America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President 1956-1980

The Making of the President #5

by Theodore H. White

In this last of his prize-winning series on American presidential politics, Theodore H. White tells of the dramas that lie behind that transfomation. He reveals how television took over American politics and changed its nature and how it came to undermine all American life.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Presidents, Journalism

465 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 presidential elections.
White became one of Time magazine's first foreign correspondents, serving in East Asia and later as a European correspondent. He is best known for his accounts of two presidential elections, The Making of the President, 1960 (1961, Pulitzer Prize) and The Making of the President, 1964 (1965), and for associating the short-lived presidency of John F. Kennedy with the legend of Camelot. His intimate style of journalism, centring on the personalities of his subjects, strongly influenced the course of political journalism and campaign coverage.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

White, who died in 1986, was well-known for his Making of The President series, which began with his book on the Kennedy-Nixon Presidential race in 1960 and ended with his coverage of the Reagan-Carter battle in 1980. With this 1982 book, which turned out to be White's swan song, he took a look back at all of the elections from 1960 to 1980 as a way to summarize where our country had been and where it seemed to be headed. He declared that with the election of Reagan there looked to be a complete political realignment happening (correct), and lamented the ways in which television and outside money were corrupting influences in our democracy (correct). He also wrote presciently about the ways in which immigration was becoming a huge political time bomb (while I'm thinking out loud, "Oh lord, if you only knew how much worse things would get in 35 years, Theodore White"). White was an old school journalist, and a good one, but much of his language has not aged well-modern readers will wince as White refers to African Americans multiple times throughout as "the blacks" (he also says "the Italians, "the Jews," etc). It's positively cringe-worthy, but also important to keep in mind that such language was simply the vernacular of the time, and not meant as disparagement. He also seemed a bit sexist (I recall Nora Ephron wrote a scathing satire of White sometime in the mid-to-late-70's). But I gave him a bit of latitude as he was an aging Caucasian male in the early 80's - he certainly didn't come across as a neanderthal, but rather a political moderate, quite critical of both parties, jealously maintaining his reporter's impartiality, and possessed of a general level-headedness and some wit. He's likely turning over in his grave at the mess we are in at present, but likely morbidly fascinated as well, wishing he could still take notes. Though somewhat outdated at this point, America in Search of Itself is still a worthy read for political junkies interested in charting our country's rocky course through the decades. I give it three to three-and-a-half out of five stars.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theodore White makes you believe he was on hand for most, if not all, of the major events in America for a quarter of a century -- and he probably was. This book begins with the re-election of Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 and concludes with the first election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Read this and treasure the brilliance that was Theodore H. White.

[Doug]

I haven't read a book by White since 1995-96 and this is reminding me why I loved him so much the last time. The biggest lesson I have received from reading this book is that issues have not changed in 28 years or even 52 years.
Big issues of the past:
-Terrorism
-Falling dollar
-America's position in the world
-Immigration

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3.75 stars -- lots good about it.

A sort-of sequel to White's memoir "In Search Of History" written about 6 years earlier. This book was written after Ronald Reagan's first year as President, trying to determine whether the Reagan election was going to be a change in the proper direction . . . I would really liked to have White or someone like him write the same sort of book NOW.

White's thesis is that America changed during the 1960s and 1970s and not in a good way. Too fractured, too many interest groups, no good presidential leadership since Kennedy, way too much government intrusion into private life. Too much entitlement state! And this coming from a liberal!

Some of this book gets bogged down in the present (at the time), but still good perspective on the country's changes during the 1960s and 1970s.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book the year our daughter was born...found it depressing then. Just re read and find insights of then and now enlightening and hoping a new progressive movement and coalition can truly arise from the ashes of the New Deal.

[GRANT · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Politics as Shakespearean Tragedy.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insight into 2021-2022. A read to understand the path we follow the journey committed to.

[Paul Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Next to "What it Takes," this may be my favorite campaign book, and the best of the "Making of the President" series by White. Not only does it distill the two VERY different Americas of 1956 and 1980, and how various revolutions in socioeconomic statuses, America's languishing economic hegemony, and deep-rooted cynicism warped the nation into one of decline in the 1970s, it goes in-depth in the Eisenhower and Reagan landslides and the various players within. The book reads more like a political/sociological study on the transformation of America in the second half of the 20th century, but the central themes of power and those who seek it dominate throughout as in the prior entries in the series. White concludes with the question on whether 1980 was a transformative election, and history has shown that it was. It was the death knell of the New Deal coalition that instituted Republican dominance in the White House for 20 years, but the questions White raises about America's ideals about what it must ask about itself have yet to be answered. It's too bad White never wrote about the 1976 race and died before he could write about the 1984 campaign, but he left a lasting legacy of engaging political and historical scholarship.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the focus of this history centers on the 1956, Eisenhower v. Stevenson election with a secondary emphasis on the 1980, Carter v. Reagan election. I found the comparisons insightful and really enjoyed how White was able to present so much information organized into a lucid prose style. He was a journalist who had the ability to be at the right place at the right time; he made it look easy.

I wanted to read this book to learn from White's analysis about how Reagan arranged to have the U. S. hostages in Iran released on his inauguration day. I have always suspected that he traded arms to get them back, and to get them back on his first day in office (thereby trumping Carter's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976 as a superior media event). But White didn't offer it. Instead, White seemed pretty harsh on Carter, even skewering him, while Reagan has all the bonhomie. Still, I recommend it for its information and fine prose style.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good analysis of the change in how presidential candidates have shifted their campaign strategies and messages from the 50s to the 1980 election by focusing on capturing as much media attention as possible. This was still in the pre-Internet era (and also cable TV to a large extent). However, White loses a star as especially towards the end he writes with a bit of bitterness and nostalgia for the "good old days", when "the blacks", "the women", and "the ethnics" (his phrasing) did not have as much of an influence in politics as they came to have in the 60s and later--White is critical particularly of Carter's efforts to promote diversity in his administration and place minorities in symbolic posts. Solid read, but read with a big grain of salt.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a look at presidential politics from 1956-1980. The author addresses both the primary process and the major party conventions. He highlights some of the issues that plagued the country during this time period and how each political party addressed them.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

First quarter of the book is more of a valedictory than a summary, but once White gets back to "Making of the President" mode you realize you're reading another of the author's classics on the topic.

[Chase Parsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable history of the road to the Presidency over time...passes the test of time!