The Making of the President 1960

The Pulitzer Prize-winning behind-the-scenes account of the historic Nixon-Kennedy race: “A fascinating story of a fascinating campaign.” —Time

This is the dramatic and groundbreaking chronicle that captured the epic clash between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in the 1960 presidential election, and in the process revolutionized modern political journalism. Granted intimate access to all parties involved, New York Times–bestselling author Theodore White crafted an almost mythic story, from the decisive primary battles to the history-making televised debates, the first of their kind. Portraying both the grittiness and the grandeur of the process, this classic account addresses emerging themes and trends in American politics that carry ripple effects to this day.

“Superb vignettes . . . If this book were merely a campaign report, it could be recommended glowingly on its own terms. But it is more . . . The author sees the campaign as a milestone in ‘the greatest reorientation of American politics since the Civil War.’” —The New York Times



“White, a gifted journalist, takes the cold ashes of a political campaign and injects such a sense of immediacy that we relive the entire race, the whole pattern of the pre-convention months, the grueling struggle in the primaries, the fight for nomination in San Francisco, the fight for the platform in Chicago. A perceptive analysis of the inside story of the campaign told with extraordinary objectivity.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A masterpiece . . . full of deep insights into political power in America and how our democracy works . . . It gripped me from beginning to end as very few books have.” —William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Includes a new foreword by Robert Dallek