MSM trying to influence a debate. . .right from the start -
Saul Pett, a prominent feature writer for The Associated Press, rated Nixon highly for projecting cordiality. “On general folksiness, both before and during the debate,” Pett wrote the day after, “my scorecard showed Nixon easily ahead, at least 8 to 1. … He smiled more often and more broadly, especially at the start and close of a remark. Kennedy only allowed himself the luxury of a quarter-smile now and then.”
Walter Lippmann, a leading newspaper commentator of the time, mentioned Nixon’s manner only deep in his column the day after the debate, saying television cameras “were very hard on Mr. Nixon. … They made him look sick, which he is not, and they made him look older and more worn than he is.
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2024-06-25/rewriting-history-what-really-happened-in-the-jfk-nixon-tv-debate-and-what-it-means-for-the-biden-trump-matchup
What's really funny is the last paragraph in the article.