“Hampton, New Hampshire, February, 1980: This night seems made to vindicate Frank Capra’s version of democracy.”
This is subtitled “A Meditation on Power” and was published in the early years of the Reagan years. One of the things I think about Garry Wills is how much he seems to believe in the idea of America, and how much he seems to disdain the elements of America that tarnish that idea. I don’t mean that he’s blind to problems of America or looking to deny or explain them away, but that he’s a moralist about the failings. Almost like he expects America to exactly deliver on its promises. One of the issues of America is political dynasties. In 1981, from the view of this book, he doesn’t know yet with one oblique reference to Bill Clinton, that he’s almost accidentally hinted at the next one. The issue with political dynasties is that they very rarely rely on sound, consistent policies or even a more fluid set of policies built on principles (where the policies might change so long as the principles don’t).
He doesn’t seem to have much affection for the Kennedys. He almost is sympathetic with Ted Kennedy, as he watches him lose not only staggeringly in 1980, but disastrously and even embarrassingly. From the introduction to this book from 30 years later, he seems to think that this defeat allowed Kennedy to have an actual shot at being a good public servant because his failure acts as a kind of death, through which the Kennedy dynasty finally dies.
He’s less sympathetic to John, not because he died, but because he never should have been president. He didn’t really have a lot of ideas, he lied about writing his book, and worse insisted on getting the Pulitzer (pulling strings t0 do so), and in trying to prove himself as president made disastrous choices (like the Bay of Pigs and even, as Wills argues, in the Cuban Missile Crisis), and of course in charting the course in Vietnam. Bobby is less clear because he seemed to be on the cusp of potential greatness, perhaps being the politician his brothers never were.
The book takes a pin to the balloon of the Kenendys. This is not a cheap Conservative hitpiece either. It’s decidedly pro-democratic, but it’s specifically meant to dispel some notions.