Candidates Set TV Debate Rules
May 3, 1960
Final rules for the televised debate between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey Wednesday night were set Monday.
The debate will take place from 7:30-8:30 p. m. in the WCHS-TV studios. It is co-sponsored by The Charleston Gazette and WCHS-TV and will be carried simultaneously on four other state television stations:WHIS-TV, Bluefield; WTRF-TV, Wheeling; WBOY-RV, Clarksburg; and WTAP-TV, Parkersburg.
It also will be telecast on WTOP-TV, Washington, D. C., and KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Mutual Broadcasting System announced that it would carry the program by radio over all of its 450 stations. Robert F. Hurleigh, president of MBS, said: "We of the Mutual radio network feel the scheduled debate is of national interest and national importance. We also feel there is a moral obligation to bring such a debate to as many people throughout the country as possible, due to the issues involved."
The program will begin with an introduction of the candidates and an explanation of the ground rules by the program moderator, Bill Ames, WCHS-TV news director.
The debate portion of the broadcast will begin with a five-minute opening statement of his case by each of the candidates. The order of appearance will be determined by a flip of a coin.
Following the opening statements, there will be a five minute rebuttal by each candidate in the same order of appearance.
Program officials said there would be no carry-over from the statement to the rebuttal. The full five minutes must be used in each instance.
The remainder of the program will be given over to the answering of questions sent into The Charleston Gazette by readers. The questions will be screened and selected the The Gazette Editorial Board.
W. E. Chilton III, assistant to the publisher of The Gazette, and Charles Schussler of WTRF-TV, Wheeling, will ask the questions. Maximum time allowed for an individual answer will be two minutes. Following the answer by the questioned senator, his opponent will be given an opportunity to reply to either the question or his opponent's answer. Time allotted for this will be two minutes.
During the question-answer period, the moderator will act as timekeeper.
By Herb Little
AP Staff Writer
PARKERSBURG - AP - Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn) Monday urged Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass) "to take a firmer hand in his camp," which he said was going in for "penny ante, two-bit gutter politics."
At a news conference held on the start of another one of his swings through West Virginia, Humphrey gave a tongue-lashing to what he called the "paid hirelings," but dissociated their maneuvers from the man for whom they are working.
"I think Sen. Kennedy is much better than the things his people have been saying," Humphrey continued. "Some of these are unbecoming a good man like Jack."
He said he wanted it known that he has a high regard not only for his opponent but for his opponent's numerous and well-known family as well. "They are some of the finest citizens in the country," Humphrey said.
The latest exchange of accusations in the West Virginia presidential primary campaign came over the endorsement of Humphrey by the state Teamsters council.
Kennedy read into this support interference by Jimmy Hoffa, president of the national union, and said he was "sure that the people of West Virginia are not going to let Hoffa determine who should be the Democratic nominee for President."
Humphrey refused to apologize for the Teamster support and at the same time insisted it had nothing to do with Hoffa.
He called the endorsement by the 7,000-member union in West Virginia "a signal honor" and said he hoped that it would be followed by "the rest of the labor movement. Loyalty to one's friends is the first principle of good politics."
Humphrey said flatly that the president of the Teamsters here "doesn't take orders from Jimmy Hoffa."
After going over his position on the union, Humphrey turned to the bigotry issue, raised by Kennedy's Roman Catholicism.
He said that Kennedy's people saw no bigots in West Virginia after an early poll which showed their man leading by a good margin. Then, he said, when a second poll indicated a close race, "all of a sudden they began seeing ugly things...there was intolerance and ignorance."
Press headquarters for out-of-state journalists covering the debate between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey will be set up in The Gazette offices at 210 Hale St.
Television sets will be provided on the first floor of the building. No one, except the program participants, will be allowed in the WCHS-TV studio from which the program is to emanate.
The Gazette offices are located directly across the street from the Western Union office.
For information, contact James F. Dent, Gazette promotion manager, at Dickens 2-6161.
Oak Hill - Fayette County Kennedy for President Committee will sponsor a public reception and rally for Sen. John F. Kennedy at 4:30 p. m. Thursday here.
Members of the reception committee include Robert J. Thrift Jr.; Mrs. A. M. Gray, John Marra and H. A. Becklenheimer, all of Fayetteville; Benedict Teano, Mrs. Sam Price, Robert Kelly Jr., Mrs. Irene Johnson and Mrs. William Klapp, all of Oak Hill.
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