Read more
Zusatztext “A candid account of the Kennedy/Nixon campaign.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer “Fascinating . . . The personalities are vividly and vigorously sketched—the workers! the volunteers! the hatchet men! the pros and . . . key figures on the barnstorming tour.” — Kirkus Reviews “Instructive . . . Anti-Catholicism was not just a Southern problem. In Pennsylvania! accounts of increasing anti-Catholicism were widespread. No one documented this sentiment more clearly than famed Pennsylvania novelist James Michener.” — The Morning Call (Allentown! Pennsylvania) Informationen zum Autor James A. Michener Klappentext James A. Michener! the acclaimed author of sweeping historical blockbusters! chronicles his personal involvement in one of the most dramatic elections of the twentieth century: the presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. A relative newcomer to politics! Michener served as the Democratic chairman in his native Bucks County! Pennsylvania! in a rural battleground precinct where the major controversies of the day-notably Kennedy's Catholicism-brought cultural divides to the forefront. First published shortly after the 1960 election! Report of the County Chairman remains an intimate! gripping account of the power of grassroots political involvement. Praise for Report of the County Chairman "A candid account of the Kennedy/Nixon campaign."-The Philadelphia Inquirer "Fascinating . . . The personalities are vividly and vigorously sketched-the workers! the volunteers! the hatchet men! the pros and . . . key figures on the barnstorming tour."-Kirkus Reviews "Instructive . . . Anti-Catholicism was not just a Southern problem. In Pennsylvania! accounts of increasing anti-Catholicism were widespread. No one documented this sentiment more clearly than famed Pennsylvania novelist James Michener."-The Morning Call (Allentown! Pennsylvania) Since it seems likely that the 1960 Presidential election will long remain a matter of speculation for historians, I think it might be of interest to have a factual record of the reflections of a citizen who found himself involved in the campaign at the precinct level. The comments that follow are as honest as I can make them and they provide a chart of the alternate hopes and fears with which I followed the course of John F. Kennedy to the Presidency. The second time I met Kennedy was in Hawaii in the early summer of 1959 during the islands’ first political campaign under statehood. At that time I was arguing with myself as to whether or not I should become involved in that highly emotional Hawaiian election, and in a mood of both uncertainty and apprehension I accepted an invitation to a Democratic dinner at which the main speaker was to be the visiting senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy. All I can remember of his address was that he quoted most aptly from some of the major documents of American history, and also from some extremely obscure ones, and I recall thinking casually, “It would be nice to have in the White House someone who knows books.” Later, in the reception line, I slipped past the young senator unnoticed, but someone whispered in his ear, “That’s Michener, the writer,” and quickly he stepped forward to catch my disappearing arm, and said most engagingly, “I hoped you would be here. I’ve always liked your Fires of Spring.” I am sure that the wise whisperer at the senator’s elbow had forewarned him that I might be passing through the line, and that I might just possibly prove helpful in lining up Hawaii’s delegates to the Democratic convention, then less than a year away. But I doubt if the whisperer could have prompted him to recall so obscure a book as The Fires of Spring. As graciously as an author can, when one of his older children is remembered affectionately, I...
