TV debates have never been about substance

Plus: the mistake that haunts Supreme Court ethics |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman Tonight’s presidential debate could draw massive viewership, and the stakes for President Biden and former president Donald Trump couldn’t be higher. And yet, as Heather Hendershot writes in Made by History, past debates indicate that neither the candidates' visions for the future nor their policy proposals will dominate media coverage of the event. Instead, appearances—from non-verbal moments like George H.W. Bush looking at his watch in a 1992 debate, or Al Gore sighing and rolling his eyes in a 2000 debate—and gaffes tend to determine how a debate affects perceptions of the candidates. Democracy advocates may lament this, but it’s nothing new. It’s been true going back to the first televised presidential debate in 1960. And despite the microphone cut-off switches that CNN will use in this debate, Hendershot argues, it's unlikely to change.

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HISTORY ON TIME.COM Presidential Debates in History That Moved the Needle By Nik Popli From Kennedy v. Nixon to Bush v. Gore, here are some of the most important presidential debates in history. Read More » The 2024 U.S. Election Could Determine the Future of Capitalism By Alan Green / Made by History The economic order that has dominated since 1980 is coming to a close. Who wins in 2024 will determine what comes next. Read More » A Mistake in the Early 1970s Still Haunts Supreme Court Ethics By Michael Bobelian / Made by History After a scandal forced Justice Abe Fortas to resign, judicial ethics reforms had a fatal flaw. Read More » How Doctors Came to Play a Key Role in the Abortion Debate By Emma Peterson and Daniel Martinez HoSang / Made by History While the phrase "between a woman and her doctor" has been used to protect abortion access, it also reflects physicians' outsized power. Read More » How Willie Mays Handled Being a Black Superstar in a Racist Era By Aram Goudsouzian / Made by History Despite media efforts to force Mays into a story, the superstar adamantly handled racism in his own, quieter way. Read More » The Military’s Unexpected Role in Building San Francisco’s LBGTQ+ Community By Solcyré Burga Many LGBTQ+ veterans settled in the city as it was a common point of disembarkation and a place of gender nonconformity. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1969: Prince Charles TIME The June 27, 1969, cover of TIME “Today, Britain is a small nation condemned to dwell amid the physical and remembered monuments of a much greater past…There are indications that Charles has ideas of his own about the duties of kingship, though they may still be developing. As he told an interviewer recently: ‘I think one has to be much more ‘with it’ than of old, and much better informed.’ He hopes to act as a sort of international emissary without portfolio: ‘I like to think I could be an ambassador not only for Wales but also for the United Kingdom as a whole, and from one Commonwealth country to another.’” Read More » This week in 1972: Polaroids Alfred Eisenstaedt The June 26, 1972, cover of TIME “The new American cameras are not only easy to operate but, more important, easy to carry. They are so compact, compared with their predecessors, that they can be toted in pocket or purse, more like a wallet or a pack of cigarettes than a piece of hand luggage. The era of pocket photography is here, and it promises to make the camera a spectacularly more usable possession. If leaders of the photo industry are right, many consumers will want to carry one around nearly everywhere, having it ready to employ as a kind of visual notepad.” Read More » This week in 1989: Kevin Costner GREGORY HEISLER The June 26, 1989, cover of TIME “‘People look at me and think they see everything,’ he says. ‘But what they see is one moment frozen in time. I’ve come from somewhere to get to that point. There’s stuff in my back pockets, up my sleeve that they don’t know anything about. I don’t offer up everything there is, onscreen or in life. It’s not guile. But conversation is supposed to be a two- way thing, and generally people want to know more about me than they want to reveal about themselves. So of course I hold back. I’m not dying to tell people my story.’” Read More »

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