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Frank StantonFrank Stanton
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Chicago. And that was an interesting experience. Because I was so deeply involved in getting the debates established, I went out to Chicago to look behind the scenes on the arrangements for the studio and the handling of the candidates. That first debate in 1960 was the first time in modern history that the two candidates, the two leading candidates for the Presidency, were under the same roof, except for the Cardinal's dinner at the Waldorf. I believe that it's traditional for the two candidates to appear there, but there's no debate. That's a different thing entirely. This was at a time when there was a lot of trouble in Chicago, political and labor. There were questions about the role of Mayor [Richard J.] Daley and the whole convention coverage at that convention which was held in Chicago. I wanted to go out to see how we could keep the forces, so-called, separate, and have the studio arrangement one that would work over the air, but I didn't know what to expect otherwise. I spent a couple of days out there meddling in the arrangements, really, because they were in competent hands. But the Secret Service was very protective of the candidates. And we made an arrangement, in large measure because of the nature of the building, to bring in the candidates from two sides of the building so that they had separate facilities and we could really divide the building in half, and one could come through one door and one come through another door. In the end, it didn't quite work out that way as far as coming into the building. But the building in question -- I don't know whether you know it or not -- it's the old Riding Academy down by the lake front in Chicago. I had had a hand in buying the building because I wanted a lot of horizontal space for television. And it was set up beautifully for conversion to television. It was, I believe, probably at most a three-story building but maybe only a two. But it covered a lot of the area down by the lake front because there was a riding arrangement in the central part of the complex. You could drive in with trucks and you could drive in with -- in the early days, the horses came in in two sides. So that we could arrange to bring the cars in and deposit the candidates, one on one side and one on the other.





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