Kennedy-Nixon Debate

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 12:36am

Now THERE was a debate!

This YouTube clip is the greatest hits of that debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QazmVHAO0os








I was only 4, so I don't remember it, but I remember we had a black-and-white television like that--and I had pajamas like that too!

Updated On: 10/8/08 at 12:36 AM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 1:28am

I do remember it vaguely. I remember there being pictures of Kennedy and Nixon on my Kindergarten classroom wall. Nixon's face scared the crap out of me. I remember my folks watching it and not understanding why they were so intent on these two guys.
I also had those exact pajamas!

[tommyboy]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 8:40am

Count me on those pajamas -- only we called them "Jammies"

[tommyboy]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 8:43am

OMG -- I just gave away my age!! SPF!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 8:43am

Do you think the little blond boy in the front with his back to us might have turned out just a little bit gay?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:12am

Why? Because he's sitting like he's about to launch into "Over the Rainbow" on the edge of the Palace stage? Or Born In a Trunk? Whatever gave you that idea?



I wasn't born yet for these debates. In fact I was barely 1 year old (by a matter of days) when Kennedy was assassinated.

But I remember people saying Nixon looked very creepy and wore way too much makeup, even for TV back then.

Kinda sounds like a certain older candidate running for office today...

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:16am

I was born during Kennedy's presidency, too. However, I've read that the majority of radio listeners thought Nixon had won the debate, while the vast majority of TV viewers thought Kennedy had won.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:38am

I wasn't kidding about the bad makeup on Nixon. It's in the history books as a primary contributing factor as to why he "lost" the debates with TV audiences. He looked like a painted pink clown.

They aired these debates in color in many of the major markets, and they really still didn't know how to do makeup for TV in color yet. It made a big impact on the viewers to see Nixon looking so strange and phony.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:43am

i was born in the 80's, so, clearly this was way before my time, but i remember them mentioning the "makeup" in an episode of Mad Men season 1.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:49am

Maybe it's because I'm watching the latest debates in HD, but I can't help being reminded of the "bad makeup" from the Nixon/Kennedy debates. McCain seriously looks worse than Nixon ever did or could have. Nixon's bad makeup wasn't due to age, it was just an unfortunate choice made by a makeup artist that didn't understand what to do for a color broadcast.

But McCain's got a thick, unnaturally even, plastic layer of something reminiscent of light-beige Dutchboy on his face. And it's oh-so-apparent in HD.

I can only imagine what it's covering up.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 9:54am

Interesting how the moderator sat behind the candidates.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:03am

besty - i thought that too. it reminded me, and its morbid to say, when you attend a funeral and the corpse's skin looks really pale and sallow. and they cake on makeup to make it look more lifelike. he looked like a walking corpse with layers upon layers of makeup on. i too watched in HD and it was not a good look for him.

to be fair, i did notice obama's hair seemed to be turning a bit grey. stress of the campaign has taken a toll on both i guess.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:10am

Well, the scary thing about this job is how much it ages people. In either a 4-year or 8-year stint, they manage to look at least a decade or even 15 years older when they leave office. No doubt due to stress.

I'm sure we'll see Obama age a lot, should he be elected.

But... where would that put McCain?? Around the 85 to 90-year-old mark!

Updated On: 10/8/08 at 10:10 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:13am

oops, wrong thread.!

Updated On: 10/8/08 at 10:13 AM

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:16am

Here in Chicago, they actually interveiwed Obama's barber, who he's been going to for years. He said that there's been a lot more gray in the last 18 months. So, you're right, Pab.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:18am

EDIT: Because Jane edited.

Updated On: 10/8/08 at 10:18 AM

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 10:50am

I do remember the Kennedy/Nixon debates. I was a fairly new 'double digit midget' who considered herself as good as teen-aged. I remember thinking Kennedy was cute and I couldn't seriously imagine having anyone cute as president. I understood some (but not all) of what they were talking about but I really wasn't interested. Finding out who was going to appear next on American Bandstand seemed much more important.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 11:39am

^
mamie thats a good story :)

must have been so fun to grow up in that era

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 12:19pm

I definitely had fun. I used to feel sorry for the next generation of kids because it seemed the world forced them into growing up too fast.

Maybe everybody feels that way.

[mc1227]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 2:52pm

I was about 4 years old when these debates aired so I don't remember them specifically as they happened but have seen them many times over the years. It is amazing how similar the circumstances are in that election and this one, with the obvious differences being that the cynical way politics is viewed today as opposed to back then. It was a much more innocent time where people were generally excited over their leaders. Kennedy's youth and charisma were reponsible for that and the promise of better things to come.
I remember being brought to Penn Station for one of Kennedy's whistle stop appearances and practically being trampled by the crowds. My blue collar family wanted us to experience history in the making because they felt that a Roman Catholic being elected president was historic. Many feel that same way about Obama. Hopefully, he will have a chance for that legacy that JFK did not.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 3:10pm

I just saw Newton Minow today by odds chance.

[Q]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 3:12pm

Wasn't Nixon also not clean-shaven, and sweating a lot?

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 3:20pm

I don't honestly remember the specifics but I think he was ill. Hadn't he recently been in the hospital? (I may be thinking of someone else).

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 3:22pm

Yes - here it is:

It's widely acknowledged that Nixon lost the 1960 presidential election to John Kennedy because of his physical appearance during a television debate with JFK. According to Don Hewett, who produced the televised debate, Nixon looked bad that day on television for several reasons: (1) Nixon had a staphylococcal infection at the time, (2) Nixon "smacked his knee" in the studio and was in pain, (3) After Kennedy declined to have make-up applied, Nixon declined, too, fearing the consequences if it became known that he had accepted make-up when Kennedy had not. To cover his five o'clock shadow, Nixon instead had one of his people smear a product of dubious quality, known as "Shave Stick," on his face

[Q]

Posted: 10/8/08 at 3:25pm

Oh, my.

"Shave Stick"?!?

I don't even want to know.