A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities from the Presidential Campaign Trail

by Osgood, Charles

• ISBN13: 9781401322298
• ISBN10: 1401322298
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-13
• Publisher: Hachette Books

Summary

"If you are one of that benighted handful of people who isn't wise to Charles Osgood's incisive and humorous look at the foibles of your fellow men, here is your chance to catch up. Try not to foul up again!" --Walter Cronkite Charles Osgood, one of America's favorite news personalities, offers a hilarious compendium of anecdotes from the last seventy years of presidential campaigns. With anecdotes from Harry Truman to JFK to George W. Bush,A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White Housecaptures the wit and humor of the campaign trail. Culled from speeches, interviews, press conferences, as well as articles written by and about the candidates--no source is left untapped. From Bob Dole telling reporters after a loss in the primary that "I slept like a baby--every two hours I woke up and cried," and Barry Goldwater's comment that his talkative opponent Hubert Humphreys "has been clocked at 275 words a minute with gusts up to 340," to Adlai Stevenson declaring that "If I talk over the people's head, Ike must be talking under their feet," this is the go-to source for campaign humor. Just when America most needs a good laugh,A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White Housemakes the seemingly endless race to the presidency a lot more fun.

Author Biography

Charles Osgood writes and anchors The Osgood File four times daily over the CBS radio network and anchors CBS television's Sunday Morning every week. He is the winner of two Emmys and three Peabody Awards; Washington Journalism Review named him "Best in the Business" five years running; and in 1990 he was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters' Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He lives in New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
The Election of 1948: Truman vs. Dewey	p. 1
The Election of 1952: Eisenhower vs. Stevenson	p. 13
The Election of 1956: Eisenhower vs. Stevenson	p. 31
The Election of 1960: Kennedy vs. Nixon	p. 41
The Election of 1964: Johnson vs. Goldwater	p. 71
The Election of 1968: Nixon vs. Humphrey	p. 91
The Election of 1972: Nixon vs. McGovern	p. 109
The Election of 1976: Carter vs. Ford	p. 117
The Election of 1980: Reagan vs. Carter	p. 135
The Election of 1984: Reagan vs. Mondale	p. 147
The Election of 1988: Bush vs. Dukakis	p. 155
The Election of 1992: Clinton vs. Bush	p. 173
The Election of 1996: Clinton vs. Dole	p. 193
The Election of 2000: Bush vs. Gore	p. 205
The Election of 2004: Bush vs. Kerry	p. 227
Acknowledgments	p. 241
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