Kennedy had power, fame, and money, and looked the part in his formfitting suit, big-knotted wide tie, and full head of wavy, flamboyant hair. “Ted Kennedy had inherited a legend along with his name and he was almost as much trapped by the legend as propelled by it,” wrote the famous political journalist Teddy White. It was a personal history that carried obligations, driving him forward into a future he was not always sure he wanted, but that he felt compelled to pursue. The capital city behind him represented the present and the future. He had to turn his back on the city to look down at the Cape Cod granite stones surrounding the gray slate tablet and the eternal flame that marked John F. On an overcast, drizzly morning, he stood on a hill overlooking the Potomac River into Washington, D.C. Comprehensive and nuanced, featuring new interviews with major party leaders and behind-the-scenes revelations from the time, Camelot's End presents both Kennedy and Carter in a new light, and takes readers deep inside a dark chapter in American political history.He was alone with his thoughts at the gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery of his older brother, who had been struck down this very day fifteen years earlier.
It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.Īnd, at its heart, Camelot's End is the tale of two extraordinary and deeply flawed men: Teddy Kennedy, one of the nation's greatest lawmakers, a man of flaws and of great character and Jimmy Carter, a politically tenacious but frequently underestimated trailblazer. It was the last gasp of an outdated system, an insider's game that old Kennedy hands thought they had mastered, and the year that marked the unraveling of the Democratic Party as America had known it.Ĭamelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It was the last time an American president received a serious reelection challenge from inside his own party, the last contested convention, and the last all-out floor fight, where political combatants fought in real time to decide who would be the nominee. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Kennedy. The Carter presidency was on life support.
From a strange, dark chapter in American political history comes the captivating story of Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign for president against the incumbent Jimmy Carter, told in full for the first time.
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