I seem to have a thing lately for history books that were written at the time. This study of the 1960 election was published in 1961, and I love how I can read about Kennedy and Nixon without having to think about Kennedy's assassination, Watergate, Vietnam, or anything else that was to happen later. This book is so firmly in the moment, and that's what great about it. It's something of a classic. Whereas now it seems that just about every reporter came out with an instant book about the 2008 election, this was really the first behind the scenes account of a political campaign. It helps that 1960's race was one of the most interesting in history. White had access to all the major players, well, except Nixon himself, but that's understandable. Nixon didn't seem to be talking to anyone.
Speaking of Nixon, from reading this, it doesn't really seem that Kennedy won this election as much as Nixon lost it. Throughout the book, Nixon comes across almost as a sympathetic figure. He never recovered from an infected knee for which he spent part of the fall in the hospital. He forced himself to campaign in all fifty states in an insane schedule that practically destroyed him. That's part of the reason he looked so sick in the debates with Kennedy. He also refused to consult with his staff much of the time, insisting on making decisions without consulting anyone. Some of the odd decisions he made seem to have doomed his campaign, and it feels surprising that he came so close to winning.
White talks a lot about each candidate's all-purpose speech, the one each trotted out at every ordinary campaign stop. Every day, Kennedy would talk about how he wanted to get the country moving again and Nixon would talk about Peace and Prosperity. It made me realize how much tougher it is for candidates these days. With so many of their events on cable news, there must be an incredible pressure to come up with new material each time.
I remember watching Obama and Clinton's primary speeches every week in 2008 and feeling bored because they were saying the same thing each week. Well, they're supposed to do that. Back then, the candidates seemed more like stand-up comedians, using the same trusted material each night and only gradually working in new material.
