was there with Kennedy, can be found here; a contemporary newspaper account here; and a more general  discussion here. 

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