Kennedy and Nixon : The Rivalary That Shaped Postwar America (Paperback)

Coming to Congress in 1946, Kennedy, the "Fighting Conservative" and Nixon, the "Pragmatic Liberal" brought with them an innate resentment of the Establishment against which they launched their careers.

In their early days in Congress, Kennedy and Nixon quickly developed a mutual affection and respect, recognizing each other as a "comer." Nixon was the first in his class to move to the Senate in 1950 and the vice-presidency in 1952. During these early years each would be a friend and supporter of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, both because of personal friendship and because of a shared abhorrence of Communism. Kennedy would later deny that he had once delivered a campaign contribution from his father directly to Nixon's office. Robert Kennedy, after working on the Stevenson campaign, cast his vote for Eisenhower and Nixon. Later Joseph P. Kennedy would tell Nixon; "Dick, if my boy can't make it, I'm for you!"

Throughout the 50s, Nixon was the star who was moved to tears at the prospect that Jack was going to die, as he nearly did.

The first rivalry began 1956 when Kennedy made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain the Democratic vice-presidential nomination which would have pitted him against Nixon. The rivalry would intensify and destroy their friendship in the following years.

As 1960 approached, it became apparent that Nixon and Kennedy would go face to face for the prize coveted by both. By now the tide had turned. Now it was Kennedy who appeared healthy and vigorous while Nixon appeared ill and gaunt. Nixon, who had sought and received Jack's warm cordiality, was now met only with cold disregard and contempt. On the issues, Kennedy was able to proceed with the reckless abandon of an outsider, while Nixon was chained to an administration which he could not undermine. While Kennedy and Nixon were both aware of the preparations for the Bay of Pigs, Nixon, while complaining privately about delays in the operation, had to hold his tongue while Kennedy lashed the administration for doing nothing about Castro. In this campaign that Nixon learned that the Kennedys played hard and had the money to win.

With defeat in 1960, Nixon, who had been at the heart of Washington for 14 years, was suddenly out in the cold. Returning to California, he tried to keep his career alive by running for Governor California. This was not just a race for governor. It was a race between Nixon and the President who did not want to face him again. It was a race which Nixon lost in part, he thought, due to the actions of the Kennedys and their allies in the press. After the "Last Press Conference" Nixon appeared to be finished to most, but not to the Kennedys.

Throughout his Presidency, Kennedy was plagued by the realization that he, as leader of the party which even he had attacked for "Losing China", could not afford to lose any territory to the Communists. This may have influenced the coup against Diem, which lead to so much grief in Vietnam.

Over the next year Nixon kept up the pressure on Kennedy with a view to keeping himself on the political playing field. In November, 1963 John F. Kennedy became the unassailable fallen hero who would forever haunt Richard Nixon.

In death, John Kennedy became the hero he could never be in life. Idolized by millions, he became the President against whom his successors would be measured for the rest of the century. The memory of a Camelot, an invention of Jacki Kennedy which had never really existed, would influence the political life of America for decades.

Emerging as the Republican hero of the Congressional gains in 1966, Nixon geared to face LBJ in 1968. To his dismay, it then appeared that a Kennedy would again stand between him and the White House until gunfire, again, intervened. Then the possibility of a Teddy Kennedy candidacy briefly marred Nixon's prospects. Even with no Kennedy on the ticket, Nixon faced the enmity of those who yearned for a restoration and who regarded Nixon as an illegitimate usurper.

Even victory in 1968 could not diminish the specter of JFK. Whenever Nixon faced a public relations failure, he marveled at what the Kennedys got away with. Nixon even tried to emulate the Kennedys in ways that he just could never pull off, while the Kennedy crowd continued to treat Nixon with utter contempt.

As 1972 approached, Teddy Kennedy remained the figure which disturbed Nixon's slumber. Chappaquiddick went a long way toward damaging Teddy's prospects, but still it appeared that he would "get away with it." This book suggests that Watergate was an effort to get information which could be used against Kennedy. It also suggests that the intense Democratic opposition to the War in Vietnam may have been influenced by the Kennedy team's desire to "Get Nixon."

After Nixon's reelection in 1972, it was largely Teddy Kennedy who pushed the move to "Get Nixon" leading., ultimately, to his resignation.

In the end, these intertwined lives had seen two assassinations, one resignation and the destruction of the presidential prospects of another aspirant, as well as disastrous war. The book tells much of why the 60s and 70s shaped up the way they did.

At the end of the book, I felt a bit remorseful that personal ambition destroyed so much that was good in each of them and detracted from the greatness that each could have achieved. But, as a Kennedy advisor remarked, "To be Irish is to know, in the end, that the world will break your heart." That is what it did to these two Irish American politicians and, to an extent, to each of us.