September 26 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first of four debates between Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Never before had the two major party presidential candidates shared a forum. And they appeared on television, a medium that had only recently entered the American living room. ?My God,? cried an excited CBS producer, Don Hewitt, ?We could be making history.? An article by James Baughman, professor of journalism and mass communication at UW-Madison.
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