The Making of the President 1960

The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore White, a senior journalist for Time magazine, was a runaway bestseller and winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction. In the book, White covers the presidential campaigns from their genesis in small rooms through the primary campaigns through the general election and to the vast public stage of election night.

In reading the book, one is struck by how much has changed in American politics over the last 48 years. First, there weren't nearly as many primaries as there are today. Much of the manuevering to gain the candidacy was still controlled by the state political machines and their financial backers. Second, this was the election that determined that a Catholic could win in a national election in an overwhelmingly Protestant United States. Third, civil rights was an enormous issue and Northern black voters became a tremendously important voting bloc. Fourth, the "New South" was continuing to fracture away from the Democratic party, largely because of the civil rights issue. This was to culminate in Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in 1968 which, arguably, won him the presidency in that election. In the 1960 election it appeared that one could appeal to the northern, urban black vote or the Southern vote, but not both. The Kennedy-Johnson ticket was able to successfully do both, where not having a southerner on the ticket, Nixon-Lodge could probably not have. Fifth, the amount of money spent by the campaigns, even adjusting for inflation, was miniscule compared to the fortunes poured into the current political campaigns. Sixth, and not least, this was the election where television came into its own as an integral piece of the American electoral process.

Looking at the electoral map of the few most recent presidential elections and comparing them to the 1960 map, the differences are stunning. Instead of the South being a Republican stronghold, it was a Democratic stronghold. California went Republican. Texas went Democratic. New York was actually in play (despite eventually going Democratic).

White does an excellent job of analyzing the racial, ethnic, and religious divides in the American body politic during the 1960 campaign. Further, his examination of the sectional differences (farm belt, New England, industrial midwest, et al.), is outstanding.

In the end, Kennedy won a substantial electoral vote victory while managing only a miniscule win in the popular vote. Obviously, all the factors above played into this. Ultimately though, White argues, that it was Kennedy's strategy to play for the big states and have Johnson marshal the south that won him the presidency. He also believes that Nixon's lack of strategy and strategic failures (not deciding early enough whether to go for the northern black vote or the southern vote, not bringing Eisenhower into the campaign enought, etc.) may have been decisive as well.

In all, The Making of the President 1960 is a top-notch book that is well-deserving of its laurels. The only fault I found with the book is that it does tend to be a bit of a Kennedy hagiography. It's very clear that White had great respect and admiration for Kennedy and I think that colors the reporting in the book. However, don't misunderstand me, White brings the campaign of both camps to life and does highlight the things that Nixon did well. In sum, this is a great book to read, especially in an election year.