Bill O'Reilly here Friday, September 25, 2020.

You are listening to the O'Reilly update.

Here's what's happening today in America.

The first presidential debate will be held this coming Tuesday night, Cleveland, Ohio.

In all, there will be three presidential debates, but this one is the most important because

people will get to see if Joe Biden is lucid.

And that is the big thing that is holding the former vice president back, whether he has

the mental acuity to do the job as president.

Now the history of American political debates is fascinating and it goes all the way back

to Abraham Lincoln.

In 1858, Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated over who should represent Illinois in the

Senate.

The two held seven formal debates, each lasting three and a half hours.

Douglas ultimately won the seat, but the events gained national attention for Abraham

Lincoln.

About a century later, new technology gave birth to the first modern presidential debate,

and that was the radio.

In 1948, Thomas Dewey and Harold Statson broadcast their views during the Republican Party's

primary season.

The Democrats joined the operation in 1956, eight years later, holding the first televised

contest.

The first general election presidential debate was held on September 26, 1960, between

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