Repeatedly, he reached for his handkerchief to dab at a face that shone under the hot TV lights. Richard Nixon faced harsh criticism after the first televised United States presidential debate in 1960 for appearing shifty and sweaty. Following that race, presidential candidates avoided debates for 16 years until the creation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in the 1980s. This organization orchestrated debates for the next three decades until this year, when President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump bypassed the commission and negotiated directly with TV networks to host the debates. This move represents a shift in power from outside management to candidate control behind the scenes. The history of televised debates has seen many changes, from the TV networks initially airing the debates to the League of Women Voters taking over in 1976. The Commission on Presidential Debates was established in 1987 by the Democrats and Republicans, leading to concerns that major-party candidates would have too much influence. Trump’s opposition to the commission’s timeline for debates in 2020 led to candidates negotiating directly with TV networks for the first time. The upcoming debate between Biden and Trump, organized by CNN, will not feature an in-studio audience and will include muted microphones when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak, conditions agreed upon by both campaigns. Despite these changes, the average voter may not notice a significant difference in the debate format.
