Sixty years ago, on Sept. 26, 1960, a debate between major party presidential candidates was shown on television for the first time. The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, and Richard M. Nixon, the vice president of the United States, met in a Chicago studio to discuss U.S. domestic matters.
There were three other debates in October. In the final debate Oct. 21, the candidates met to discuss foreign affairs. The election was held Nov. 8 and was one of the closest in history, with Kennedy winning 49.7% of the popular vote to defeat Nixon (49.6%) by a hair.
Nixon returned to the national stage in 1968 in a successful bid for the presidency. Like Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Nixon declined to debate his opponent in the 1968 presidential campaign...
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