Download PDF Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books
Download PDF Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books
Download As PDF : Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books
The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Kennedy. And so, 1980 became a civil war. It was the last time an American president received a serious reelection challenge from inside his own party, the last contested convention, and the last all-out floor fight, where political combatants fought in real time to decide who would be the nominee. It was the last gasp of an outdated system, an insider's game that old Kennedy hands thought they had mastered, and the year that marked the unraveling of the Democratic Party as America had known it.
Download PDF Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books
"The battle between President Jimmy Carter and Senator Ted Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic Party Presidential nomination is one of the rare instances when a member of the same party as the incumbent President challenged him for the nomination.
Carter and Kennedy were almost completely opposites in personality and background. Author Jon Ward spends the book's first 70 pages discussing their backgrounds and entry into politics. He covers Carter's campaign for president in 1976 and his surprise victory in the next 70 pages.
Few people thought Carter, former governor of Georgia, had any chance of becoming President. Mo Udall was the early Democratic favorite and Carter wasn't taken seriously. But Carter decided to enter every primary and he won the early states. He knocked out George Wallace and gained staying power.
Carter capitalized on the country's disillusionment with Watergate, rising inflation and a slowing economy. He narrowed defeated President Gerald Ford, 40.8 million to 39.1 million in the popular vote and 297 to 240 in electoral votes, making it the closest presidential race since 1916.
Carter was a loner and Washington outsider who refused to court Congress. To boot, he was a micromanager. Many observers felt he was in over his head as President.
When Ted Kennedy announced he would run against Carter for the nomination, Carter said, "I'll whip his ass."
Kennedy had been expected to be Richard Nixon's main opponent in 1972, but that was before Chappaquiddick. As damaging as Chappaquiddick had been to Kennedy's political career, there were still those who felt he could be President.
Carter's famous "malaise" speech in the summer of 1979 was the last straw for Kennedy. In deciding to run for President, Kennedy charged Carter with incompetence and lack of leadership.
Kennedy's campaign, however, was hurt by his disastrous interview with Roger Mudd, who asked the simple question: Why do you want to be President?, the constant topic of Chappaquiddick and his numerous marital affairs. The American public didn't trust Kennedy's judgment.
Despite his poor showing in the primaries and his lack of delegates, Kennedy refused to drop out of the race, irritating Carter. In the end, Kennedy thought he could overtake Carter at the convention, but that didn't happen.
Kennedy reluctantly agreed to support Carter and campaign for him. Kennedy, however, embarrassed Carter on the night he was announced as the Democratic Party candidate by refusing to raise hands with Carter in a sign of unity.
The rivalry between Carter and Kennedy, who didn't like each other, had torn the Democratic Party in two and left Carter vulnerable to Republican challengers. Of course, rising inflation, high interest rates and unemployment, as well as the fact the Iran hostages weren't released while he was President definitely hurt him. Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide, 489 to 49 electoral votes."
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Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books Reviews :
Camelot End Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party Jon Ward 9781455591381 Books Reviews
- Journalist Jon Ward tells the story of how and why the Democratic Party cracked up in the late 1970s through the lens of the Carter-Kennedy fight for the 1980 presidential nomination. The peanut farmer from Georgia and the son of privilege from Massachusetts were on a collision course that began in the early 1970s. Each had an intense dislike of the other at first site.
Ward argues that Kennedy Camelot era ended with the first political defeat of a Kennedy in 1980. Here I beg to differ. Camelot died when Kennedy drove his car off a bridge in 1970 in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts killing Mary Jo Kopechne. As an aside although Ward is technically correct in placing Kopechne from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania but she, in fact, grew up in the suburban New Jersey town of Berkeley Heights since infancy.
