Kennedy and Nixon debate on live television for the first time

Presidential candidates had never faced each other on television before. On September 26, 1960, Richard Nixon and John Kennedy met at CBS's WBBM-TV studios in Chicago for the first televised presidential debate, moderated by Howard K. Smith with a panel of four network correspondents. Nixon, recovering from illness and refusing television makeup, appeared pale and underweight with a visible five o'clock shadow; his gray suit blended into the studio background. Kennedy sat still and composed under the lights. Radio listeners scored the substance a draw, but the television audience saw something else entirely…