The First-Ever Televised Presidential Debate Was Between Two Women

In 1956, Americans were able to tune into the country’s first-ever nationally televised presidential debate.

Yet neither presidential candidate participated in the event.

Instead, Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson and Republican incumbent Dwight Eisenhower both sent surrogates to debate on their behalf. In Stevenson’s corner was Eleanor Roosevelt, onetime first lady and a well-respected Democratic matriarch of American politics. Representing Eisenhower was Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican senior senator from Maine.

Their encounter on the November 4, 1956, edition of Face the Nation on CBS—which took place just days before the election—was emblematic of the role television would come to play in how elections were decided, as well as how bitter feelings could run. When the debate was over, a chill was apparent in the studio, and Roosevelt refused to shake her opponent’s hand.

The Debate Team

The contest was a rematch from 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower had routed former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson. The incumbent president was expected to be victorious a second time despite suffering from a heart attack in 1955 that could have given some voters pause. As to why the candidates didn’t appear themselves, it’s anyone’s guess. (Stevenson had previously debated his Florida primary opponent, Estes Kefauver, in May 1956 on a Miami ABC affiliate station. The segment might subjectively be considered an even earlier televised presidential debate, though not between opposing party nominees.)

Eleanor Roosevelt was a fierce supporter of Stevenson, so it made sense for the Democratic National Convention to dispatch her when CBS extended an invitation to have representatives from the Democratic and Republican parties debate issues surrounding the pending election.

She was the daughter of Elliott Roosevelt, brother of President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1905, she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Teddy’s cousin and her own fifth cousin once removed.

Eleanor remained a political presence after FDR’s death during his fourth term in office in 1945. In 1946, President Harry Truman appointed her to the United Nations Human Rights Council; she also continued a syndicated newspaper column she had started in 1935, “My Day,” in which she offered her opinions on everything from foreign relations to Pearl Harbor. Her popularity was such that she even endorsed products like margarine. (The proceeds for that spot went to charity.)

The Republican National Committee, in turn, selected Margaret Chase Smith to be Eisenhower’s avatar. Smith was the first woman to serve in both the Senate and House, elected to the latter in 1940 and remaining until 1972. She had garnered praise in 1950 for turning the tables on anti-communist zealot Joseph McCarthy. Smith was lukewarm to the idea of the debate, however, before being informed Eisenhower specifically requested that she attend.

But Smith anticipated a problem: She feared she might be outmatched. Smith knew the former first lady and was aware she was well versed on relevant issues, a polished public speaker, and familiar to the viewing public. In debate terms, Smith was an amateur staring down a professional. But Smith understood something Roosevelt did not: the power of television.

The Showdown

Television was rapidly expanding into American households in the 1950s. In 1949, just 172,000 families had a set. By 1953, the number was 52 million.

In addition to reshaping entertainment, the medium was also reshaping politics. Face the Nation on CBS featured pundits and politicians alike, typically one guest per show, discussing hot-button issues. (Prior to Smith and Roosevelt, all guests had been men.) In inviting party representatives to discuss the pending election, the network—and television—was taking the first step toward transforming discourse from radio and print to moving images, where looks, gestures, and flop sweat could all influence viewers.

Smith seized on this. At 59, she was 13 years younger than Roosevelt, whom she anticipated would come dressed in her usual matronly apparel. Smith calculated that a dark dress would look more visually striking on black and white televisions. Roosevelt’s pervasive hat, she reasoned, would give her opponent more an air of stuffiness: Smith went without and instead pinned a red rose to her chest. Sitting side by side, Smith looked like the more spirited participant.

But Roosevelt was far from doddering. When the show began its broadcast from Washington, D.C. the Sunday before the Tuesday election, it went as Smith expected as the two fielded questions from reporters. Roosevelt spoke eloquently and at length about tensions in the Middle East as well as what she perceived as the failings of the Eisenhower administration.

“We did not move soon enough,” Roosevelt said of those controversies. “We were partly held back by our oil interests. But these things don’t happen overnight. They build up. And I think anyone who has watched the situation in the Middle East growing has been longing to see some kind of constructive action on the part of the administration.”

Smith was so reticent to stand her ground that the program’s director grew exasperated: “Talk more, Senator Smith,” he scolded.

But Smith had a strategy. The one term she insisted upon was having time for each woman to have a closing argument. That’s when Smith excoriated the Democratic party for supporting Eisenhower during his military career in World War II but rejecting him now. That, Smith said, proved the rebuke of Eisenhower was merely about party lines, not any legitimate concern.

“What was surprising … was my abrupt change in delivery,” Smith later recalled. “It was not the soft, restrained, measured delivery [but] a biting staccato.”

Roosevelt was so taken aback she turned to someone off-camera and remarked, “Did you hear what she said?” When Smith offered to shake hands, Roosevelt walked away.

What effect the debate had on voters is unknown but, given there were less than 48 hours left until the election, it’s likely most had their minds made up already. Eisenhower won in a landslide with 457 electoral votes. (Among the milestones of his second term: admitting both Alaska and Hawaii into the United States.)

But the debate between Roosevelt and Smith certainly proved crucial for all elections to follow. Come 1960, the actual presidential nominees, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, appeared on television. Historians believe Kennedy’s relaxed demeanor helped secure his win against a fidgeting, sweaty Nixon. Perhaps the latter should have sent Margaret Chase Smith to appear in his place.

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