David Pietrusza, 1960--LBJ Vs. JFK Vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies Quotes
A lot of people here some South in your mouth, and they automatically think you're dumb. They think if you talk funny, you are funny. – Lloyd Hand
For Jack Kennedy, who only made campaigning LOOK easy, it was, in fact, anything but.
JFK had a way of grabbing grandeur from mishap.
As the pace of the campaign quickened, politics began to clash with Kennedy's innate sense of responsibility. – Arthur Schlesinger
Be civilized. Grudges are for Neanderthals. – Hubert Humphrey
In front of an audience of Protestant clergy, the Catholic JFK "was drawing strength from his vulnerability.
Jack and Bobby Kennedy were too young, too attached to real family to transfer affection and loyalty to those that of their blood or region or upbringing.
JFK had to act before his fragile body betrayed him.
No matter what office LBJ assumed he lifted greater than when he found it.
The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise and they have been spoiled with abuse. – Calvin Coolidge
Jousting with an obvious hoodlum couldn't hurt.
Jack had an actor's control." Chuck Spalding
While JFK had made the sale on a political level, he had not yet completed it on an emotional one.
What we saw in Richard Nixon's face was the panic in his soul. – Richard Goodwin
Jack Kennedy protected a mature and presidential image – tough, yet not unduly combative.
The author's alliterative description of politics since the 1960 presidential debates: "Government by Gotcha".
Henry Cabot Lodge was like medicine, good for you, but hard to take. – Teddy White
Eisenhower on LBJ: "He hadn't got the depth of mind nor the breath vision to carry great responsibility.
Nixon wanted view and advice brought to him through intermediaries. He wanted information filtered as it came to him – and he wanted his filters to filter his will back to those whom he must direct.
Richard Nixon coveted, to the point of obsession, a controversy-free, stage-managed coronation.
Nixon was by nature a excluder. Halderman like to exclude people. When Nixon's need met Halderman's abilities, you had the most perfect formula for disaster. – Jim Shepley
John F. Kennedy responded, as he often did when at his best, skillfully mixing dollops of wit with, self-deprecation, and the principle of not-really-going-near-the-question.
Organizing a coup was not the same as wanting one.