If what I've heard is correct, not only did he refuse makeup, but in retrospect he made the mistake of promising to campaign in all 50 states (1960 being the first one that the then new states of Alaska and Hawaii could participate in a Presidential Election process), probably wasting time by campaigning in states he had no chance of winning anyway and while doing this, he injured his knee on a car door an he was still recovering from that injury by the time of the first debate

Terri henricks- Don't forget that in that first debate in '84, Reagan looked awful-- Confused, Senile, and O-L-D! That's when the mantra was heard, "Stop trying to fill his head with facts. Let Reagan be Reagan!" Of course that worked. Reagan came back and ran circles around Mondale. No president has had such a disastrous first debate again, until President Obama's first go around with Mitt Romney in 2012!

No one ever delivered a scripted response like Reagan

George Franklin St.Ronny himself said, the Presidency was the role of a lifetime. If he hosted Celebrity Apprentice, guess to whom he would say: You're fired!?

Few remember the first debate in 1984, where contemporary reports at the time suggested that Mondale outperformed Reagan (where he used Reagan’s "there you go again," soundbite from 1980 against him) and the 40th President was said to have been confused during the first debate. However, the second one was a different story and the one that history always shows. This was the one that he jokingly turned the wording of a question about concerns about his age on its head "I will not make age an issue of this campaign, I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience," The fact that even Mondale burst out laughing with everyone else says that he probably knew that that moment won the election for Reagan (with him winning all except Minnesota and Washington DC, 525 Electoral Votes to 13 and 58.8% of the Popular Vote)

+univibe23 I'm pretty sure we was battling a nasty cold as well and refused make-up.

Kennedy and Nixon actually had four debates in 1960. Nixon improved some after the initial debacle. Many people believe that Nixon won the third debate and the fourth one was a draw.

I watched the debates and I still don't understand why Kennedy necessarily "won."

We gotta admit, we will never have a President like JFK. He will always be the most glamorous. We will never have the chance to know how great of a President he could have been but i bet on him.

Erik Smith Then you never will.

All that means is that democracy is a mistake.

he also had Hollywood friends who knew the technical end of TV via his brother in law Peter Lawford... Frank Sinatra...etc...

bucklaw Riotously funny and true; Pop taught the boys to win no matter what. Even the deceased voted for Kennedy in 1960, thanks to Mayor Daly.

@@bobbywimsy6741 people that listened to the debate on radio, thought Nixon won.

JFK was the one who turned up the heat....

Bobby was a genius and would have destroyed Nixon in the 68 general election

@@mattsmith3835 He is death, so he was non-relevant.

Except against the much better Kennedy’s

@@rikmichaels9233nobody was better at bs-ing the general public like Kennedy was.

Actually,at the time, most people who listened to the debate felt Nixon won. Those who watched it thought Kennedy won. It was the first TV debate after all. Regardless, both were brilliant

@@robertacheson5976 Senator John F. Kennedy was also a brilliant debater. Although had Vice President Nixon chosen to apply make-up and prepare for that first Kennedy-Nixon debate, Nixon would have done better. Kennedy may have still prevailed in the 1960 presidential election. Ironically, Nixon could have learned from his 1960 debating experience and scheduled a series of debates with Vice President Humphrey in 1968. I suspect candidate Nixon would have been more successful against Vice President Humphrey than Senator John F. Kennedy (that is, if debates were and would have been scheduled).

@@rikmichaels9233 not really. Kennedy was more telegenic. Of the four debates Nixon was widely regarded as winning one by TV audiences and probably all by radio audiences. Also, he was in pain and wasn't on his best game. Even taken over all four debates TV audiences only thought Kennedy won by a small margin

well it wasnt....so....

Interestingly, George Wallace won five states (Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia) and came very close in South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Had Wallace taken those states, the election would have been thrown to the House.

@@BigfistJP No one knew the winner also until the following afternoon

your local library may have something in terms of commentary in real time. But their debates are allover you tube

rockintetster and Nixon lost that

It is a beauty contest whether we like it or not.

John Whitman And we sure have a "beauty" in Don Trumpeone. Why the hair and facial treatments daily must be like a royal levee, lasting hours, probably in a maniacally intense atmosphere of intense, incoherent, tweeting.

