The president of the United States, Democrat Joe Biden, and former Republican president Donald Trump face each other this Thursday in the first televised face-to-face of the November 5 elections and will write a new page in the long history of presidential debates in the North American country.

But they have to learn from successes and mistakes made in the most memorable debates of the American elections. These are some keys to surviving a presidential face to face.

Democrat John F. Kennedy arrived tanned and relaxed at the first televised debate in the country’s history, while Republican Richard Nixon underestimated the power of the small screen, did not want to put on makeup and appeared sweaty and uncomfortable.

Those who listened to the debate on the radio gave Nixon as the winner, but the television audience was seduced by the impeccable image and charisma of Kennedy, who ended up winning the elections by a narrow margin.

Democratic President Jimmy Carter agreed to debate only once with Ronald Reagan, but lost to the Republican, who was much more charismatic and close to viewers, with several phrases that would become slogans.

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In a failed attempt to connect with voters, Carter revealed a conversation he had with his 13-year-old daughter Amy, in which she told him that her biggest concern was nuclear disarmament. The president was ridiculed and caricatured for leading national security based on what his minor daughter told him.

At 73, Reagan was then the oldest president in the country’s history, far from Biden’s 81 or Trump’s 78, and many questioned his ability to continue governing the country, but in the second debate with Walter Mondale he turned the criticism around with a joke that catapulted him towards re-election.

When the moderator asked him if he had the necessary resistance to handle a national security crisis, he replied ironically: “I will not make age a central issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit my opponent’s youth and inexperience for political purposes.”

In 1992, the first debate was held with questions from the public, but that appointment is remembered because the cameras captured President George H. W. Bush looking at his watch to see the time, reflecting that he was uncomfortable about the more loquacious performance of Democrat Bill Clinton, who would become president.

Non-verbal language also played a trick on Democratic Vice President Al Gore in 2000, since in the first debate he sighed several times while George W. Bush spoke and in the third he approached the Republican candidate in an intimidating way, causing the mockery of the public.

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Republican Mitt Romney attacked President Barack Obama in 2012 for the reduction of Navy ships compared to 1917 and he responded with a snoas: “We also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our Army has changed. We have things called aircraft carriers, where planes land, and ships that dive, called nuclear submarines.”

The phrase “horses and bayonets” went viral, something that the campaigns will also look for this year, aware of the power of social networks and memes when it comes to amplifying blundrums or verbal slash.

Thursday will not be the first time that Trump and Biden debate in front of the cameras, since they already had two face-to-face in the 2020 elections, in the midst of an unusual campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first of the debates is remembered for Trump’s constant interruptions to Biden, which exhausted the patience of the Democrat, who said to the then president: “Do you want to shut up, man?”

The teams of both have agreed that during the next debate only the microphone of the candidate who has the turn of speaking will be turned on to avoid interruptions.

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