1960 was a starting point for a volatile era in American politics. Presidents for the next fourteen years would seek the office that year. The young buds of change in how the political parties nominated their candidates and how campaigns were conducted were beginning to show. Pietrusza captures those changes and the prominent personalities that experienced them.
Lyndon Johnson vs John Kennedy vs Richard Nixon and More
Pietrusza's book is more than LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon. Like his earlier work, 1920, 1960 has a full cast of characters involved in the election. The past tried to cling on to relevance. Former two-time Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson toyed with another campaign run, supported by Eleanor Roosevelt. Harry Truman added his cantankerous two cents worth by backing Kennedy only because he hated Nixon more than Kennedy's father. President Dwight Eisenhower was barely involved in the campaign, Nixon wanting to distance himself from unpopular Eisenhower policies.
But the future was waiting in the wings. The beginnings of a conservative groundswell for 1964 nominee Barry Goldwater took shape at the Republican Convention of 1960. Nelson Rockefeller's threat to steal that convention forced Nixon to give in to his platform demands to protect his rightful "coronation." On the Democratic side, Robert Kennedy alienated many with his no-holds-barred tactics and 1968 Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey fought tooth and nail against Kennedy money and perhaps mob money in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries.
Primaries and Televised Debates
Those primaries were starting to get more attention in 1960. The old way of choosing the party nominee, national convention delegates were mostly selected by state conventions, with manuevering in smoke-filled rooms by machine bosses, was still in control. However, Pietrusza's depiction of the growing importance of the handful of primaries is fascinating. As the Kennedys pumped money and effort into the primaries, they became grounds for testing the electability and mettle of a candidate.
Another groundbreaking feature of the 1960 campaign was the televised debate. Pietrusza illustrates in great detail the back-and-forth momentum of the four debates. He places you in the studio before the first debate, where you can feel the tension. Kennedy's tanned, confident, good looks registered with voters watching on television as opposed to the tired, ill, and haggard Nixon, whom radio listeners thought had won the debate. After eating milkshakes to fill out his frame, Nixon looked better and won the last three debates, according to critics of the time.
Overall, David Pietrusza's 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon is a very comprehensive look into that election and a glimpse into the changes in presidential politics. Today, the televised debate is an integral part of the campaign and primaries and caucuses reign supreme.
Published by Union Square Press, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-1402761140, ISBN-10: 1402761147
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