Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America

First friends, then bitter enemies, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon shared a rivalry that had a dramatic impact on American history. One would become the most dashing figure of the post-World War II era, the other would live into his eighties, haunted and consumed by the rivalry. In Kennedy and Nixon, Christopher Matthews offers a surprising look at these two political giants, offering a stunning portrait that will change the way we think about both of them. Starting as congressmen in the class of 1946, the two men developed a friendship and admiration for each other that would last for more than a decade. But what drove history was the enmity between these two towering figures whose 1960 presidential contest would set the nation’s bitter course for years to come. Matthews shows how the early fondness between the two men (Kennedy told a trusted friend that if he didn’t receive the Democratic nomination in 1960, he would vote for Nixon) degenerated into distrust and paranoia, the same emotions that, in the early 1970’s, ravaged the nation. Christopher Mattew’s revealing book sheds light on this complicated relationship and the role that it played in shaping America’s history.