The 1960 debate between presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy was a seminal moment in the history of politics on television, and hunger played a central role in the debate. In his opening statement, Kennedy referred to his campaign tour of Appalachia, where he witnessed hunger and joblessness in the Coal Country of West Virginia. He cited the region as a symbol of all the poor and working people left out of the purported prosperity of the Eisenhower-Nixon years.