Author Description

What is an American presidential election? "The most awesome transfer of power in the world, the power to marshal & mobilize, the power to send men to kill or be killed, the power to tax & destroy, the power to create & the responsibility to do so, the power to guide & the responsibility to heal all committed into the hands of one man." These words, written by Theodore H. White in the opening chapter of this classic book, are as true today as when they were written nearly a half-century ago. White's unprecedented examination of crucial campaign, in which the young & charismatic John F. Kennedy squared off against the seasoned vice president, Richard M. Nixon, is both a fascinating historical document & a compelling narrative of character & consequence. The distinguished reporter's detailed appreciation of the instinct & experience that shape the political process is a revelation in our current age of sound bites, relentlessly chattering punditry, & the all-consuming influence of tv, an influence first felt in the Kennedy-Nixon debates that proved to be a critical factor in the 1960 election. Following seven candidates from the earliest stirrings of aspiration thru the rigors of the primaries, the drama of the conventions & the grueling campaigning that culminated in one of the closest electoral contests in our nation's history, White provides a valuable education in the ways & means of our political life. The Making of the President 1960 is an extraordinary document, a celebration of the genius of American democracy & an anatomy of the ambition, cunning & courage it demands from those who seek its highest office. For what it can teach us about the forces that determine the destiny of presidential candidates, it remains required reading today. Theodore H. White was born in Boston in 1915. After his Harvard graduation, he was recruited by John Hersey to cover E. Asia for Time, becoming chief of its China Bureau in 1945.