CAMPAIGN '72: The Managers Speak

by Ernest R. & Janet Fraser -- Eds. May ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 1973

We agree with the editors who proclaim this a ""unique"" book. Never before have we had a published symposium with the campaign directors of the various presidential candidates talking retrospectively about their techniques, problems, organizations, etc. Thus it is instructive to hear verbatim what the 1972 managers and aides like Gary Hart and Rick Stearns (for McGovern), Jeb Magruder (Nixon), Jack Chestnut (Humphrey), Richard Steward (Muskie), Billy Joe Camp (Wallace), Ben Wattenberg (Jackson), and Robin Schmidt (McCloskey) have to say about the running of the election and the primary contests -- conversations stimulated and enhanced by a number of reporters (David Broder, James Perry, Alan Otten) and other informed persons who were invited to participate in these discussions around a square table in the Harvard Faculty Club library. But this is perforce a laundered version of what happened in 1972; as the editors note, a bit wistfully, ""It dealt only with normal, aboveboard scheming,"" as Magruder's contributions readily attest (though some of his comments have come back to haunt him, e.g., ""There was basically a triad of senior decision-makers -- the President, Bob Haldeman, and John Mitchell -- until July of '72. They were in constant consultation with each other over major activities"").

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harvard Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION