Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics by Lawrence O’Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Playing with Fire is an in depth look at the presidential campaign of 1968. As the author notes, it was a transformative year, not just for American politics but also for America as a nation. At the beginning of 1968, it did not look like a particularly interesting political year: the incumbent Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson was expected to be renominated by his party and face a Republican, probably Richard Nixon, in the fall election.

The biggest issue facing Johnson was the war in Vietnam. By late 1967 the war had started to become unpopular and Johnson faced increasing criticism within the Democratic party. One of Johnson’s principal critics was Robert Kennedy; the two men detested each other and had for many years. But Kennedy would not challenge a sitting president of his own party, so it fell to Gene McCarthy, a little known Democratic senator from Minnesota to run against Johnson in the New Hampshire primary.

That was the decision that changed history. The author tracks both the Republican and Democratic races for the nomination and then the fall election. On the Republican side there is Nixon, Rockefeller and Reagan; on the Democratic side there is Johnson, McCarthy, Kennedy, Humphrey and McGovern. It’s complicated story but the author does a good job of breaking it down into easy pieces. Including the October surprise which was about as close to treason as we are likely to ever see.

I was 11 years old during this campaign and I was fascinated by it. This book does a good job of explaining the sequence of events and the reasons behind them. There are some minor editing errors here and there but it’s worth reading if you are interested in politics or history.