The joint appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” by Democratic doyenne Eleanor Roosevelt and Senator Margaret Chase Smith, Republican of Maine, on Nov. 4, 1956, is widely regarded as the first televised presidential debate.

More than a decade after the death of her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt remained an influential figure in the Democratic Party and a prominent ally of Stevenson, the former governor of Illinois who had run against Eisenhower four years earlier. Smith had made national headlines in 1950 when she delivered a “declaration of conscience” on the Senate floor denouncing the anti-communist tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin, earning praise and sparking speculation that she could become a vice-presidential candidate.

Roosevelt blamed the Eisenhower administration for failing to act to prevent the burgeoning Mideast conflict. “We did not move soon enough,” she said. “We were partly held back by our oil interests. But these things don’t happen overnight. They build up. And I think anyone who has watched the situation in the Middle East growing has been longing to see some kind of constructive action on the part of the administration.”

Smith succinctly defended the administration’s handling of the crisis. “I think President Eisenhower has done his level best to get Israel to quiet down, to have Egypt go along in a peaceful way,” she said. Asked by Chicago Daily News diplomatic correspondent Peter Lisagor whether the US leadership could have prevented war in the Middle East, Smith responded, “No, I don’t think it could have.” Smith’s brevity was strategic. She wrote in her autobiography that she and longtime aide Bill Lewis settled on a plan to highlight her contrasts with Roosevelt whenever possible. [...] When it was her turn, Smith took the gloves off. She cited her record of opposing the smear tactics employed by McCarthy against Democrats and offered a pointed defense of Eisenhower.

“When Senator Smith reached over to shake hands with Mrs. Roosevelt, the first lady pulled away, turned her back, and said to her companions as she walked away, ‘Did you hear what she said?’” Lewis wrote in an editor’s note in Smith’s autobiography.

i thought about labeling this baddass. Anyway, there is more in the article. It's interesting the TV execs wanted to skip their closing arguments.