1960 United States presidential election

===Debates===
{{Main|1960 United States presidential debates}}
There were [[1960 United States presidential debates|four presidential debates]] and no vice presidential debates during the 1960 general election.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.debates.org/index.php?page=1960-debates|title=CPD: 1960 Debates|website=www.debates.org|access-date=2019-01-08}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+'''Debates among candidates for the 1960 U.S. presidential election'''
!No.
!Date
!Host
!Location
!Panelists
!Moderator
!Participants
!Viewership<br/>(millions)
|-
|P1
|Monday, September 26, 1960
|[[WBBM-TV]]
|[[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]]
|[[Sander Vanocur]]<br>Charles Warren<br>[[Stuart Novins]]
|[[Howard K. Smith]]
|[[John F. Kennedy|Senator John F. Kennedy]]<br>[[Richard Nixon|Vice President Richard Nixon]]
|66.4<ref name=":2" />
|-
|P2
|Friday, October 7, 1960
|[[WRC-TV]] 
|Washington, D.C.
|Paul Niven<br>[[Edward P. Morgan]]<br>Alan Spivak<br>Harold R. Levy
|[[Frank McGee (journalist)|Frank McGee]]
|[[John F. Kennedy|Senator John F. Kennedy]]<br>[[Richard Nixon|Vice President Richard Nixon]]
|61.9<ref name=":2" />
|-
| rowspan="2" |P3
| rowspan="2" |Thursday, October 13, 1960
|[[The Prospect Studios|ABC Studios Los Angeles]] (Nixon)
|Los Angeles, California
| rowspan="2" |[[Frank McGee (journalist)|Frank McGee]]<br>Charles Van Fremd<br>[[Douglass Cater]]<br>[[Roscoe Drummond]]
| rowspan="2" |[[Bill Shadel]]
| rowspan="2" |[[John F. Kennedy|Senator John F. Kennedy]]<br>[[Richard Nixon|Vice President Richard Nixon]]
| rowspan="2" |63.7<ref name=":2" />
|-
|[[ABC Studios|ABC Studios New York]] (Kennedy)
|[[New York City]]
|-
|P4
|Friday, October 21, 1960
|[[ABC Studios|ABC Studios New York]]
|[[New York City]] 
|Frank Singiser<br>John Edwards<br>[[Walter Cronkite]]<br>[[John Chancellor]]
|[[Quincy Howe]]
|[[John F. Kennedy|Senator John F. Kennedy]]<br>[[Richard Nixon|Vice President Richard Nixon]]
|60.4<ref name=":2" />
|}
[[File:Kennedy Nixon debate first Chicago 1960.jpg|thumb|Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] (left) and vice president [[Richard Nixon]] (right), prior to their first presidential debate.]]
[[File:Kennedy Nixon Debat (1960).jpg|thumb|Second of the four Kennedy and Nixon debates, which took place at [[WRC-TV]] in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D. C.]], on October 7, 1960<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=1960-debates|title=1960 debates|publisher=Commission on Presidential Debates|access-date=December 30, 2014}}</ref>]]
[[File:TNC-172 Kennedy-Nixon First Presidential Debate, 1960.webm|thumb|Full broadcast of the September 26 debate]]
The key turning point of the campaign came with the four Kennedy-Nixon debates; they were the first presidential debates ever (the [[Lincoln–Douglas debates]] of 1858 had been the first for senators from Illinois), also the first held on television and thus attracted enormous publicity. Nixon insisted on campaigning until just a few hours before the first debate started. He had not completely recovered from his stay in hospital, and thus looked pale, sickly, under-weight, and tired.<ref name="Nixon, p. 270">(Nixon, p. 270)</ref> His eyes moved across the room during the debate, and at various moments, sweat was visible on his face. He also refused make-up for the first debate, and as a result, his facial stubble showed prominently on black-and-white TV screens. Furthermore, the debate set appeared darker once the paint dried up, causing Nixon's suit color to blend in with the background, reducing his stature.<ref name="Nixon, p. 270"/> Nixon's poor appearance on television in the first debate was reflected by the fact that his mother called him immediately following the debate to ask if he was sick.<ref>(Nixon, p. 271)</ref> Kennedy, by contrast, rested and prepared extensively beforehand and thus appeared tanned,{{efn|name="addisons"|His tanned appearance was likely darkening hyper-pigmentation of the skin due to [[Addison's disease#Notable cases|Addison's disease]].<ref>O'Brien, Michael. ''John F. Kennedy: A Biography'' (2005), pp. 407–408.</ref>}} confident, and relaxed during the debate.<ref name=schlinder /> An estimated 70 million viewers watched the first debate.<ref name="museum.tv">{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon |title=THE KENNEDY-NIXON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, 1960 – The Museum of Broadcast Communications |publisher=[[The Museum of Broadcast Communications]] (MBC) |access-date=October 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821064309/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon |archive-date=August 21, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It is often claimed that people who watched the debate on television overwhelmingly believed Kennedy had won, while radio listeners (a smaller audience) thought Nixon had ended up defeating him.<ref name="museum.tv"/><ref>{{cite episode|title=Nixon|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=October 15, 1990|season=3|number=2|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/nixon/|access-date=June 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title=JFK (Part 1)|series=American Experience|network=PBS|station=WGBH|date=November 11, 2013|season=25|number=7|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref> However, that has been disputed.<ref>Campbell, W. Joseph (September 24, 2016), "[https://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/debate-myth-emerges-anew-2nd-edition-of-getting-it-wrong-out-soon/ Debate myth emerges anew]", Media Myth Alert.</ref> Indeed, one study has speculated that the viewer/listener disagreement could be due to sample bias, in that those without TV could be a skewed subset of the population:<ref>{{cite journal|title=The myth of viewer-listener disagreement in the first Kennedy-Nixon debate|year= 1987 |doi=10.1080/10510978709368226 |volume=38 |journal=Central States Speech Journal |pages=16–27 | last1 = Vancil | first1 = David L.}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Evidence in support of this belief [''i. e.'', that Kennedy's physical appearance over-shadowed his performance during the first debate] is mainly limited to sketchy reports about a market survey, conducted by Sindlinger & Company, in which 49% of those who listened to the debates on radio said Nixon had won, compared to 21% naming Kennedy, while 30% of those who watched the debates on television said Kennedy had won, compared to 29% naming Nixon. Contrary to popular belief, the Sindlinger evidence suggests not that Kennedy won on television, but that the candidates tied on television, while Nixon won on radio. However, no details about the sample have ever been reported, and it is unclear whether the survey results can be generalized to a larger population. Moreover, since 87% of American households had a television in 1960 [and that the] fraction of Americans lacking access to television in 1960 was concentrated in rural areas, and particularly in southern and western states, places that were unlikely to hold significant proportions of Catholic voters.<ref name=schlinder>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.las.illinois.edu/salthaus/Publications/media%20and%20politics%20encyclopedia_kennedy-nixon%20debates.pdf|author=Scott L. Althaus|author-link=Scott Althaus|title=''Encyclopedia of Media and Politics''|page=Kennedy-Nixon debates|editor=Todd Schaefer and Tom Birkland|location=Washington, D. C.|publisher=C.Q. Press|access-date=May 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203011711/http://faculty.las.illinois.edu/salthaus/Publications/media%20and%20politics%20encyclopedia_kennedy-nixon%20debates.pdf|archive-date=December 3, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

