Photo of the first Kennedy/Nixon presidential debate, September 26, 1960

Topics on the Page

 

Debate History

 

Polls, Polling Data and Impacts of Debates on Voters

 

Do Debates Matter? Famous Debates in U.S. History

• Lincoln/Douglas, 1858
• Kennedy/Nixon, 1960
• Buckley/Baldwin, 1965
• Bush/Gore, 2000 
• Winners and Losers: History's Famous Debates 
• The Valladolid Debate, 1550-1551 

Dud Debates as a Teaching Strategy

 

 

American Debate History from the Commission on Presidential Debates

 

• 1858 Lincoln/Douglas Debates set an historical precedent for candidate debates

 

• Link to Policies and Events Leading to the Civil War for background on the Lincoln/Douglas Debates

 

• 1948 and 1956 were only public debates between presidential candidates prior to 1969

 

• There were no presidential debates between 1960 and 1976

 

• Commission on Presidential Debates was established in 1987

 

• 1976: Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. 
• Link here for video of 3rd Carter/Ford debate

 

• 1980: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan

 

• 1984: Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale

 

• 1988: George Herbert Walker Bush and Michael Dukakis

 

• 1992: George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot

 

• 1996: Bill Clinton and Bob Dole

 

• 2000: George W. Bush and Al Gore

 

• 2004: George W. Bush and John Kerry

 

• 2008: Barack Obama and John McCain

 

• 2012: Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

 

• 2016: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
• Link here for Final Clinton/Trump Debate (October 19, 2016)

See also History of Presidential Debate from Purdue University

Clinton-Trump-Johnson Poll, July 2016

 

Polls, Polling Data and the Impacts of Debates on Voters

Putting Post-Debate Flash Polls in Perspective, Pew Research Center

5 Key Things to Know about the Margin of Error in Election Polls, Pew Research Center

 

 

What We Know About the Impact of Primary Debates, FiveThirtyEight (June 24, 2019)

 

 

Fact Check: Trump and Clinton Debate for the First Time, NPR, September 26, 2016

 

 

 

The Role of Presidential Debates, Bill of Rights Institute

 

 

Political Debates:  Advising a Candidate, JFK Presidential Library and Museum

 

 

Win the White House, iCivics

 

Do Debates Matter? Famous Debates in History

 

 

Kennedy/Nixon Debates, 1960

 

 

First Kennedy/Nixon Debate (September 26, 1960) from the JFK Library on YouTube

 

 

This debate was watched by 70 million people, two-thirds of the nation's population at the time

 

 

The Great Debate: Kennedy, Nixon and Television in the 1960 Race for the Presidency from Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

 

 

The Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debates, 1960 from Museum of Broadcast Communications

 

 

William F. Buckley/James Baldwin Debate about Race in America, 1965

 

Baldwin-Buckley Race Debate Still Resonates 55 Years On, PBS Newshour (February 16, 2020)

 

They debated for and against the following motion:

• The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro

 

  Watch the Debate here

 

 

Balwin v. Buckley, Backstory Radio

 

 

 

Bush/Gore Debates, 2000

 

Saturday Night Live Skit on First Bush/Gore Presidential Debate (with Darnell Hammond and Will Ferrell)

Link to resources on the Election of 2000

 

 

 

Abraham Lincoln at a debate with Stephen Douglas

Lincoln/Douglas Debates (1858)

 

A series of 7 debates in Illinois by Democratic party, Stephan A, Douglas, and Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln. This happened in 1858 in Illinois with both party competing for the seat in the Senate.

 

• Their debates touched on subject about slavery, popular sovereignty, race equality, and emancipation. the main focus of these debates were about slavery. Lincoln was against slavery and thought that African-Americans needed to be treated as equals. 

 

• These debates were about 3 hours long, with the first person speaking for 1 hour and then the second person speaking against them for 1 1/2 hour, and finally a 30 minutes rebuttal by the first person. 

 

Lincoln famous "House Divided" Speech that address that the United States government cannot be divided on a issue and need to work together.

• This speech was spoken in these debates in Springfield, Illinois June 16, 1858.

 

Although Lincoln lost in the debates, it caused his popularity to soar and allowed him to gain traction in being elected as President later on.

 

Although the debates were for a senatorial postilion in the U.S government, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates were very important because it laid the groundwork for the presidential debates. These debates would talk about issues occurring their time periods.

 

 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 from the National Park Service

Lincoln-Douglas Debates from Digital History

 

Click here for a short video on the Lincoln-Douglass Debate

 

4th Debate, Part One

 

 

The Valladolid Debate, 1550-1551

 

Bartolome de las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepulveda debates whether the native peoples of the Americas deserve the same treatment as free men

 

Bartolome de las Casas Debates the Subjugation of the Indians, 1550

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dub Debates as a Teaching Strategy

 

Dub Debates will be created within a 3 minute video using a technique called dubbing, mixing or re-recording wherein an existing video’s audio is added to or supplemented.

 

• Please view this example to get an idea of what a dubbed video looks like and allow your imagination to start percolating.

 

Nature vs. Nurture Dub Debate Video Assignment "The Duck Song" by Nicole Cross, Bay Path University is licensed under CC BY 4.0