(Reuters) – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump will face off in a presidential debate on Tuesday ahead of the Nov. 5 election, continuing a tradition that has featured some of the most memorable moments in recent U.S. political history:
– 1960: The first televised debate pitted Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy against Republican Vice President Richard Nixon, who was recovering from a hospital visit and suffering from hair loss after refusing to wear makeup. The 70 million viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard. Kennedy won the election.
– 1976: In the first televised debate in 16 years, Democrat Jimmy Carter faced unelected Republican President Gerald Ford (NYSE:). In remarks widely considered a major blunder, Ford said, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.” Carter won the election.
– 1980: Carter appeared in a second debate with Republican Ronald Reagan after the first was interrupted by the inclusion of independent candidate John Anderson. He accused President Reagan of planning to cut health care funding for Americans age 65 and older. Reagan, who had already complained that Carter was misrepresenting his positions on a number of issues, said, “There you go again,” and laughed, drawing laughter from the audience and coining a catchphrase. Reagan won the election.
– 1984: Reagan, 73, successfully defused the issue of his age when he debated Democrat Walter Mondale, 56, saying, “I want you to know that I, too, will not make age an issue in this campaign. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan was reelected.
– 1988: He began a debate against Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush by asking Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis whether he supported the death penalty for a man who raped and murdered his wife. The question gave the candidate, dubbed “The Iceman” by critics, a chance to show his emotional side. But his rambling answer did just the opposite. Bush won the election.
The vice presidential debate was heated when Bush’s running mate, Dan Quayle, compared himself politically to John F. Kennedy. Democrat Lloyd Bentsen responded with deadly calm: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was my friend. Madam Senator, you are not Jack Kennedy.”
– 1992: Three candidates—Bush, Democrat Bill Clinton, and independent Ross Perot—shared the stage. Clinton won the election.
– 1996: In a debate with Clinton, a student asked Republican Bob Dole if he was 73 years old and could not understand the needs of young people. He replied that his intelligence and experience at his age meant he had the advantage of wisdom. Clinton replied, “I can only tell you that I do not think Senator Dole is too old to be president. What I question is the age of his ideas.” Clinton was reelected.
– 2000: In his first debate with Republican George W. Bush, Democratic Vice President Al Gore faced negative criticism for sighing loudly while Bush spoke. “We all make mistakes,” Bush said during their second debate. “I’ve been known to mumble a syllable or two,” deliberately pronouncing the word “syllable.” Bush won the election.
– 2004: The final debate between Bush and Democrat John Kerry presented voters with a stark contrast in style, with Bush sticking to simple arguments while Kerry presented a body of facts to support his case. Bush was reelected.
– 2008: Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin clashed with Republican nominee John McCain and Joe Biden, who was running against Democratic nominee Barack Obama, over the economy and Iraq during a lively, polite vice presidential debate. Palin often displayed a populist tone. “Oh, say it ain’t so, Joe,” she said at one point, adding, “Damn you.” Biden and Palin pledged to make U.S. economic policy more favorable to middle-class workers, but Biden said McCain described the economy’s fundamentals as strong as the financial crisis hit. The Obama-Biden ticket won the election.
– 2012: Obama stumbled in his first debate with Republican Mitt Romney, surprising and alarming his supporters. But in their second debate, Romney responded to a question about gender pay parity by saying he had “files full of women” as candidates for Cabinet positions. The phrase became a meme on social media, with tweets, original artwork and a Facebook group mocking Romney. Obama won again.
– 2016: The first debate between businessman Donald Trump and former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew 84 million U.S. television viewers, a record for a debate and a rare number in the digital broadcast era. Their second debate was dominated by an exchange of insults, with Clinton mocking Trump for sexually aggressive remarks he made about women in a newly released 2005 videotape. Trump sought to deflect criticism by accusing Bill Clinton, the candidate’s husband, of having done worse to women. In her 2017 book, Clinton wrote that in their second debate, Trump made her skin crawl by following her around the stage and she wondered if she should tell him to “back off, you creep.” Instead, she said, “I kept my cool, helped by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men who tried to push me away.” In the third debate, Trump called Clinton a “very bad woman” and refused to say he would accept the election results. Trump won the election.
– 2020: President Trump went into his first debate with former Vice President Biden looking for a fight in the polls. But his aggression worked against him. He repeatedly interrupted Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, to the point where the entire event spiraled out of control. He attacked Biden’s family. Polls and focus groups conducted afterward showed that swing voters were disgusted by his behavior. At one point when Trump interrupted him, Biden said, “Will you shut up, man? That’s very unpresidential.” Wallace told Trump, “I think the country would be better off if we let both of you talk with less interruptions. I implore you, sir, to do that.” Trump responded, referring to Biden, “And him too.” Wallace said, “Well, frankly, you were interrupting more.” Trump later walked out of the second debate after it was switched to a virtual format in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis. He then struck a more measured tone in the final showdown with Biden.
During the vice presidential debate, a stray fly briefly took over the national stage, causing a stir when it landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s short white hair during his debate with his Democratic opponent, then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.
June 27, 2024: President Biden, 81, gave a shaky, stumbling performance as former President Trump, 78, attacked him with a series of often false attacks, as the two oldest presidential candidates ever traded insults. Biden’s performance rattled fellow Democrats and deepened voters’ fears that his mental faculties have diminished with age. The candidates appeared without a live audience, and their microphones automatically cut off when it was not their turn to speak — both unusual rules imposed to avoid the chaos that derailed their first debate in 2020, when Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden. The two men — who have made no secret of their mutual dislike — did not shake hands or acknowledge each other before or after the debate. On July 21, Biden dropped his reelection bid under mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and endorsed Vice President Harris as the party’s nominee to face Trump in the Nov. 5 election. Harris, 59, formally accepted the nomination on Aug. 22.
See Reuters’ photo gallery of previous debates.
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