The biggest - and deadliest - military operation in American history began this day in 1918: Meuse-Argonne. Over a million U.S. troops participated; 26,000+ were killed and there were 120,000+ casualties. @realDonaldTrump has reportedly called those killed "suckers" and "losers"
The event that changed the presidency forever - this day in 1960 - when VP Richard M. Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy met for the first of four TV debates (more)
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People hearing the Chicago debate on the radio thought Nixon, the incumbent VP, won. But on TV Nixon, who had been ill, was sweating and looked bad. Meantime, Kennedy, who had flown in from Calif., had a healthy tan and was perceived by viewers as being healthy and attractive
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The debates helped establish television as the most important medium - a reputation cemented by the November 1963 coverage of Kennedy's assassination. The next presidential debate would not be until 1976, when Jimmy Carter benefited from a terrible blunder by President Ford
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The primacy of television also raised questions among historians as to whether other presidents would have been elected, given their physical attributes. For example, how would voters have regarded an unsightly Abraham Lincoln or a wheelchair-bound Franklin Roosevelt?
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