The 1960 Presidential Debates

They focused on what they saw, not what they heard

It is now generally accepted folklore that the first 1960 presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy was a turning point in the evolution of American television.

It can also be seen as a turning point in the importance of a well prepared communication strategy when one is seeking to impress their fortunes on a constituency.

As long as a bow as it may be (tipping my hat to you here Angus), an interested spectator of Internal Audit can also draw parallels and … nearly 48 years on … use the 1960 Presidential Debates as inspiration for a new approach in the way that Internal Audit communicates with her many stakeholders.

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On 26 September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate.

It was the first of four televised "Great Debates" between Kennedy and Nixon.

The Great Debates marked television's grand entrance into presidential politics.

They afforded the first real opportunity for voters to see their candidates in competition, and the visual contrast was dramatic.

In August, Nixon had seriously injured his knee and spent two weeks in the hospital. By the time of the first debate he was still twenty pounds underweight, his pallor still poor.

He arrived at the debate in an ill-fitting shirt, and refused make-up to improve his color and lighten his perpetual "5:00 o'clock shadow."

Kennedy, by contrast, had spent early September campaigning in California. He was tan and confident and well-rested.

"I had never seen him looking so fit," Nixon later wrote.

In substance, the candidates were much more evenly matched.

Indeed, those who heard the first debate on the radio pronounced Nixon the winner.

But the 70 million who watched television saw a candidate still sickly and obviously discomforted by Kennedy's smooth delivery and charisma.

Those television viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard.

Studies of the audience indicated that, among television viewers, Kennedy was perceived the winner of the first debate by a very large margin.

Perhaps as no other single event, the Great Debates forced society to ponder the role of television in democratic life.

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Researching for this post inspired the author to think about the way that my chosen profession – Internal Audit – seeks to influence her stakeholders.

Are we Richard Nixon assuming that verbal and content substance will always win out over form or are we John Kennedy that – through force of content and visual presentation – wins over the stakeholders.

Taking this further have the days of presenting our reports in a written format (sometimes sent via email / sometimes sent in hard copy) gone the way of Richard Nixon’s political fortunes?

What is the alternative?

I can envisage the day when our “reports” are presented visually in a control (excuse the pun) room where all the controls that we have reviewed are visually displayed.

Where there is a failing in the control the visual demonstration shows the ramifications arising therefrom throughout the totality of the organisation’s control environment.

Therein lies the challenge for all of us interested in advancing the profession and practice of internal auditing.

Why should Internal Audit change from what we have got?

To quote President Kennedy, nearly two years on from the Great Debates, in describing the United States’ quest for the moon:

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it.

He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.

And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

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In other words, why not!