As the nation turns its eyes to Election Day, Nov. 7, Americans are reminded to get out and vote. The Library’s exhibition, “Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock” features original drawings and sketches by Herbert Block, the famed Washington Post editorial cartoonist who spent his life’s work questioning American politics. The Library maintains many other of its exhibits online, allowing patrons to view treasures in its vast collections.

Oct. 21 marks the culmination of the 1960 “Great Debates” between Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy. Often compared to the famous 1858 debates in the senatorial campaign between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the series of four presidential were the first ever televised. Were the “Great Debates” significant? Pollsters estimated that approximately 3.4 million voters made their choice of party candidate on the basis of the debates alone. The milestone event thrust the broadcasting media into a central role in the American political process.

For more debates, see the Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution in the collection A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation. These debates, compiled by Jonathan Elliot in the mid-nineteenth century, document the period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention and the opening of the First Federal Congress. Delegates from each state would debate the contents of the Constitution which would take effect when ratified by the conventions of nine of the thirteen states.