DBWI: Richard Nixon Debates John Kennedy
- Thread starter Amadeus
- Start date
Well he lost narrowly. Maybe without JFK being able to cry chicken it would have been different?
In retrospect it was a really stupid move. It made Nixon look weak and gave an extra boost to JFK. Nixon was a champion debater. IMO, there's no doubt that had Nixon debated Kennedy he would've won.
After all, he learned from this mistake in 1960 and went on to beat his opponents in '68 and '72 by demolishing them in those debates. Two full terms cant be wrong.
I believe the reason Eisenhower didn’t want him to debate was because it was the first on live television. Nixon was indeed a great orator and debater in general, but many thought he didn’t have a very telegenic feel to him. Even though he thoroughly won the debates in ‘68 and ‘72, many people thought he still looked somewhat restless.
Either way, Nixon was an overall good President. He successfully got us out of Vietnam in 1970 and expanded on environmental causes during his time in office.
In particular I like how he handled the Watergate scandal in 1972. After the burglary, he immediately moved to reprimand the culprits and fully cooperated with the FBI, despite the fact that many in the Bureau hated Nixon. He even went so far as to fire his Chief of Staff, who took public responsibility.
I'm pretty sure that Nixon's prior experience as Governor of California from 1963 to 1968 well prepared him for the Presidency.
True, but a lot of people still listened on the radio, and JFK had a funny accent. So it might have offset, with radio listeners favoring Nixon and TV viewers favoring Kennedy.
Watergate could have been his political downfall, but it ended up showing us his true, moral character. He was so popular that Vice President Edward Brooke (who took over following Spiro Agnew’s resignation) defeated Governor Jerry Brown in a landslide.
It was odd seeing Nixon go from Vice President to Governor, but it did prepare him if anyone else thought otherwise.
I think the issue would be that more people would have watched it live, being an historic occasion, than listen on radio. Therefore, more people would see Nixon struggling.
OOC: As the OP, I have to step in and clarify that in this DBWI Nixon never debated JFK in 1960. That's the whole point of the thread. Please see the original post.
I meant listened to debates/news on the radio. If they had debated, radio listeners might have thought JFK sounded funny.
OOC: The notion that Nixon "won" the debates among radio listeners is supported by extremely shaky evidence. https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-1960-and-keep-it.440309/page-2#post-16787950