NEW YORK.- From a Gerald Ford gaffe to a Ronald Reagan joke about his age to Joe Biden telling Donald Trump to shut up, more than 60 years of US presidential debates have produced a long list of unforgettable moments.
Here are some examples that have gone down in the annals of political history.
Kennedy-Nixon, September 26, 1960
It was the first televised debate – in black and white – and from then on the image took on a primary role in politics.
After two terms as Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president, Republican Richard Nixon was the favorite to win the election.
But before 66 million television viewers, he appears pale – he refused to wear makeup – and sweaty, while the young Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy looks tanned and self-confident. When he speaks, the Democrat looks directly at the camera, at the voter, while the Republican addresses the moderator.
The influence the debate had on the electorate is unknown, but Kennedy won the election.
Ford-Carter, October 6, 1976
After a first debate marred by a live sound failure, outgoing Republican President Gerald Ford makes an irreparable blunder in his second face-to-face with Jimmy Carter.
In the midst of the Cold War, he assures that “there is no Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe and there never will be during a Ford administration,” despite the fact that the USSR has troops deployed in several countries. It took Ford six days to recognize that there were Soviet troops in Poland and he assured that he was talking about the spirit of resistance of its people.
Reagan-Mondale, October 21, 1984
The outgoing Republican president Ronald Reagan is 73 years old when he seeks re-election against Walter Mondale, 56. But he transforms what could be an obstacle into an asset, with a formula that has gone down in history: “I am not going to turn age into a campaign issue. I am not going to exploit, for political reasons, the youth and inexperience of my opponent.
Bush-Clinton-Perot, October 15, 1992
The second presidential debate is held between three: the independent candidate Ross Perot, the outgoing president George Bush and his future successor Bill Clinton. One image will cost Bush, who conspicuously looks at his watch during a question from the public.
Years later, he admitted that he hated debates: “Maybe that’s why I looked at (my watch), and thought: ‘just ten more minutes of this crap.'”
Obama-Romney, October 22, 2012
Before outgoing President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney regrets that the US Navy has fewer ships than in 1916.
“Mr. Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our navy has changed. We have what we call aircraft carriers, on which planes land. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines,” the Democrat mocks. , a response that went viral on the internet.
Trump-Clinton, October 9, 2016
The second presidential debate of 2016 has gone down in history for its virulent nature. On the ropes after the release of a video in which he boasts of grabbing women “by the genitals,” Donald Trump has counterattacked on a personal level, claiming that former President Bill Clinton, his rival’s husband, “abused women.”
He promised to appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over her use of private email when she was head of US diplomacy. “It would be great if someone with Donald Trump’s temperament were not in charge of the law in our country,” she said. “You would be in jail,” replied the Republican.
Trump-Biden, September 29, 2020
There were shouts and insults in the first debate of the 2020 presidential election, to which Donald Trump and Joe Biden aspired. Outgoing President Donald Trump keeps interrupting Joe Biden, who ends up snapping at him: “Will you shut up, man?”
The Democrat also describes his opponent as a “clown” and “(Vladimir) Putin’s lapdog.” Premonitoryly, Donald Trump refuses to say whether he will recognize the result of the election.
Unable to put the two candidates in order, the moderator of the debate, Fox News journalist Chris Wallace, confessed that he was “desperate.”
Source: With information from AFP
