Gather around everyone, Auntie Kristin wants to tell you a story!

The year is 1960.

Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy have agreed to do the first televised presidential debate on September 26th, and 70 million viewers tune in to watch the debate.

Check out the first 23 seconds of the debate here and see what you notice about the candidates’ body language.

Feel free to watch the entire debate if you are a die-hard historian!

Or just check out this still image here. What do you see?

Remember, in 1960, not everyone had a television so half of the population watched the debate on TV and the other half listened to the debate on the radio. What was interesting about the reaction to the debate was that the viewers that watched the debate were sure that Kennedy won, and the radio listeners were sure that Nixon had won. This huge discrepancy caused a bit of a stir and ultimately it took another 16 years before any presidential candidates agreed to do a televised debate!

Clearly, those days are long gone!

So what did you notice from the clip and picture?!

One of the big discrepancies of the evening surrounds the eye contact that was made by each of the candidates. When Nixon was introduced to the audience he gives a nervous smile and looks at Kennedy. When Kennedy is introduced, he keeps his eyes on the camera and gives a slow nod to the audience. In this brief moment, Nixon nonverbally cues the audience that Kennedy is the leader.

Example:

If you ask a child if they want a cookie, most likely they will look at their parent to get approval. They are nonverbally cueing you that the parent is the leader.

Sleuth Tip:

If you ever want to know who the leader is, see who people in a group look at when an important question is asked, or who they look at when a joke is told. We nonverbally indicate this by looking towards the person we believe is the leader.

This quote sums up the eye contact made during the debate:

“Kennedy nailed it during the Great Debates, staring directly into the camera as he answered each question. Nixon, on the other hand, looked off to the side to address the various reporters, which came across as shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact with the public–a damaging blunder for a man already known derisively as “Tricky Dick.”

Additional observations…

Nixon is holding his knee and appears ready to leave (not what you want in a leader!), Kennedy’s tan complexion, perfect posture, dark and well-fitting suit juxtaposed to Nixon’s pale complexion, ill-fitting and light-colored suit.

And then there is the makeup. Nixon’s pancake makeup began melting off his face under the hot lights which highlighted his perspiration and made him look like he wasn’t being truthful.

The Back Story.

Nixon had injured his knee on the campaign trail and developed an infection that landed him in the hospital. He spent two weeks in the hospital and left 20 pounds lighter and appeared ashen and pale. Exhausted, he continued to campaign, and on the night of the debate, Nixon still had a low-grade fever as he was recovering from a bout with the flu. He also exacerbated his knee injury when he bumped it on a car door heading into the debate.

Meanwhile, Kennedy spent the weekend preparing and was tan and relaxed for the debate.

So what is our lesson?

This debate highlights the importance of body language!

(And the fact that you should never wear pancake makeup...)

Nixon himself indicated in his memoir that it was this debate that cost him the election. In addition, many of the voters asked at the poll what influenced their vote cited the first debate as having impacted their decision.

Lesson learned.

Your co-pilot (who loves a good story),