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When President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump debate each other on Thursday, they will be continuing a tradition that started in the United States over 60 years ago.

The first televised presidential debate took place on September 26, 1960, when US Sen. John F. Kennedy faced off against Vice President Richard Nixon. It was one of the most-watched broadcasts in US history. More than 66 million people watched out of a population of about 180 million.

"I don't think it's overstating the fact that, on that date, politics and television changed forever," said Bruce DuMont, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and former president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. "After that debate, it was not just what you said in a campaign that was important, but how you looked saying it."

The two men would take part in three more debates before the election, which Kennedy won. Debates did not take place again until 1976. Since then, there have been debates in every presidential cycle.

The Biden-Trump debate will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and it will take place in the network’s Atlanta studios with no audience present — an anomaly in debates between presidential candidates.

This will also be the earliest presidential debate in US history. Debates between general election candidates have always started in September or early October.

Students at the State University of New York at Albany crowd a dormitory lounge to watch a presidential debate between Jimmy Carter and President Gerald Ford in 1976. The Carter-Ford debates were the first since Kennedy-Nixon.

Jerry Mosey/AP

Ford watches his wife, Betty, write a note to Carter before their third debate in 1976. In her note, she wished Carter luck. Debate officials later removed the note and hand-delivered it to Carter.

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Supporters of independent candidate John B. Anderson march outside the Cleveland Convention Center in 1980, protesting the debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan because Anderson was not invited. Anderson had taken part in an earlier debate with the two men.

Carter, left, and Reagan stand at their lecterns during their debate in Cleveland in 1980. It was this debate where <a href="index.php?page=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2FALLPOLITICS%2F1996%2Fdebates%2Fhistory%2F1980%2Findex.shtml">Reagan famously asked Americans</a>: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

Carter, left, and Reagan stand at their lecterns during their debate in Cleveland in 1980. It was this debate where Reagan famously asked Americans: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

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Hundreds of journalists watch the Carter-Reagan debate from the Cleveland Convention Center, which was next door to the Music Hall where the debate was taking place.

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Reagan and his 1984 challenger, Walter Mondale, are congratulated by family members after their second presidential debate.

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Vice President George H.W. Bush speaks during his first presidential debate with Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Dennis Cook/AP

Bush looks at his watch during a town hall-style debate with Ross Perot, right, and Bill Clinton in 1992. It became a memorable footnote in his loss to Clinton later that year. Where Clinton was engaged with the audience, Bush appeared ready to check out.

Ron Edmonds/AP

Clinton and Bob Dole debate each other at the Bushnell Memorial Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1996.

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Monica Moorehead, a presidential candidate from the Workers World Party, disrupts a presidential debate in Washington, DC, in 1996. She and her supporters walked in front of the participants and complained about her exclusion.

Joe Marquette/AP

Clinton is shown some poll numbers by Mark Penn as he prepares for a debate in San Diego in 1996.

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Lorenzo Alvarez is joined by his wife, Angelica, and their three children as they watch the first presidential debate between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore in 2000. The couple, which lived on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, was still undecided about which candidate they would vote for.

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From left, Bush, moderator Jim Lehrer and Gore look up during a technical issue at the start of a debate in 2000.

Ron Edmonds/AP

Bush's shadow is seen near challenger John Kerry during a debate in 2004.

Gerald Herbert/AP

Barack Obama, right, and John McCain shake hands at the start of a presidential debate in 2008.

Charles Dharapak/AP

Obama is reflected in Mary Jackson's eyeglasses as she watches his first presidential debate with Mitt Romney in 2012.

Joseph Kaczmarek/AP

Obama hugs his wife, Michelle, as Romney kisses his wife, Ann, after their third presidential debate in 2012.

David Goldman/AP

Workers at Hofstra University prepare the stage for a presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Hempstead, New York, in 2016. A record 84 million people watched the debate.

David Goldman/AP