The 1960 Election: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Word
“How You Doin’?”, “Come on down!”, “The tribe has spoken.” Do you recognize these phrases? If you do, then you have probably been introduced to a television before. What about, “And that’s the way it is.” These six words were famously stated by Walter Cronkite after he was finished with the evening news. This is a phrase that can be easily recognizable across the globe because of the power of television. Although the “box with a screen” is there to entertain, it has had major impacts on our world. Footage of the moon landing, The Lakers winning three NBA championships in a row, and oh yeah, the Presidential election of 1960. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the young senator from Massachusetts, faced off against Richard Nixon, The incumbent Vice President. JFK won the election and without the television, it may have never happened.
It is a popular opinion in America that John Kennedy was much more prepared for the first debate compared to his counterpart. He was relaxed, calm, and cool, while Nixon had been ill just the week before. The moderator of the debate, Howard Smith, thought that Nixon looked “depressed”, But Nixon believed this would not deter him. He told his advisors that it is his “message” that will affect the American citizen’s votes, not the way he looks. According to the public, Nixon was wrong. Nixon refused to touch up his face with makeup and he stepped onto the stage completely untouched.[1] This is also very easy to tell by watching the footage of the first debate. It is easy to see the small beads of sweat dripping from Nixon’s nose and forehead. Kennedy knew that style was important with the introduction of television to the political debates. When he was asked questions, instead of looking at the reporters, he made a point to turn and look directly into the camera. Nixon was noticed many times looking all around the room and blinking his eyes more than usual. A sign of nerves that was not noticeable in the Democratic nominee. [2] This would be completely irrelevant if the debate would have not been televised, but it was. Americans were amazed that they were given the opportunity to watch two presidential candidates’ debate on national television. It was an event that the citizens of the United States of America would not have missed, and they didn’t.
A month and a half later on November eighth 1960, a record number of Americans turned out to vote. As predicted, it was a close election, with Kennedy winning the popular vote 49.7 percent to 49.5 percent. According to the national poles, more than half of all voters had been influenced by the Great Debates, while a small percentage of the voters actually claimed that the debates alone had decided their choice. Regardless of if the debates cost Nixon the presidency, they were a major turning point in the 1960 Presidential race and eventually in the history of television.
Televised debates have become a prominent feature of the American political landscape, helping to shape the outcomes of both primary and general elections. Along with gaining an upper hand over their opponents, candidates are granted the opportunity to show America their great speaking skills, connect with the audience and touch them on a personal level whether it be through humor or emotions, and they are also granted the opportunity to point out their opponent’s slip ups, mishaps, or mistakes. Since the 1960 almost every Presidential Debate has been televised nationally. Although every Presidential candidate has a different view and perspective than Kennedy, there can still be a little bit of JFK seen in every Presidential Debate. It is noticeable that every candidate took a note from Kennedy. It is now expected to “look the part.” It is also expected to look into the camera as Kennedy did. It is a way to let the audience feel as though the candidate is talking directly to them. Although Kennedy was just trying to win the election, he completely revolutionized the norm for future candidates.
Looking back, was America really worried about the look of their President? Did it matter if Nixon had sweat dripping off of him and portrayed a down, ill man or was it more important that Kennedy promised a better America? An America that was full of televisions more than it had ever been before that possibly could have allowed the election of 1960 to be stolen in one night. Two years after the Kennedy-Nixon debates, in 1962, the man on the losing end acknowledged the importance of television in the debates in his memoir: Six Crisis, “I should have remembered that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’”[3]
[1]Donaldson, The First Modern Campaign: Kennedy, Nixon, and the Election of 1960.
[2] “First Kennedy-Nixon Debate, 26 September 1960.”
[3] Richard Nixon, Six Crises (Doubleday, 1962).
