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THE POWER OF HOW YOU LOOK
IN A quiet, almost ignoble corner, just behind the security desk at the giant CBS offices in New York City, sits one of the four original RCA TK-11A cameras that revolutionized how we view politics and politicians today. On September 26, 1960, 70 million people tuned in to watch the first televised presidential candidate debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy. For the first time, in real time, Americans could see, not just hear or read, what the candidates had to say. Those who listened to the debate on the radio said that Nixon won. Those who watched on television and saw Kennedy—tanned, healthy, young, and smiling—acclaimed Kennedy the winner.
That event, and those cameras, changed ...
