Remembering the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debates

John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy delivers his inauguration address, January 20, 1961.
Kennedy Library

Fifty years ago, in the fall of 1960, millions of Americans tuned in to watch Sen. John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever nationally televised presidential debates. Kennedy Advisors Ted Sorensen and William Wilson, along with veteran journalists Russell Baker, Marty Nolan and Sandy Vanocur, reflect on those historical debates and how they changed presidential politics. They spoke at the JFK Library in Boston.

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