Nixon was by nature an excluder. Alderman like to exclude people. When Nixon's need met Alderman's abilities, you had the most perfect formula for disaster. – Jim Sheila

— David Pietrusza

No matter what office LBJ assumed he lifted greater than when he found it.

— David Pietrusza

Organizing a coup was not the same as wanting one.

— David Pietrusza

Politics look very simple to the outsider whether he is a businessman or a soldier – it is only when you get into it that all the angles and hard work become apparent. James Forrest

— David Pietrusza

Presidential campaign observer Teddy White on the second Kennedy-Nixon debate in which the candidates spoke from separate television studios: "It was as if, separated by comments from his adversary, Richard Nixon was more at ease and could speak directly to the nation that lay between them.

— David Pietrusza

Richard Nixon coveted, to the point of obsession, a controversy-free, stage-managed coronation.

— David Pietrusza

The author commented that John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign team worked like a band of brothers, while Richard Nixon's campaign team worked like a band of brothers-in-law under the direction of a quarrelsome aunt.

— David Pietrusza

The author's alliterative description of politics since the 1960 presidential debates: "Government by Gotcha".

— David Pietrusza

The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise, and they have been spoiled with abuse. – Calvin Coolidge

— David Pietrusza

There are really two essential things in campaigning. First, you must be in good humor. If you're going to be a raffle, you are to stay home. Second, you are to make sense in your speeches. These aren't the two things you must do. Unless you're saying, if you can be in good humor when you're exhausted. – Henry Cabot Lodge

— David Pietrusza