The first televised U.S. presidential debate was between two women
FILE-Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith appear in the first televised presidential debate on Nov. 4, 1956. (Photo credit: The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)
Americans have watched presidential debates on television throughout the years, but one of the contests that many may not be familiar with featured two women.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a Democrat, and Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican, competed in the first televised U.S. presidential debate on Nov. 4, 1956.
Roosevelt and Smith served as substitutes in the debate for former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and President Dwight Eisenhower.
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Smith was in her second term in the Senate and had known Roosevelt for 20 years. Smith initially was hesitant to accept the invitation for the debate, but when the alternate debaters she suggested turned down the offer to debate, and a Republican National Committee official told her that Eisenhower asked her to participate in the debate, Smith accepted, Time reported.
The debate was televised on the CBS show "Face the Nation," and it marked the first time a woman appeared on the TV program. Smith asked CBS for a two-minute closing statement during the debate and the network agreed, according to Senate.gov.
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This historic event took place two days before the presidential election and focused primarily on issues of foreign policy. The day after the debate, Eisenhower won re-election.