The Making of the President 1960, written by journalist Theodore H. White and published by Atheneum Publishers in 1961, is a book that recounts and analyzes the 1960 election in which John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States. It is not a classical history; there is no bibliography and no footnotes attributing sources. It reads more like a journalist’s article for Atlantic Monthly. It was a reporter’s first-hand front-row view of the election and campaign and it seemed more about the soul of the election, the campaign and the candidates than a historical analysis of the issues and events. Even White states that history is best when viewed through the lens of time.

A theme in this book is of the past versus the future and what type of leadership was required. In Kennedy’s acceptance speech he mentions the New Frontier that the country was facing. It was a campaign where “the young faced the old, this was the [election] where one generation gave way to another”. (Page 189)