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Title: America in search of itself: The making of the President, 1956-1980 by Theodore Harold White ISBN: 0-446-37559-4 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 1983 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: A superb look back at recent American political campaigns
Comment: Theodore H. White (1915-1986), who was once described by TIME magazine as the "godfather of modern political reporting", spent some twenty years (1960-1980) covering presidential politics. After each campaign White would publish a book on his adventures and observations among the candidates and events he covered. This series of books - the "Making of the President" series, earned White a Pulitzer Prize and national fame as a leading commentator on national politics. During these years White came to know, or at least meet, most of the great politicians of the era - from President Eisenhower to the Kennedy brothers (whom he idolized, to great criticism from younger journalists and historians) to big-city bosses and Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. During these years White gradually moved from being a committed liberal Democrat to a more conservative (although not necessarily pro-Reagan or pro-Republican) stance. In "America In Search of Itself" White attempts to sum up what he discovered during these years not only about our political system and the politicians who run it but about the American people as well. In some ways this is a pessimistic book about the decline of American power and economic strength from the golden fifties to the deep recessions and job layoffs of the late 1970's. White often mourns the passing of the stability and self-confidence that he thought existed in the Eisenhower Fifties and the Kennedy Presidency. Of course, White had no way of knowing that America would recover its power and economic strength in the eighties and nineties, so in this sense the book's pessimism may seem dated to some readers. However, White (as always) also offers a brilliant description of how television completely changed American politics, and of how the breakup of the big-city Democratic "machines" (however corrupt they may have been) paved the way for the eventual breakup of the Democratic Party in the late seventies and eighties, (until a guy named Bill Clinton pulled it together again). White writes eloquently of the long-ago 1956 presidential campaign, when our political system seemed much simpler and more exciting, if also less fair to women and racial minorities. White writes that from 1956 to 1980 the control of our political system was taken out of the hands of the "professional politicians" (the big-city mayors, Governors, and Congressmen) and placed in the hands of advertising executives who could make effective TV Commercials, and crusading idealists (feminists, environmentalists, pro-and-anti abortionists, etc.) who came to dominate the primaries which now choose the presidential candidates of both parties. The final section of the book is a description of the 1980 presidential campaign between Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Jimmy Carter. As always, White's observations about this campaign are usually on-target and eloquent, if also more harsh and negative than his earlier "Making of the President" books. The impression White gives is that our political system was on the wrong track in the early eighties, and that the "simpler" political system that existed in the 1950's was better. However, White offers no real solutions for how to reform the current system, and perhaps, given how things have turned out since this book was published in 1982, it's better that the system wasn't changed. Overall, this book is a "must" for anyone who's interested in recent American history and politics.
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Title: The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore H. White ISBN: 1568491433 Publisher: Buccaneer Books Inc Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $45.95 |
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Title: The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor ISBN: 0316626597 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Electing the President, 2000: The Insiders' View by Kathleen Jamieson, Paul Waldman ISBN: 0812218027 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Decline of American Political Parties 1952-1996 by Martin P. Wattenberg, Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674194357 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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Title: America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President 1956-1980 by Theodore Harold White ISBN: 0446370983 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1988 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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