The Week has
an interesting, concise history of American presidential debates. A few take away factoids: The debates between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in 1858 are widely considered to be the first debates between presidential candidates. These debates have taken on mythical proportions in the American political psyche. The first modern television debate took place between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960, but this did not begin a tradition, as it was not until 1976 until another set of debates took place. The Nixon/Kennedy debate also seemed to put in motion the importance of style over substance. Give
the article a read to see how so.
