Presidential Elections Pros And Cons
The United States of America has had a rich history of presidential elections, with every one interesting and important to the future of the country. Even though debates were not as evident in the early American elections, in the last hundred years or so, the addition of debates, more specifically televised debates, have shaped the way the American people choose a president. The presidential debates have been crucial in the election process as shown by the 1960 debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the 1980 debate with Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, and the ongoing 2016 debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and it is crucial that they continue. For these elections in particular, the debates showed the candidates true
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In 1960, the U.S. was in the midst of the Cold War, and voters desperately needed to know what president to elect. As a new era of debating was ushered in, two candidates arose from the masses to take charge of America. The Democratic nominee was John F. Kennedy, a young, charismatic, and slightly unknown Massachusetts senator. The Republican nominee was Richard Nixon, an experienced government official who was at the time serving as vice president. Before their first debate occurred, earlier debates were few and far between with a small percentage of the population actually listening to them on the radio. However, when the Kennedy-Nixon debate came around over sixty-six million Americans turned on their television sets to watch it. After the debate was over, when asked who won the debate people who watched the debate said Nixon looked sick and seemed extremely nervous, and that Kennedy won the debate hands down. On the other hand, people who only heard the it over the radio said Nixon was the clear winner. The debate ultimately showed a different side to the two candidates, and made the election a closer race than most expected, with Kennedy winning in the end. Overall, the 1960 created a new wave of how presidential elections would be carried out with debates becoming a de facto election
In 1960, the U.S. was in the midst of the Cold War, and voters desperately needed to know what president to elect. As a new era of debating was ushered in, two candidates arose from the masses to take charge of America. The Democratic nominee was John F. Kennedy, a young, charismatic, and slightly unknown Massachusetts senator. The Republican nominee was Richard Nixon, an experienced government official who was at the time serving as vice president. Before their first debate occurred, earlier debates were few and far between with a small percentage of the population actually listening to them on the radio. However, when the Kennedy-Nixon debate came around over sixty-six million Americans turned on their television sets to watch it. After the debate was over, when asked who won the debate people who watched the debate said Nixon looked sick and seemed extremely nervous, and that Kennedy won the debate hands down. On the other hand, people who only heard the it over the radio said Nixon was the clear winner. The debate ultimately showed a different side to the two candidates, and made the election a closer race than most expected, with Kennedy winning in the end. Overall, the 1960 created a new wave of how presidential elections would be carried out with debates becoming a de facto election