ABSTRACT
At the conclusion of the fourth and final Kennedy—Nixon debate in the fall of 1960, moderator Quincy Howe of ABC News praised the two presidential candidates and offered this prediction for future campaigns: "he character and courage with which these two men have spoken sets a high standard for generations to come. Surely, they have set a new precedent. Perhaps they have established a new tradition" (Commission on Presidential Debates, 1960). Setting aside, for the moment, the question of whether or not the Kennedy—Nixon exchanges established a "high standard" for presidential debating, their face-to-face encounters did initiate what has now become an institution in presidential campaigns. Although televised general-election debates would not occur again until the Ford—Carter encounters 16 years later, a tradition of presidential debates is now firmly established, with an unbroken chain of debates since 1976. Even though various types of campaign debates had occurred in the United States since the 18th century (Jamieson & Birdsell, 1988, p. 34), when the televised face-to-face meeting of our general election presidential candidates was introduced in 1960, it was viewed as an innovation in campaign communication. The novelty, now, would be a presidential candidate refusing to debate his or her opponent.
