The Making of the President 1972

"The Making of the President 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972" by Theodore H. White

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The story of Watergate was only one of a number of major stories in the election of As it unraveled, it was to become a story of and would fit better, someday when all was known, into a story of the use and abuse of power in a modem state. The elections of were determined, basically, by the record Richard Nixon had written in the understanding of his people—and his chief adversary was not in the understanding of his people—and his chief adversary was not understood and spoke for the people better than he did himself.

On this immediate level of contest, Richard Nixon won. The people preferred Richard Nixon. The Watergate affair is inexplicable m terms of older forms of corruption in American history, where men broke laws for private gain or privilege. The dynamics of its irrationality are compounded further by stupidity. The men involved were involved at a moment, in , when history was moving their way. They were trying to speed it by any means.

They were trying to speed it by any means, that, as history may record, compounds their personal felonies with national tragedy. For it would be no less than national tragedy if men came to regard the election of as fraud; or attempted to reverse the verdict of the people at the polls on the technicalities of a burglary, in a spasm of morality approaching the hysterical.

The Democratic Party, which called itself the party of the future, had become, in their eyes, the party of the past. They turned instead to Richard Nixon, affirming the change of direction he declared he was giving to government—a restraint on the power and reach of the Federal state into daily life.

However his use of the power of state may be defined in the months or years to come, use of the power ot state may be defined in me months or years to come, For this time, they preferred to live their own lives privately—unplagued by moralities, or war, or riots, or violence.

In the alternation of the sequences of American history, in the cycle between poetry and pragmatism, in those generational shifts of mood characteristic of the adventure in democracy certainly the ideas of the minority who voted for McGovern would come into then: Those ideas still stirred in the spirit of the nation.

But until those ideas had new form, new shape, new perspective, the majority of Americans would not be called out to march in their cause. Such was their mandate in An educative read on American history and politics. Jul 23, Hubert Han rated it really liked it. White is often too comfortable in rambling narrative and therefore never really nails his colours to the mast in terms of how rather than when the election was won. A reflective dimension is missing, but it provides an adequate and enjoyable overview of the election. Oct 23, Edward rated it it was amazing. This is probably the best of White's election chronicles.

His coverage of was heavily biased in favor of the Kennedy campaign, and I found both '64 and '68 to be less engaging. In "The Making of the President '72", White's conclusions pretty much stand up to the test of time, and are generally valid today. He makes it clear that McGovern simply was unable to convince the public that he could do a better job than Nixon.

White notes that McGovern's campaign staff ran a brilliant operation in This is probably the best of White's election chronicles. White notes that McGovern's campaign staff ran a brilliant operation in winning the nomination, but forgot that there was a whole "other" Democratic party outside of the convention. They were simply too inexperienced. He alienated the very people who might have been able to have gotten his message across to the rank-and-file, such as Pierre Salinger. Growing up in a rabidly New Deal Democratic household, at the time of the election I fully bought into the charges that the Republicans had engineered McGovern's triumph because they knew he would be "easy to beat".

But as White demonstrates, McGovern won the nomination masterfully, with his hard-charging and fast-reacting staff. The deft management of his floor captains during the convention was awe-inspiring.

Of course, alienating huge blocks of his party didn't help in the long-run, but that is another story. White also correctly noted that McGovern held very strong principles, but in face-to-face encounters, he could be very deceitful.

For example, his treatment of O'Brien and Salinger. McGovern waffled on too many questions, which lost him a great deal of credibility. Eagleton later remarked that if McGovern had simply called him immediately and said that he needed to step down for the good of the party, Eagleton would have done so gladly. Just reading McGovern's outright denial of sending Salinger to Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese gave me shivers, and not good ones!

Lest I be perceived as a McGovern-basher, I'll add that in I was 12 years old, and my family was one of only two in the small Florida town where we lived who supported McGovern. The other was our Episcopalian minister! But I believe that McGovern was simply moving too fast, and was a bit ahead of his time on most social issues.

White says that "The full nature of the Nixon mind was probably known only to three people Kissinger, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman. At the time, I furiously argued with my Republican classmates that "Nixon KNEW" and gave the orders, but as an adult I gradually came to realize that he truly did not.

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This was, in many ways, more terrible, because he strove to coverup something that he himself admitted was "stupid". This bunker mentality destroyed his presidency, and has resulted in the good points of his record, i. Nixon out-liberaled the liberals on many issues, a tactic that Clinton was to successfully repeat against his own opponents much later.

In summation, as White says, Nixon both deserved to win in , and in he deserved to be driven from office. White has been accused of "going soft" on Nixon, but bear in mind that his book was written while the Watergate investigation was still in progress.

