Quotes by David Pietrusza

“While JFK had made the sale on a political level, he had not yet completed it on an emotional one.”

“Organizing a coup was not the same as wanting one.”

“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.”

“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”

“Richard Nixon coveted, to the point of obsession, a controversy-free, stage-managed coronation.”

“JFK apparently felt genuine sympathy for his 1960 presidential opponent Richard Nixon. He felt that, with Nixon's frequent shifts in political philosophy and reinventions, he must have to decide wh...”

“The author commented that John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign team worked like a band of brothers, while Richard Nixon's campaign team worked like a band of brothers in law under the direc...”

“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.”

“Eisenhower on LBJ: "He hadn't got the depth of mind nor the breath vision to carry great responsibility.”

“Henry Cabot Lodge was like medicine, good for you, but hard to take. Teddy White”

“There are really two essential things in campaigning. First, you must be in good humor. If you're going to be a raffle, you are to stay home. Second, you are to make sense in your speeches. These a...”

“Eleanor Roosevelt on the changes in John F. Kennedy that led her to drop her opposition to his nomination for president: "He has the qualities of a scholar, and a sense of history. I had the feelin...”

“The author's alliterative description of politics since the 1960 presidential debates: "Government by Gotcha".”

“Jack Kennedy protected a mature and presidential image tough, yet not unduly combative.”

“What we saw in Richard Nixon's face was the panic in his soul. Richard Goodwin”

“In the 1960 campaign, Arthur Schlesinger wrote of Adlai Stevenson, who already lost twice as the party's presidential nominee, "He has been away from power too long; he gives me an odd sense of unr...”

“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”

“Jack had an actor's control." Chuck Spalding”

“Jousting with an obvious hoodlum couldn't hurt.”

“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”