In this engaging book, Gary A. Donaldson tells the story of Kennedy versus Nixon with a sharp eye for the salient political developments and a keen sense of the drama of an election that was unlike any other the nation had experienced. The election of 1960 was an orchestrated political drama, organized as a sweeping campaign from coast to coast and staged for a national television audience. This made it the first modern campaign in which the television media changed the dynamics of presidential politics and in which photographs, charisma, and direct appeals to voters counted as they never had before. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

There will be no serious dispute about this book's basic, and frequently repeated, argument that the 1960 election was the first modern presidential election, principally because of the centrality of the nation's very first televised debates. Nor will any of the details about which the author writes be new to knowledgeable readers. But what Donaldson (Liberalism's Last Hurrah: The Presidential Campaign of 1964) does achieve is to gather everything about that pivotal election season in a fast-paced, comprehensive tale. He brings the day's leading historical characters alive in all their complexity, diversity and skills. Sympathetic to them yet objective about their strengths and weaknesses, he lets contemporaries do the criticizing in their own words while he observes them from above the fray all, save John Kennedy, making their way through the usual political thickets to defeat. Donaldson is particularly good at analyzing the divisions within the two major parties, especially those of the Republicans, and in assessing the role of religion in the campaign. One comes away with a heightened appreciation of Nixon's clarity of understanding, Kennedy's distinctive energy and the origins of the right's grievances, which eventually led to its takeover of the Republican Party. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

These books depict low points in Richard Nixon's political career: his loss of the presidency to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and a 1977 televised recounting of the Watergate scandal, which had driven him from office three years earlier. Donaldson (Truman Defeats Dewey) presents his third excellent investigation of a post-World War II presidential election. Television's importance in creating and spreading the candidates' images and messages, the daily use of air travel, and the elevation of primaries, rather than conventions, as the way to choose candidates all contributed to making the 1960 contest the first modern campaign, claims Donaldson. The author covers both the Nixon and the JFK campaigns concisely and informatively, presenting the many highs and lows of each. JFK's razor-thin win was an immediate victory for the Democrats, but his election set the stage for Nixon's victory in 1968 and the emergence of the conservative-dominated modern Republican Party. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries."If the president does it, that means that it is not illegal" is one of the most notorious Nixon quotes that surfaced during the David Frost interviews with Nixon, which enthralled the American public in 1977. Reston (Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition and the Defeat of the Moors) was hired by Frost, the celebrity British TV broadcaster, in 1976 to provide the background information on Watergate for the interviews. Nixon agreed to the sessions for $1 million; the 28 hours of tapings were boiled down to four 90-minute programs. Approximately 45 million viewers one-third of the U.S. adult population watched the Watergate interview, during which, as Reston dramatically recounts, Nixon came as close as he ever did to apologizing for his role in the cover-up. Reston originally wrote this book in 1977 but stuck it away, only to fish it out recently to give to playwright Peter Morgan, whose Frost/Nixon, currently on Broadway, is based on this work. Reston's brief but insightful account is recommended for public libraries. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gary A. Donaldson is professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Preface	vii
Chapter 1 The "Modern Republicanism" of Eisenhower and the GOP Split in the Fifties	1
Chapter 2 The Democrats Endure the Eisenhower Years	19
Chapter 3 Kennedy and the Liberals	37
Chapter 4 The Democrats Slug It Out in the Primary Season	45
Chapter 5 Waiting for Nixon	61
Chapter 6 The Conventions	71
Chapter 7 Campaign One	93
Chapter 8 The Great Debates	109
Chapter 9 Campaign Two	127
Chapter 10 Epilogue and Analysis	149
Endnotes	163
Bibliography	187
Index	193
About the Author	199

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