Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
508
AUTHOR:
Dwight David Eisenhower (1890–1969)
QUOTATION:
I have serious doubts about the value of debates in a presidential election. They tend to be a test of reaction time rather than a genuine exposition of the participants’ philosophies and programs. Further, in debate, candidates tend to overstate their views. In the 1960 situation I had a very practical objection: Nixon was widely known; Kennedy was not; dramatic debates would therefore help Kennedy.
ATTRIBUTION:
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, The White House Years, vol. 2, p. 599, footnote (1965).
