Richard Nixon and His Grey Suit

In the second cross-over post for the week, I bring you an analysis of President Nixon’s gray suit that helped him lose the 1960 election to JFK. Katie McGowan wrote up this fashion decision that influenced history:

America’s first Presidential debate in 1960 was unprecedented in many ways, but perhaps most importantly for giving live faces to the names of candidates. It’s hard to imagine with today’s 24/7 news cycle that campaigns looked a lot different in 1960. People clamored for leadership to tackle the tough issues of the day – civil rights, the rise of communist sympathies, aftereffects of the Cold War, the space race, to name a few.

When Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican candidate Richard Nixon walked onto the stage, there were marked physical differences between them. Kennedy, a young, fresh-faced, camera-ready Senator appeared in a dark blue suit – and made eye contact with the cameras and audience throughout the evening. Nixon on the other hand, blended into the backdrop with his light gray suit, and was battling both the flu and a knee infection. His makeup melted off under the bright studio lights, giving him a sickly, pallid look.

Despite the fact that both candidates answered questions intelligently and with similar levels of experience backing their candidacies, it was Kennedy who would win the election that year. One has to wonder whether Nixon’s elephant-gray suit played into the minds of the people’s decision that year. He later wrote in his memoirs, “I should have remembered that a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Addenda: In fact, there was an even earlier presidential debate in 1956 when two stand-ins argued in lieu of the Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and the incumbent Dwight Eisenhower. And two women were the surrogates! Eleanor Roosevelt stood in for the Stevenson and the senior senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith, went for Eisenhower. They debated in November 4 on _Face the Nation_.