1960: American viewers were riveted to their television sets for the broadcast of the fourth and final debate between Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate, and Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate. The first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates was held on September 26, 1960. An estimated 60 to 70 million viewers watched the first, and successive, debate(s) - known as "the Great Debates." The first debate, broadcast by CBS, focused on domestic issues. The fourth debate, broadcast by ABC, focused on foreign policy issues, particularly U.S. relations with Cuba. The second and third one-hour debates, televised from New York by NBC and ABC, respectively, followed a looser format with a news panel questioning the candidates on a variety of subjects. The third debate was the first genuine "electronic debate;" the two candidates faced off from opposite coasts - Kennedy speaking from a television studio in New York and Nixon from Los Angeles. (Source: Library of Congress)