1956 Presidential Election: The Advent of Televised Debates

National History Day
2022 Guides - Theme: Debate & Diplomacy in History
Research Guide Image
Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith

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Example Keywords & Catalog Subject Headings

presidential campaigns
presidential debates
Smith, Margaret Chase,‡d1897-1995
Television in politics -- United States
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965
Kefauver, Estes, 1903-1963

Books/Print Resources at DPL

Courage in a dangerous world : the political writings of Eleanor Roosevelt (pri…
Presidential debates : forty years of high-risk TV

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Sample Articles
How youthful idealists can alter presidential races

Prospector: Materials from Other Colorado and Wyoming Libraries

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Declaration of Conscience / Edited by William C. Lewis, Jr Smith, Margaret Chas…
Primary politics : everything you need to know about how America nominates its …

Internet Sources

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The First Televised Presidential Debate
A quick overview of the first televised presidential debate using surrogates Eleanor Roosevelt (for Adlai Stevenson) and Senator Margaret Chase Smith (for Dwight D. Eisenhower), on Face the Nation, November 11, 1956.

Roosevelt, Smith first women to appear on Face the Nation
A portion of the Eleanor Roosevelt/Margaret Chase Smith debate as televised on CBS Face the Nation, November 11, 1956.
A Life Committed to Leadership: Life Lessons from Margaret Chase Smith and Outc…
Main Policy Review
Volume 27, Issue 1
2018
pp. 7-10
Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver - First Televised Debate, 1956 (primary sou…
On May 21, 1956, Miami’s ABC affiliate WTVJ broadcast a one hour meeting of these “friendly rivals,” moderated by Quincy Howe. Shown only in the Miami region, the debate took place the day after the U.S. tested its first airdropped H-bomb, at Bikini Atoll, and nuclear proliferation, racial segregation, and the balance between big and small business dominated the discussion.
The Man Who Jump-Started Presidential Debates (primary source)
NPR All Things Considered interview with Fred Kahn, September 30, 2012.
Letter, ER to Sen. John F. Kennedy re: the First Televised Debate, and JFK's R…
FDR Library, Significant Documents Collection.
ER-25: Letter, ER to Sen. John F. Kennedy re: the First Televised Debate, and JFK's Reply Letter, September 27 & October 10, 1960 Note: ER Papers; General Correspondence, 1957-1962: Kennedy, John F., 1957-1960 (Box 3576)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 27 May 1956 (primary source)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), May 27, 1956, Page A-27, Image 28
"Democrats: Gloves Off"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), May 24, 1956, Page C-9, Image 75 (pr…
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), May 24, 1956, Page C-9, Image 75
"A Rousing Idea that Went Wrong"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), April 23, 1956, Page A-5, Image 5 (p…
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), April 23, 1956, Page A-5, Image 5
"Stevenson, Kefauver Debate Dates Under Study"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), May 22, 1956, Page A-11, Image 11 (…
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), May 22, 1956, Page A-11, Image 11
"Florida not Excited Over Primary"
The televised debate stage: A history
The Week
JUNE 26, 2019
Author: JEVA LANGE

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