The author is very good at describing the give and take of the 1980 campaign. He is especially good at describing the famous Roger Mudd interview of Kennedy where Kennedy couldn’t explain why was challenging the president of his own party and stuttered throughout most of the interview. I had my own experience with Kennedy in 1980 at a rally in Los Angeles. After Kennedy finished speaking he asked for questions and he just happened to call on me. With all of the TV lights on me I asked him what he proposed to do about increasing capital formation. It was not a question he expected from this very liberal audience. After hemming and hawing he brought up the Republican sponsored 10-5-3 depreciation program. Kennedy blew it.
My main quibble of the book is that Ward defines the Kennedy-Carter clash in breaking the Democratic Party. To me that was a proxy war for the real problem. Simply put under the weight of stagflation followed by very high inflation, the Democratic nostrums stopped working coupled with the appearance the Democratic Party became the party of retreat abroad which opened the way for the candidacy of Ronald Reagan. Reagan’s sunny optimism became the antidote for the failed Democratic policies of the 1970s.
I enjoyed reading Ward’s book. It brought back many memories and he put us in the room where the Carter and Kennedy strategies were made in the face of a very fluid political environment. - The first half of this book is rather boring and the text had too many one-sentence paragraphs. The fight at the convention got interesting, so I'm glad i stuck with it. In my opinion, Ted Kennedy's behavior at the convention was reprehensible and it damaged unity in the democratic party. Also, the grand-standing by Ted Kennedy at judge Bork's hearings was disgusting, and it quote "turned congress into a battlefield" [page 306]. How true; and it still resonates today as witnessed by Judge Kavanaugh's hearings. There are some other tidbits that i was unaware of. It's a quick read and a little gossipy but I'm glad i read it.
- The battle between President Jimmy Carter and Senator Ted Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic Party Presidential nomination is one of the rare instances when a member of the same party as the incumbent President challenged him for the nomination.
Carter and Kennedy were almost completely opposites in personality and background. Author Jon Ward spends the book's first 70 pages discussing their backgrounds and entry into politics. He covers Carter's campaign for president in 1976 and his surprise victory in the next 70 pages.
Few people thought Carter, former governor of Georgia, had any chance of becoming President. Mo Udall was the early Democratic favorite and Carter wasn't taken seriously. But Carter decided to enter every primary and he won the early states. He knocked out George Wallace and gained staying power.
Carter capitalized on the country's disillusionment with Watergate, rising inflation and a slowing economy. He narrowed defeated President Gerald Ford, 40.8 million to 39.1 million in the popular vote and 297 to 240 in electoral votes, making it the closest presidential race since 1916.
Carter was a loner and Washington outsider who refused to court Congress. To boot, he was a micromanager. Many observers felt he was in over his head as President.
When Ted Kennedy announced he would run against Carter for the nomination, Carter said, "I'll whip his ass."
Kennedy had been expected to be Richard Nixon's main opponent in 1972, but that was before Chappaquiddick. As damaging as Chappaquiddick had been to Kennedy's political career, there were still those who felt he could be President.
Carter's famous "malaise" speech in the summer of 1979 was the last straw for Kennedy. In deciding to run for President, Kennedy charged Carter with incompetence and lack of leadership.
Kennedy's campaign, however, was hurt by his disastrous interview with Roger Mudd, who asked the simple question Why do you want to be President?, the constant topic of Chappaquiddick and his numerous marital affairs. The American public didn't trust Kennedy's judgment.
Despite his poor showing in the primaries and his lack of delegates, Kennedy refused to drop out of the race, irritating Carter. In the end, Kennedy thought he could overtake Carter at the convention, but that didn't happen.
Kennedy reluctantly agreed to support Carter and campaign for him. Kennedy, however, embarrassed Carter on the night he was announced as the Democratic Party candidate by refusing to raise hands with Carter in a sign of unity.
The rivalry between Carter and Kennedy, who didn't like each other, had torn the Democratic Party in two and left Carter vulnerable to Republican challengers. Of course, rising inflation, high interest rates and unemployment, as well as the fact the Iran hostages weren't released while he was President definitely hurt him. Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide, 489 to 49 electoral votes.
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