The Making of the President 1968

Fülszöveg

The Making of the President—1968
is the third of Theodore H. White's narrative histories of American poHtics in action, and it tells the story of the year in which American politics came unhinged. It was a year in which 16,511 Americans died in Vietnam, "and the year closed as it began with America as powerless to make peace as she was to impose victory." It was a year "when the distant enemy on the battlefields seemed less menacing to millions of Americans than their fellow countrymen at home." It was a year which saw Richard M. Nixon elected President to face a crisis equal in magnitude to Lincoln's in 1860 or Roosevelt's in 1932.
'In 1968, it was as if the future
waited on the first of each month to deliver events completely unforeseen the month before. Thus, on January 1st of 1968, no one could foresee the impact of the Tet offensive at the end of the month. On February 1st, no one could forecast the student invasion of New Hampshire or the withdrawal of George Romney. On... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The Making of the President—1968
is the third of Theodore H. White's narrative histories of American poHtics in action, and it tells the story of the year in which American politics came unhinged. It was a year in which 16,511 Americans died in Vietnam, "and the year closed as it began with America as powerless to make peace as she was to impose victory." It was a year "when the distant enemy on the battlefields seemed less menacing to millions of Americans than their fellow countrymen at home." It was a year which saw Richard M. Nixon elected President to face a crisis equal in magnitude to Lincoln's in 1860 or Roosevelt's in 1932.
'In 1968, it was as if the future
waited on the first of each month to deliver events completely unforeseen the month before. Thus, on January 1st of 1968, no one could foresee the impact of the Tet offensive at the end of the month. On February 1st, no one could forecast the student invasion of New Hampshire or the withdrawal of George Romney. On March 1st, no one could forecast the entry of Robert Kennedy into the race, or Lyndon Johnson's withdrawal on March 31st. On April 1st, no one could foresee the assassination of Martin Luther King, or the riots that followed, or Rockefeller's entry into the race. On May 1st, no one could foresee Robert Kennedy's stunning victories in the primaries of Indiana and Nebraska, or his defeat in Oregon-or foretell the course of negotiations in Paris. On June 1st, no one could foresee the assassination of Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles____"
(continued on back flap)
(continued from front flap)
And so on through the political
calendar: Rockefeller's last grand flourish in Presidential politics, and his understanding with Ronald Reagan, defeated at Miami by Nixon's long-range planning and preparation. The bloody climax of the year's politics in the streets of Chicago, while Hubert Humphrey, isolated from reality in liis hotel suite, waited for nomination. The campaign, in which three smalltown boys—Nixon, Humphrey, Wallace—offered leadership to an America perplexed as never before. The secret negotiations that led to the halt in the bombing of North Vietnam— and the secret attempt to sabotage the negotiations. The cliffhanger election—"a negative landslide in which Americans turned against the whole set of Democratic policy and leadership of the previous four years—but could not make up their minds in which new direction they would move." And, finally, the new President taking up the reins of power and surveying the problems he must solve.
"Events lead a double life,"
says Theodore H. White, "and the appearance of events in politics is as important as their reality." No one excels Mr. White in capturing the appearance of events in full immediacy and excitement, and no one equals him in illuminating the reality underneath.
Vissza