Kennedy-Nixon Debates

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

Tabs

About

“I gave Nixon eighteen-and-a-half points to Kennedy's eighteen. So I gave it to Nixon. But I couldn't see them. They were ahead of me facing the camera that way. So I was listening to it on radio as it were. Later when I went back and saw it replayed, I could see that Kennedy swept it. He just looked so enchanting." - Howard K. Smith, Journalist/News Anchor

Interviewees discuss the debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon during the presidential election of 1960 - sometimes called "The Great Debates."

Highlights

News Correspondent Howard K. Smith on moderating the first of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

02:05

Lighting Director Imero Fiorentino on lighting the 1960 Presidential debates starting with the second one, following the first debate wherein Richard Nixon looked badly, making the best improvements he could; also the issues he had lighting JFK due to RFK's interference

06:04

Frank Stanton on his associations with John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, and on the Kennedy-Nixon debate

04:32

Thomas W. Moore on ABC covering the 1952 conventions, and on how presidents starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower took to television

07:55

Sig Mickelson on selecting Howard K. Smith as the moderator of the first of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

01:00

Who talked about this topic

Bob Doyle

Bob Doyle on the Kennedy-Nixon Debates, and on knowing John F. Kennedy

02:12

Imero Fiorentino

Lighting Director Imero Fiorentino on lighting the 1960 Presidential debates starting with the second one, following the first debate wherein Richard Nixon looked badly, making the best improvements he could; also the issues he had lighting JFK due to RFK's interference

06:04

Murray Fromson

Murray Fromson on covering Henry Cabot Lodge (Richard M. Nixon's running mate) for NBC News during the 1960 election, and watching the Kennedy-Nixon debates with Lodge

01:04

Leonard H. Goldenson

Leonard H. Goldenson on a photo of Richard Nixon; on his working relationship with Nixon and on the Nixon-Kennedy debates

03:21

Don Hewitt

Don Hewitt on producing the Kennedy-Nixon debates

01:39

Don Hewitt on the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debates

06:02

Sig Mickelson

Sig Mickelson on organizing the details of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

03:43

Sig Mickelson on the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

06:26

Thomas W. Moore

Thomas W. Moore on the Kennedy/Nixon debates of 1960

05:51

Thomas W. Moore on the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

10:10

Arthur Penn

Arthur Penn on being an advisor to the John F. Kennedy campaign

06:00

Howard K. Smith

News Correspondent Howard K. Smith on moderating the first of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates

02:05

Frank Stanton

Frank Stanton on his associations with John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, and on the Kennedy-Nixon debate

04:32

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