By the time you read this, the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will have taken place and there could have been a moment or two to add to the following rundown. Anticipating the latest debate — and this column — I took a look back at the highlights (or lowlights) we have seen in previous presidential debates.
“Seen” is the important word here. While candidates for president of the United States have sparred verbally before — with the Lincoln-Douglas debates probably the most memorable — it was in 1960 that everything changed, and that was because of television. Seeing two candidates square off live visually had a much more profound and immediate impact than published accounts and even radio broadcasts. It was live theater, a verbal boxing bout, and often the winner got the White House.
That was certainly said of that 1960 debate that pitted the young and charismatic John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. It was bad timing for the latter as the clammy Nixon was recovering from illness and had a 5 o’clock shadow, but unwisely refused makeup. TV viewers are said to have judged Kennedy the winner, whereas radio listeners gave it to Nixon or called it a draw. As we know, JFK won a narrow election.
In 1976, the Republican president, Gerald Ford, who had succeeded Nixon two years earlier after the Watergate scandal, had been closing the gap on Democrat Jimmy Carter. However, during their debate, he remarked: “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.” It was seen as a critical gaffe in the context of the Cold War and Carter’s campaign was revived.
Carter was back on stage in 1980, this time as the incumbent president. He accused the Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan, of planning to cut Medicare funding for the elderly. Reagan, who had complained that Carter was misrepresenting his positions on numerous issues, said with a chuckle, “There you go again.” The audience erupted. The duel attracted 80.6 million viewers, the most ever for a presidential debate at that time.
Four years later, Reagan was the oldest president in U.S. history, though his 73 pales in comparison to Joe Biden today. In the second 1984 debate, he took the sting out of the issue of his age and caught rival Walter Mondale, who was 56, off-guard with this line: “I want you to know that, also, 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.” Reagan was reelected easily.
The Democrat candidate Michael Dukakis, taking on the Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988, was asked by CNN anchor Bernard Shaw whether he would support the death penalty for someone who raped and murdered his wife, Kitty. “No, I don’t, Bernard,” the Massachusetts governor replied. “And I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life.” The question shocked and dismayed many viewers and Dukakis, who lost, was criticized as cold and unemotional.
That same year, the vice-presidential square-off featured one of the best put-downs in national debate history. After Bush’s running mate, Dan Quayle, compared himself with John F. Kennedy, the Democratic senator Lloyd Bentsen shot back: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” It may be the most famous line ever uttered in a debate and has been much parodied since.
Four years later, there was a three-way race for the top job involving the incumbent Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton and businessman Ross Perot. President Bush made the fatal mistake of looking at his watch while one of the others was speaking. It gave the impression of a haughty, aloof incumbent who did not want to be there and took too much for granted. Bush later admitted what had been on his mind: “Only 10 more minutes of this crap.” He lost to Clinton.
In 2000, Democratic Vice President Al Gore went into the debate leading in the polls but sighed loudly when his rival, Republican George W. Bush, spoke. In another incident, he was criticized for invading Bush’s personal space when Bush strolled forward and Gore rose and moved toward his rival, as if looking for a fight. Bush dismissed him with a nod and won a close and bitterly disputed election.
Some readers might remember that in 2012, when running for reelection, Barack Obama was widely felt to have “phoned in” the first debate because of his lackluster performance against Republican Mitt Romney, who in turn performed above expectations. But in the second debate, Romney, responding to a question about gender pay equity, said he had “binders full of women” as candidates for cabinet posts. The phrase became a meme on social media and Romney lost in November.
What I recall about the debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016 was the creepy way the latter stalked his opponent around the stage. It looked like he was setting up a mugging. (Instead, she was mugged by the Electoral College.) However, Trump otherwise came off pretty well, one reason being he did not go as bananas as many viewers thought he was capable of doing.
Sometime in the future, when the history of presidential debates is being updated, what could get rated as high as the Kennedy-Nixon one was the contest earlier this summer between Trump and President Biden. It was even more of a game-changer — the incumbent chief executive dropped out of the race. Some people have compared that circumstance to 1968, but remember, when President Lyndon Johnson bowed out, that was in March, not July. Sirhan Sirhan — who is now 80 years old — denied us the opportunity of a debate between Richard Nixon and Senator Robert Kennedy.
Did Tuesday’s debate rise or sink to the level of the other presidential debates? My crystal ball indicates this list will have to be revised.
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