Actually, I was waiting for someone to bring up Lincoln-Douglas as is usually the case when I point out TV’s role in these “debates”
I put the word debate(s) in quotes because they are really nothing more than infomercials imo.
I was a 10-11yr old volunteer (BSA community service) for Nixon-Lodge in 1959-60, and I remember the N-L HQ in the IL town where I was, saying Nixon was going to kill JFK. They ate a lot of crow afterward.