The four televised Kennedy-Nixon debates of October 1960 were watched by millions of Americans. On October 21, the upstart Kennedy chided Vice President Nixon that the United States was losing the space race to Khrushchev. “I look up and see the Soviet flag on the moon. Polls on our prestige and influence around the world have shown such a sharp drop that up till now the State Department has been unwilling to release them.”

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