History is filled with tantalizing what ifs. What if World War II’s D-Day invasion had failed? What if President Ronald Reagan had been assassinated in March 1981 before the Reagan revolution began? Both will be forever unanswered.
A lesser-known “what if” is also fascinating to contemplate, especially given the verbal food fight that was the first Trump-Biden presidential debate. Because except for one history-altering event, the way presidential contenders face one another might be vastly different today.
As the summer of 1963 gave way to fall, politicians were turning their attention to the following year when President John F. Kennedy would be up for reelection. He had barely beat Republican Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections in our history. Now, Democrats were looking to expand their victory margin the second time around while Republicans wanted retribution.
Whatever 1964 would bring, it wouldn’t be boring.
The two candidates at the heart of the coming race envisioned a presidential campaign unlike anything America had seen before.
It started in 1953, when newly elected Sens. Kennedy and Barry Goldwater served together on the Senate Labor Committee. As Goldwater, an Arizona Republican, later recalled about his colleague, “I liked him right from the start. He was an easy fellow to meet — had no reserve at all about him. He had a great sense of humor, and it stuck out in front of him so far you couldn’t miss it.” The feeling, it appears, was mutual for Kennedy.
Yet that didn’t stop the two from sparring during committee hearings. Goldwater was the poster boy for a new breed of Republican conservatism; Kennedy was a loyal devotee to Democratic liberalism. And each was passionate about his convictions. But that didn’t interfere with their fondness for or ability to work alongside each other.
Kennedy reached for the brass ring first and grabbed it. As he prepared to seek a second term in 1964, it appeared his old Senate chum might very well be his Republican opponent.
But something quietly happened in 1963 that was hidden from history for 25 years.
After retiring from the Senate in the 1980s, Goldwater told a PBS interviewer, “I actually had a few telephone conversations with him throughout the summer and early autumn of 1963. We eventually developed a debate format that would have completely altered how Americans choose their president.”
Goldwater expounded on that during a talk with researcher Shaun Kelly:
Goldwater went on to explain, “You must remember, President Kennedy and I had debated foreign and domestic policy for years as U. S. senators. For both of us, it would have been nothing new … A fascinating part of our proposal included the fact that there would have been no time restrictions. We knew enough, as experienced politicians, when it was time to stop and move on to a new topic. The American people would have heard our philosophies without any filters. We would have our say and be done with it.”
So, what happened? According to Goldwater, “We had just begun to earnestly discuss a detailed outline of the plan when…”
A trip to Dallas changed the course of history in a heartbeat, as Kennedy was slain.
Goldwater went on to face Kennedy’s successor, President Lyndon Johnson, in 1964. LBJ was no JFK, and he had no interest in debating, regardless of the format. Goldwater eventually went down in one of the greatest landslide losses until then.
Presidential debates were resurrected in 1976 and, with a few modifications here and there, have followed the same predictable format ever since. After watching them devolve into a political version of The Jerry Springer Show between President Trump and Joe Biden, one can’t help reflecting on the truth in John Greenleaf Whittier’s lines:
“For all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”
J. Mark Powell (@JMarkPowell) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He’s VP of communications at Ivory Tusk Consulting, a South Carolina-based agency. A former broadcast journalist and government communicator, his “Holy Cow! History” column is available at jmarkpowell.com.