Nonetheless, [[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]] polls in October 1960 showed Kennedy moving into a slight but consistent lead over Nixon after the candidates were in a statistical tie for most of August and September.<ref name=gallup>{{cite web|title=Gallup Presidential Election Trial-Heat Trends, 1936–2008|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/110548/gallup-presidential-election-trialheat-trends-19362004.aspx#4|work=gallup.com|date=September 24, 2008 |publisher=Gallup, Inc.|access-date=September 18, 2020}}</ref> For the remaining three debates, Nixon regained his lost weight, wore television make-up, and appeared more forceful than in his initial appearance.

However, up to 20 million fewer viewers watched the three remaining debates than the first. Political observers at the time felt that Kennedy won the first debate,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kraus |first=Sidney |date=Autumn 1996 |title=Winners of the first 1960 televised presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon |url=https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/46/4/78/4160281 |journal=Journal of Communication |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=78–96 |doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01507.x |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref> Nixon won the second<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reston |first=James |date=October 8, 1960 |title=The Second Debate; Vice President Apparently Came Out Ahead in a More Informative Show |pages=10 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/10/08/archives/the-second-debate-vice-president-apparently-came-out-ahead-in-a.html |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> and third debates,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wicker |first=Tom |date=October 15, 1960 |title=G.O.P. Ledaers Say Kennedy 'Cribbed' |pages=12 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/10/15/archives/gop-leaders-say-kennedy-cribbed-alcorn-and-hall-assail-use-of.html |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> while the fourth debate,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 23, 1960 |title=Kennedy-Nixon Debates Viewed as Draw in 23 Major Cities |pages=70 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/10/23/archives/kennedynixon-debates-viewed-as-draw-in-23-major-cities-audience.html |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> which was seen as the strongest performance by both men, was a draw.

The third debate has been noted, as it brought about a change in the debate process. This debate was a monumental step for television. For the first time ever, split-screen technology was used to bring two people from opposite sides of the country together so they were able to converse in real time. Nixon was in Los Angeles, while Kennedy was in New York. The men appeared to be in the same room, thanks to identical sets. Both candidates had monitors in their respective studios, containing the feed from the opposite studio, so that they could respond to questions. Bill Shadel moderated the debate from a different television studio in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60737674/the-record/|title=Clipped From The Record|website=The Record|date=October 13, 1960|page=41}}</ref> The main topic of this debate was whether military force should be used to prevent [[Kinmen|Quemoy]] and [[Matsu Islands|Matsu]], two island archipelagos off the Chinese coast, from falling under Communist control.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-13-1960-debate-transcript|title=October 13, 1960 Debate Transcript|publisher=Debates.org |access-date=December 5, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 14, 1960 |title=Here Are Kennedy And Nixon Answers On Major Issues |pages=22 |work=[[The Tampa Tribune]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/330339595/?terms=Kennedy%20Nixon%20debate%20Quemoy%20Matsu%20Islands&match=1 |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref>