The Presidential Debate Commission

League of Women Voters

Sponsored Debates:
1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996

Public debates for the highest office in the land began as ad hoc events developed out of political necessity. Candidates trailing in the polls or confident in their abilities proposed the debates as ways to take advantage of competitors. But as the mass media of radio and television emerged, the debates took on new importance.

One of the earliest presidential debates involved the 1948 Oregon Republican primary. New York Fovernor Thomas Dewey and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen debated outlawing the Communist Party in the U.S. Somewhere between 40 to 80 million listened to the first and only presidential debate to focus on one issue.

Eight years later the first televised presidential primary debate took place in Florida. Adlai Stevenson, former Illinois governor, and Estes Kefauver, former Tennessee senator, debated a range of topics as they competed for the Democratic nod.

When the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates concluded, the power and potential importance of political debates seemed clear, as did the potential dangers of performing poorly. The presidential debate would take 16 more years to emerge again.

When, in 1976, the debates did reappear, the organization leading the charge was the League of Women Voters. Founded in 1920, the league sponsored regular debates between candidates for a variety of offices. The organization had been founded as an outgrowth of the women's suffrage movement, to help 20 million new voters carry out their civic responsibilities. In 1928, half hour debates were broadcast by NBC radio once a week for 10 months preceding the election.

As the League of Women Voters accepted the responsibility of organizing and running the debates, the pressure mounted.

"The moment we announced our criteria for candidate participation, we were fair game for alternative suggestions by political pundits and by the candidates as well," League of Women Voters chair Ruth Hinerfeld wrote in 1980. "We were advised to limit the debates to the major party candidates. We were urged to set a threshold higher -- or lower -- than the 15-percent mark we established for independent or minor party participation."

That year, intense bickering and political maneuvering between the major candidates resulted in one debate between Gov. Ronald Reagan and independent candidate Rep. John Anderson and another between Reagan and President Jimmy Carter.

"We have been disappointed by the major party candidates' reluctance to face the American people," Hinerfeld wrote.

Amidst the controversy over controlling the guidelines, several panels conducted studies about the debates and concluded that an independent debate sponsor should be established. The Commission on Presidential Debates was created in 1987 and in 1988, the League bowed out of its decade of hosting presidential debates.

The debate commission, a bipartisan non-profit organization, accepts no money from the government or political parties, but raises funds from independent sources.

In order to participate in a commission debate, candidates must establish their constitutional eligibility for office, sufficient ballot access to be able to secure an Electoral College majority, and the support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate.

This year there will be three 90-minute presidential debates between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The debates will be held on Oct. 3 at the University of Massachusetts, in Boston; Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Oct. 17 at Washington University in St. Louis. The vice presidential debate will be held Oct. 5 at Centre College in Danville, Ky.