Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976

5489. Marathon The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976, by Jules Witcover (read 27 Jul 2017) I know this book is 40 years old and I should have read it in the year it was published--1977. But I did not and I am very glad I read it now, since historically it tells well the story of 1976 and of Jimmy Carter's amazing and successful campaign. The author followed the campaign as a newspaperman and he often tells of his own conversations with key people in the campaign, including of course Carter and Ford. So there is no bibliography and the author did not rely on anybody's research except his own. I know I followed the campaign but was surprised how much I did not know or had forgotten. This book certainly ranks well with the great books by show more Ted White on the 1960 (read 26 Aug 1961) and the 1964 (read 7 Nov 1965) campaigns, and with the great books on the 2008 and 2012 campaigns--Game Change (read 25 Feb 2010) and Double Down (read 28 Feb 2014) by John Heileman and Mark Helperin. So many of the figures prominent in the 1976 campaign were promineent in later years--Reagan, of course, and James Baker and Dick Cheney and Bob Dole. show less