The Making of the President 1960

First edition
Author	Theodore H. White
Subject	1960 United States presidential election John F. Kennedy
Genre	Biography
Publisher	Atheneum Publishers
Publication date	1961
Pages	400

The Making of the President 1960, written by journalistTheodore H. White and published byAtheneum Publishers in 1961,^[1] is a book that recounts and analyzes the1960 election in whichJohn F. Kennedy was electedPresident of the United States. The book won the 1962Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction^[2] and was the first in a series of books by White aboutAmerican presidential elections. (The others areThe Making of the President 1964 (1965),The Making of the President 1968 (1969), andThe Making of the President 1972 (1973).)

The book traces the 1960 campaign from theprimaries (in which Kennedy facedMinnesota SenatorHubert Humphrey andMissouri SenatorStuart Symington) to the conclusion of the general election contest againstRichard Nixon. Much of the narrative is written in an almost novelistic style, describing politicians' looks, voices and personalities; but it also contains thought-provoking discussions of various trends in American life and politics.

The Making of the President 1960 was a huge success, staying on the best-seller list for more than 40 weeks. Critics and journalists hailed it as a new way of looking at its subject. It had a huge impact onpolitical reporting and even onAmerican politics itself. As White noted, it was an up-close look at a leader under the pressure of circumstances.^[3] Its literary-journalistic approach brought a dramatic point of view on the world of politics and its strategies, victories and defeats. One chapter was devoted to detailing the reasons behind Americans' ways of voting and ways of life.^[4]

White's book, and its successor volumes, inspired a trend toward the production of campaign books and toward a more personality-driven approach to political reporting. White in later years would bemoan the changes he had helped create.^[5]

David L. Wolper produced a film version ofThe Making of the President 1960, which was finished shortly beforePresident Kennedy's November 1963 assassination. It was released without revision.

• The Making of the President 1960 atOpen Library
• Video onYouTube

• 1961 non-fiction books
• American political books
• Books about John F. Kennedy
• Non-fiction books about elections
• Documentary films about John F. Kennedy
• 1963 documentary films
• 1963 films
• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction–winning works
• Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series
• 1960s American films

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