The Making of the President 1964

“[White] revolutionized the art of political reporting.” —William F. Buckley

A national bestseller, The Making of the President 1964 is the critically acclaimed account of the 1964 presidential campaign, from the assassination of JFK though the battle for power between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater. Author Theodore H. White made history with his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the President series—detailed narrative histories that revolutionized the way presidential campaigns were reported. Now back in print with a new foreword by fellow Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, The Making of the President 1964 joins The Making of the President 1960, 1968, and 1972, as well as Theodore Sorensen’s Kennedy and other classics, in the burgeoning Harper Perennial Political Classics series.

Theodore H. White’s landmark Making of the President series revolutionized American political journalism, investing his subject with both epic scope and a fresh frankness about backroom political strategy that was unlike anything that had come before. In this secondvolume of his groundbreaking series, White offers an intimate chronicleof the 1964 campaign for the White House, from the earthshaking tragedy of President Kennedy’s assassination through the battle for power between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater, whose candidacy paved the way for the modern conservative movement. White reports from within both campaigns, bringing to life a turbulent year in America’s history and a furious contest between two tough and seasoned political pros.

“A lively, ringside, blow-by-blow narrative. . . . No matter how carefully you read the newspapers you will find new stories, inside revelations and provocative comments in The Making of the President 1964.” - New York Times

“An extraordinarily illuminating comment on the whole anomalous electoral process that is, in fact, the heartbeat of our democracy.” - Atlantic Monthly

“A searching piece of contemporary history, a book about 1964 and the 20th Century, not just about an election….Portions of Mr. White’s book could be lifted out whole and reset as a short, authoritative account of Lyndon Johnson’s accession to the Presidency and his swift seizure of the Administration.” - New Republic

“Brilliant and devastating . . . represents all that is best in the tradition of great American journalism.” - John Gunther

“A superb balance of compassion, understanding and rigor . . . a buoyant narrative.” - William F. Buckley Jr.

“The book of the year.” - Chicago Tribune

“White unites a novelist’s knack of dramatization and a historian’s sense of significance with a synthesizing skill that grasps the reader by the lapels.” - Newsweek