Presidential Trivia (Sept. 13 & 14)
Answers will be posted tomorrow.
(1) One presidential candidate banged his knee on a car door during his campaign. The injury led to a serious infection, and some historians speculate that it contributed to a gaunt, tired look that did not help him during a subsequent presidential debate. Which candidate?
(2) In what year was the first formal debate between two vice presidential candidates held?
(3) Which President was presented a red carnation at a debate and came to believe that it brought him good luck?
1) That would be Richard Nixon!
The injury required hospitalization, and he was released it was just a few days before his Sept. 26 televised debate with John F Kennedy. When Nixon arrived for the debate, he looked ill, and the vice president then re-injured his knee as he entered the TV station. But he refused to call off the debate.
Nixon also refused to wear stage makeup (Kennedy did to at first, but then had his team do it) and the result was that Kennedy looked and sounded good on television, while Nixon looked pale and tired, with a five o’clock shadow beard.
The next day, polls showed Kennedy had become the slight favorite in the general election, and he defeated Nixon by one of the narrowest margins in history that November. Before the debate, Nixon led by six percentage points in the national polls.
1) Nixon
2) no idea
3) nary a clue
😂😂 about as usual