this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second in a series of programs unmatched in history. never have so many people seen the major candidates for president of the united states never,same time and until this series, have americans seen the candidates in face-to-face exchange. tonight the candidates have agreed to devote the full hour to answering questions on any issue of the campaign.

this is frank mcgee. good night from washington. >> this is american history tv, covering history c-span style with lectures, interviews, and escutcheon -- discussions. every weekend only on >> point on the dwight d. september 17, eisenhower memorial was dedicated to the nation's 34th president, whose world war ii leadership and two-term presidency are remembered at a site just off the national mall and at the base of capitol hill. speakers at the ceremony, in person and by video because of the coronavirus, included memorial designer frank gehry, former secretary of state condoleezza rice, family members david and susan eisenhower, and eisenhower memorial commission chair sen. pat roberts. ♪ [bugle] ♪

this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second in a series of programs unmatched in history. never have so many people seen the major candidates for president of the united states never,same time and until this series, have americans seen the candidates in face-to-face exchange. tonight the candidates have agreed to devote the full hour to answering questions on any issue of the campaign. and here tonight are the republican candidate, vice m. nixon. richard and the democratic candidate, kennedy.ohn f. now representatives of the candidates and of all the radio and television networks have agreed on these rules -- neither candidate will make an opening statement or a closing each will be questioned in turn, each will have an opportunity to comment upon the answer of the other, each reporter will ask only one question in turn. he is free to ask any question he chooses. neither candidate knows what questions will be asked and only the clock will determine who will be asked the last question. these programs represent

we also had people like frank mcgee who went on to be a moderator. questions,ere asking some of them went on to be encouraged, most famously walter cronkite and don chancellor. the others, although i have paid a lot of attention, were still new to me. a lot of them were printed journalists from the time because they wanted to have a mix between broadcast and print and some of them were on radio networks that no longer exist, but those four names were household names. host: a twitter user rights and saying "i remember the debates as a young person. kennedy was inspirational. accent was not. there was little need to fact check -- nixon was not. there was little need to fact check trade how times have changed." can you comment on the role of the moderators? impressive, even if one does not think nixon has nixon wasin some ways at his peak in 1960. he was not the nasty assassin nixon. his running mate before the nixon hadte said that an image from a fighting communists. i thought that he was sort of a balanced personality and he was not the so-called new

mcgee: this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second in a series of programs unmatched in history.

. >> this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second of a series of programs. never have so many people see the major candidates for the president of the united states at the same time. never until this time of americans see the candidates face to face. tonight the candidates have agreed to devote a full hour and answering questions on any question. here tonight are the republican candidate, vice president richard and nixon and a democratic candidate senator john f. kennedy. now representatives and of all the raz radio and television networks have agreed on this network rules. either candidate each will be questioned intern. it will have an opportunity to comment on the answer of the other, each reporter will ask only one question in turn. he is free to ask any question he chooses. neither candidate knows which question will be asked and all of the clock will determine who will be asked the last question. these programs representing a president opportunity for the candidates to present their philosophy and programs directly for the people to compare the candida

this is, frank mcgee, nbc news. douglas cater reporter magazine, ross go drummond, the tribune. as you probably notice, for reporters including a newspaper man in a mixing reporter, these two were presented by the press secretary's. the rules for this evening have been agreed upon by the representatives of both candidates in radio and television networks. there will be no opening statement by the candidates nor any closing summation. the entire hour will be devoted to answering questions from the reporters. each candidate, to the question in turn with opportunity to comment on the other. each answer will be limited to two and one half minutes, each comment to one and a half minutes. the reporters are free to ask any question they choose on any subject. neither candidate knows what question will be asked. time alone will be certain and deterrence of who will be asked the final question. the first question is from mr. mcguinness but president -- senator kennedy >> yesterday you use the words trigger-happy in referring to richard nixon's stand. last week on a program like this one,

we also had people like frank mcgee who went on to be a moderator. and anchorman. those who were asking questions, also some of them went on to be anchors, most famously walter cronkite and john chancellor. the others, although i have paid a lot of attention in the 1960's, were still new to me. a lot of them were print journalists from the time because they wanted to have a mix between broadcast and print, and some of them were on radio networks that no longer exist, but i would say those four names were the ones who, by that time, they were household names. host: a viewer on twitter says i remember the debates as a young person. kennedy was inspirational. nixon was not. unlike modern times, there was little need to fact check trade. how times have changed. can you comment on the role of the moderator and how the immediate responded to those debates? ms. perry: as people tuned into them or even just washed one, they are impressive. even if one does not think nixon has charisma, in some ways nixon was at his peak in 1960. that is, he was not the nasty assassin nixon

we also had people like frank mcgee who went on to be a moderator. questions,ere asking some of them went on to be encouraged, most famously walter cronkite and don chancellor. the others, although i have paid a lot of attention, were still new to me. a lot of them were printed journalists from the time because they wanted to have a mix between broadcast and print and some of them were on radio networks that no longer exist, but those four names were household names. host: a twitter user rights and saying "i remember the debates as a young person. kennedy was inspirational. accent was not. there was little need to fact check -- nixon was not. there was little need to fact check trade how times have changed." can you comment on the role of the moderators? impressive, even if one does not think nixon has nixon wasin some ways at his peak in 1960. he was not the nasty assassin nixon. his running mate before the nixon hadte said that an image from a fighting communists. i thought that he was sort of a balanced personality and he was not the so-called new

mcgee: this is frank mcgee, nbc news in washington. this is the second in a series of programs unmatched in history.