“1960 aims to take us deeper into the campaign than Theodore White’s famous The Making of the President, 1960. And it does.”

This is award-winning historian David Pietrusza's hard-edged account of the 1960 presidential campaign, the election that ultimately gave America “Camelot” and its tragic aftermath. It is the story of the bare-knuckle politics of the primaries; the party conventions' backroom dealings; the unprecedented television debates; the hot-button issues of race, religion, and foreign policy—and, at the center of it all, three future presidents: Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon.

“Terrific.”

—Robert A. Caro, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award

“A stirring, hard-edged political saga… An outstanding reexamination.”

—Booklist

“1960 provides new insights into that year’s hard-fought, pivotal election, but, more than that, 1960 is great storytelling—a fascinating, can’t-put-it-down account of how American politics really works.”

—former United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh

“Essential for understanding the political forces that in many ways shaped the world we live in today.”

—David Mark, author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning