The careers of Senator Ted Kennedy and President Jimmy Carter intersected at just the perfect time in history to prevent either from wreaking any further havoc on the country. Though the author of this excellent book does not present that view, it's clear from the tale he tells that this is the case.
Senator Kennedy was the pampered, spoiled youngest sibling of Camelot, who literally got away with a crime in 1969, when, inebriated, he drove his car off a bridge and left a young woman to her fate in the waters off Chappaquiddick Island (for, which let it be noted, Kennedy does seem to have been genuinely remorseful about her death, and his part in it).
Jimmy Carter was a former naval officer and governor of Georgia, who came out of nowhere in 1976 to not only win his party's nomination, but also the presidency itself. Carter combined the worst of two belief systems in his personal and political outlook: Evangelical Christianity, with it's childish theology and view of God as a kind of souped-up Santa Claus, and post World War II liberalism.
Carter, a petty, self-righteous, oft-angry man, actually comes off worse than Kennedy in this book, and that's saying something. Because Kennedy, for all his faults, had deep-seated principles that he genuinely and passionately believed in; Carter's favorite deep-seated passion was advancing the career of Jimmy Carter.
The book interweaves the early biographies of both men almost seamlessly. One particularly telling episode in Carter's career is when he ran the first time for governor as a racial moderate in Georgia, and lost. He won on his second try by a naked appeal to "Wallace voters," i.e., supporters of the segregationist governor of Alabama, George Wallace. He even handed out pictures of his opponent chumming it up with black basketball players, with obvious implications about how white Georgians should feel about such things. But once he won, he turned around and lectured his fellow Georgians about their racism! He simply had no shame.
Carter barely won against Gerald Ford in 1976, and, with Democratic control of Congress, should have been able to make considerable headway on his legislative agenda. But Carter's arrogant, inept style of leadership stalled that agenda, and by 1979 the country had serious, crippling problems: a recession; the Iranian hostage crises; and a general sense felt nationwide that America's best days might well be behind her.
Kennedy decided to run against Carter in the Democratic primaries, and to run against him from the Left. At first, it looked like Kennedy was going to have an easy time of it: Carter's popularity at this point was even lower than Richard Nixon's during the height of Watergate. But Kennedy gave a disastrous interview with journalist Roger Mudd, along with several other early missteps, and it seriously hampered his chances of winning the nomination against a sitting president in his own party.
In the end, Kennedy's primary run not only ended his own presidential ambitions, but helped doom Jimmy Carter's chances of reelection, also. The author recounts the awkward, hilarious debacle at the end of the 1980 Democratic Convention, with the spectacle of a sitting President of the United States chasing Senator Kennedy around the convention stage, attempting repeatedly and vainly to get the Senator to hoist hands together with him in a symbolic gesture of party unity. Kennedy was having none of it, and this further made Carter look pathetic and weak in front of a television audience of 20 million viewers.
Carter went on to lose in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, and though it's highly likely he would've lost anyway, Kennedy's extended contest with him during the Democratic primaries certainly didn't help. Carter stayed bitter at Kennedy for years, while Kennedy apparently retained his (well-deserved) contempt for the former president.
This story does have a happy ending for Senator Kennedy: in the early nineties, Kennedy finally got his act together, married the love of his life, and lived out his days as a master legislative giant in the United States Senate.
As for Carter, his post-presidential career has consisted of writing numerous books, engaging in free-lance diplomacy around the world (often to the irritation of actual sitting U.S. presidents of both political parties), and charitable work. He waited until Senator Kennedy passed away to actually put his bitterness toward him away, with that trademark pettiness of his holding sway during the course of his former primary opponent's life.
Ronald Reagan makes several cameo appearances in this book, as well, and it adds to the spice of the story, because he too, helped end Camelot: he triumphed, decisively, over the man who triumphed over Camelot's last hurrah. It's fitting that the largest political realignment in American history since the Great Depression should take place at the same time as the twilight of Camelot.
This is a gripping, well-written account of the events that changed the course of American history in late Twentieth Century America, and the two men at the center of them. I highly recommend it.
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Reviews with images
Thoughtful, nuanced and a great story
Not only is this book well written and well paced, it's also just great storytelling. There are so many little details in here that I didn't know, but the sweeping, big picture spirit of the times was captured too. As someone who wasn't born until the mid 80's, these characters and this time in history became more alive for me. It's clear that a lot of time and research and reporting went into it.I think my favorite thing about this book is the thoughtfulness and nuance that he gives to both men. He takes two characters who are largely remembered in a certain one dimensional light and supplies context. He grants them complexity and humanity without turning them into saints or downplaying their (sometimes criminal) mistakes and faults. Thinking about the complexity of simply being alive and all of the factors that go into who we are and what we do with our lives is something that is really interesting to me personally, and this story provides a very specific and interesting case study in that.
Top reviews from other countries
dr stanley goldstein
excellent portrayal of kennedy and carter
Reviewed in Canada on January 31, 2019
Pop
I was disappointed and couldn’t finish it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2022