@@PewterCityGymLeaderBrock you could blame Joe Kennedy JFK's father for stealing the election of 1960 just think if he would have minded his own business and let things fall where they may, his son would not have been killed. JFK could have ran a different time and won on his own Merit and we would be a different Country and world today. You could blame Bobby for Vietnam.

PubicSavant I don'y understand if he was against jewish people than why did he help save Israel during Yom Kippur War. If he hated black people why did he desegragate those 7 schools, or affirmative action (Philadelphia Plan), or helping fund Floyd McKissicks Soul City NC project 14 mill. Or his stance as vice president on Brown vs Board of education, he appointed William H. Brown III as Chair for EEOC.

Thomas P Green Just listen to the tapes and you'll see he was wildly anti-Semitic, listen to what he said about Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

PubicSavant and that’s why he also denounced segregation and racism

Sounds about right

@@thomaspgreen6302 Are we just to dismiss the thoughts he offered when the cameras were not rolling? His words. Public attitudes shaped his political actions, as did Congress.

NGC6144 It looks like the picture was snapped as he was just about to give his V for victory sign.

**Illuminati confirmed**

lincolnlobster 😄

The toy

So good he refused to debate anyone after 1960.....

That's true until he ran into J.F.K.

@@dannyburch4973 He ran into JFK’s good looks. Radio listeners said Nixon won the debate.

She always does.

You should check the Democrats too

@@iDeathMaximuMII Republicans are worms

@@BlueRabbitKing Same with dems

@@iDeathMaximuMII how?

@@BlueRabbitKing Do some real source on dems that run the cities that get burned down

Hes really just looking at her face

Nixon administration: 6 years, 76 criminal indictments, 55 convictions, 15 prison sentences

Nixon Impeached!

Nixon wasn't impeached because of Barry Goldwater he resigned unlike democrat Andrew Johnson and clinton.

GEE RAM I love KZfaq comments. President Nixon was never impeached; he resigned. Ah I alive the intellect of the American Voters. Only Presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and now Donald Trump have been impeached by the House of Representatives. Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted by the Senate; Trump is likely to be acquitted as well (it takes a supermajority - so 67 Senators - to convict an impeached President and remove him from office. The Republicans have more than enough votes to acquit in this case as well).

ERA endorsed and signed, EPA, CWA, AQMD, and OSHA his administration started, had the largest dinner at the Whitehouse for POWs he helped get released get released, was able to have talks with China, and detent with Russia. His airdrops to Israel during Yom Kippur war saved them. Desegregated Schools and was on EA order 104979 committee as Eisenhower's VP and as president. Worked with MLK during Eisenhower after Ghana meeting, Helped fund Floyd Mckissick's Soul City project 14.4 million, worked with CORE and Robert J Brown. For Native Americans Indian Self-Determination and Self Organization Act. He would have been forgiven for his tapes, and they should have Sammy Davis Jr be in regards to the hug he gave Nixon. My opinion.

He didn't, really.

“Tapes that just had to come to light.”

Oh my..

The people who listened on radio were rural folk who favored Nixon in the first place.

If Nixon was president, he wouldn't have put nukes in Turkey causing the USSR to put nukes in Cuba. The whole crisis would've been avoided

@@belthoff444 Do you mean the missiles that were planned to be put into Turkey in 1959 by the Eisenhower administration when Nixon was Vice President? Those missiles? Before Kennedy was POTUS?

rls725 it pisses me off that Kennedy died he deserved to live

If Nixon had won in 1960 the Bay of Pigs would have been CORRECTLY executed and thus no Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962! (And no Watergate either!)

Had Nixon been in the White House, I doubt the Soviets would have had the stones to nuclearize Cuba.

You must be happy again, having Trump in the office

He was injured

Richard Nixon had recently come back from hospital where he had spent some time after injuring his leg while on the campaign trail in North Carolina. A car door was prematurely closed on his knee and he suffered an infection from it.

Debater*

Nixon. Was. A. Crook.

A bit difficult since he died in 1994.

Yeah, no.

All presidential documents including recordings belong to the United States.