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His subsequent book "Breach of Faith" does not hold back any punches. For me the campaign was the most visceral and gripping election of my entire life. Both McGovern and Nixon were fascinating men, who I never tire of reading about. With McGovern's recent death, I felt as if an era has ended. White's "The Making of the President " is a crucial work for people interested in that election or the two protagonists.

McGovern voted for Ford in ! Nov 17, Greg Talbot rated it liked it. Writing the book when two Nixon aide's were on trial, and executive office was stained from Richard Nixon's abdication, White's account of Nixon's shattering success in is remarkable. The book takes us from through the post-war world. The American ideas about the Great Society, the involvment in Vietnam, and the social issues of identity and civil rights. With the exception of Roosevelt, no other president had a larger footprint in politics than Nixon in the last hundred years.

Privacy and Writing the book when two Nixon aide's were on trial, and executive office was stained from Richard Nixon's abdication, White's account of Nixon's shattering success in is remarkable. Privacy and suspicision infected his thought, and the rising tide of liberal press and college campus protests would increae the guardedness.

As White articulates "scar tissue had grown thick by the time of re-election, rigid self discipline" p. And the democratic primary of was as entertaining as the most recent Republician circus of The McGovern strategy, "leapfrog Illinois and roll up the party from the left p. McGovern's identification with the far left, embrace of draft dodgers, and unequivocable call to end the war in Vietnam left him continuially behind Nixon. Even in attempts to add Kennedy to the ticket, and attack the establishmnet, his foothold as a leader to the country never occurred. There are multiple stores here that are really fascinating, the chapter on Tom Eddington as a vice-president selection, selected by the campaign committee on a tiring all-nighter, is insightful into mental health as a campaign story.

John Dickerson's "Whistlestop" episode on this is just fascinating in particular, and shows how McGovern's decision on his VP destroyed his credibility with voters. Also, Nixon's attacks on the Washington Post and New York Times, and the beginning of a fractured worldview in the country forcasts the media landscape today.

The Making of the President, - Wikipedia

And of course the Watergate affair, likened to a mystery novel with less clever intruders. White uses numbers to discuss his story effectively. Commenting on how the daily death reports in Vietnam would effect the nation, or how the beginning of more sophisicated polling data was used in campaigns, all of which shows the beginning of a more data heavy way to take in the world.

Compare to today's rigorous pollings of every issue, and Twitter spectacles, it's quaint, but as White points out, it's a sign of the country's beginning into a few decade. White points out that the is often compared to the campaign of Ideas of the Great Society, and big government initiatives vs state initiatives were central to voters. Attacks on the establishment or by the establishment are as fresh as the latest campaign.

The electorate has just voted again, and there are shades of in the mirror. Like that fractured tulberant time, the dice have been cast, and America has accepted a leader, and time will test our prudence. White's fourth - and final - installment of his Presidential election chronicles. He seemed to have a much better grasp on most of the various and complicated elements of this election than he did on the election. White is especially prescient and forward-thinking on the - at that time - growing disaster that was Watergate the book was written in the spring of In fact, his analysis of the deed and the ramifications that would result from it is very much on the mark.

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Get a free e-book from Book perk. We'd love you to buy this book, and hope you find this page convenient in locating a place of purchase. The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the Web site's homepage. From there you can navigate to the title you are interested in. Interest-specific online venues will often provide a book buying opportunity. Click here for a list of interest-specific sites grouped by category. If you are located outside the U. The Making of the President is the fourth book in Theodore H. White had made history with his groundbreaking narrative The Making of the President , winning the Pulitzer Prize for revolutionizing the way that presidential campaigns were reported.

Thanks for signing up! The Making of the President, , written by journalist Theodore White and published by Atheneum Publishers in , [1] is a book that recounts and analyzes the election in which John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction [2] and was the first in a series of books by White about American presidential elections. The book traces the campaign from the primaries in which John F. Much of the narrative is written in an almost novelistic style, describing politicians' looks, voices and personalities.

But it also contains thought-provoking discussions of various trends in American life and politics. The Making of the President, was a huge success, staying on the best-seller list for more than 40 weeks. Critics and journalists hailed it as a new way of looking at its subject.

It had a huge impact on political reporting and even on American politics itself. As White noted, it was an up-close look at a leader under the pressure of circumstances. One chapter was devoted to detailing the reasons behind Americans' ways of voting and ways of life. White's book, and its successor volumes, inspired a trend toward campaign books and toward a more personality-driven approach to political reporting.

White in later years would bemoan the changes he had helped create. Wolper produced a film version of The Making of the President, which was finished shortly before President Kennedy's November assassination. It was released without revision.

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