Nixon & Rockefeller
A Double Portrait
Published on 7. June 2016
240 pages
978-1-4804-4600-7 (ISBN)
Description
A fascinating analysis of two of the most important figures in 1960s American politics, written during their battle for the GOP presidential nomination.
Richard Milhous Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians in America's history: a California congressman, senator, vice president, and president who was forced to resign his position as US Chief Executive because of his role in the scandalous Watergate affair. Nelson Rockefeller was the scion of a phenomenally wealthy American family and longtime governor of New York State. In 1960 they were the leading contenders to win the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States, one of whom would face the Democratic challenger, Senator John F. Kennedy, in November's general election.
Written by acclaimed journalist Stewart Alsop during the heat of the political race to the Republican Convention, Nixon & Rockefeller provides a revealing, often surprising dual portrait of two giants of twentieth-century American politics. Alsop, an acknowledged Washington, DC, insider and one of the most esteemed political analysts of his era, explores the backgrounds, mindsets, and distinct personalities, as well as the strengths and failings of these two candidates vying for the highest office in the country.
The author's intelligent and insightful views on the nature of a Nixon presidency versus a Rockefeller presidency make for fascinating reading in light of the political outcome that ultimately was and one that might have been.
Richard Milhous Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians in America's history: a California congressman, senator, vice president, and president who was forced to resign his position as US Chief Executive because of his role in the scandalous Watergate affair. Nelson Rockefeller was the scion of a phenomenally wealthy American family and longtime governor of New York State. In 1960 they were the leading contenders to win the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States, one of whom would face the Democratic challenger, Senator John F. Kennedy, in November's general election.
Written by acclaimed journalist Stewart Alsop during the heat of the political race to the Republican Convention, Nixon & Rockefeller provides a revealing, often surprising dual portrait of two giants of twentieth-century American politics. Alsop, an acknowledged Washington, DC, insider and one of the most esteemed political analysts of his era, explores the backgrounds, mindsets, and distinct personalities, as well as the strengths and failings of these two candidates vying for the highest office in the country.
The author's intelligent and insightful views on the nature of a Nixon presidency versus a Rockefeller presidency make for fascinating reading in light of the political outcome that ultimately was and one that might have been.
More details
Person
Stewart Alsop (1914-1974) was a longtime political columnist and commentator on American affairs. A graduate of Yale University, he worked in book publishing until World War II. Rejected by the US Army for medical reasons, he joined the British Army and fought with the King's Royal Rifle Corps in Italy. He transferred to the US Army in 1944 to carry out missions planned by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)-the topic of his book
Sub Rosa, written with OSS compatriot Thomas Braden. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm for his work on wartime missions in France.
From 1945 to 1958, Stewart Alsop was cowriter, with his elder brother Joseph Alsop, of the thrice-weekly "Matter of Fact" column for the New York Herald Tribune. He went on to become the Washington editor of the Saturday Evening Post and wrote a weekly column for Newsweek from 1968 until his death in 1974. His final book, Stay of Execution, traces the years-his last-after his diagnosis with a rare form of leukemia.
From 1945 to 1958, Stewart Alsop was cowriter, with his elder brother Joseph Alsop, of the thrice-weekly "Matter of Fact" column for the New York Herald Tribune. He went on to become the Washington editor of the Saturday Evening Post and wrote a weekly column for Newsweek from 1968 until his death in 1974. His final book, Stay of Execution, traces the years-his last-after his diagnosis with a rare form of leukemia.
Content
- Foreword
- Bloviation
- What Everybody Knows
- What Are They Like?
- Nixon in Crisis
- The Two Rockefellers
- How They Got That Way: Rockefeller
- How They Got That Way: Nixon
- The Case Against
- What Kind of President?
- Appendix
- i A Talk with Nixon
- ii Rockefeller: Dartmouth
- iii Nixon: Whittier High School
- iv Nixon: Whittier College
- v Nixon: Duke University Law School
- About the Author
