NIXON V KENNEDY
In a sense, the roots of Watergate go back to a presidential campaign a dozen years earlier. On 26 September 1960, the two candidates for the most powerful o ce in the world entered a television studio in Chicago. It was the rst-ever televised presidential debate. It lasted just an hour but would come to frame the image of both men in the public consciousness.
The Democrat, John F Kennedy, is forever seen as tall, tanned and relaxed, while the Republican Richard Nixon appeared gaunt, tortured and shi y. For both Kennedy and Nixon, their rivalry not only de ned them but shaped American society in the mid- to late 20th century. Having both entered Congress in 1946 as naval veterans of a similar age, it seemed almost inevitable their rivalry would one day come to a head, which it did in 1960.
After losing by less than one per cent of the vote, and rumours of electoral fraud in several states, Nixon had grounds to feel hard done by. Following his assassination in 1963, Kennedy became a “Camelot” legend while Nixon was seen as a bi er loser a er another defeat for California governor in 1962.
Nixon’s comeback by winning the presidency in 1968, therefore, was nothing short of spectacular, but he was always in the shadow of Kennedy. Despite securing a second term by a landslide in 1972, Nixon could never really shake o the scars of the 1960 election. He had tasted defeat and resolved it would never happen again; and in the end it destroyed him.