by Liette
Gidlow
Associate Professor of
History, Bowling Green State University
The debates made
Kennedy look like a winner. His practice of looking at the camera when answering the questions -- and not at
the journalists who asked
them, as Nixon did -- made viewers see him as someone who was talking directly to them and who gave them
straight answers. Kennedy's
performance showed not only that he was a knowledgeable and credible elected official, but also that he just
plain looked better. The
often repeated story -- which is in fact true -- is that polls taken after the first debate showed that most
people who listened to it on the radio felt that Nixon had won, while most who watched it on
television declared
Kennedy the victor.