The Shrink and the Gumshoe: Nixon, Kennedy and the Secret History of the 1960 Election

In the fall of 1960, a strange and troubled private detective uncovered Richard Nixon’s most closely guarded secret-that the vice president and presidential candidate was consulting a Park Avenue psychoanalyst. Not coincidentally, this discovery was turned over to the campaign of John F. Kennedy in the form of a twelve-page confidential report, a move that prevented Nixon from revealing an equally devastating secret about Kennedy-that JFK had a very serious illness called Addison’s disease, which, if made public, would have derailed his presidential bid. The Man Who Stopped Nixonis the explosive story of two fascinating yet little-known figures whose actions in the summer and fall of 1960 influenced the course of American history. With JFK and Nixon each in possession of a secret that could fatally sabotage his opponent’s bid for the White House, their campaigns became deadlocked by the promise of mutually assured destruction. In a meticulously researched and deftly told narrative, veteran investigative journalist David L. Robb, who has been nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes, masterfully reconstructs the covert plots that influenced the outcome of the 1960 election, including break-ins at Kennedy’s doctors’ offices, Frank Sinatra’s behind-the-scenes role, and the unpublished insights of the one man who knew Nixon as no one else could-his shrink. But Robb doesn’t stop there. Given the confluence of events linking the candidates, the country, and a world mired first in the Cold War and later in Vietnam, Robb makes a definitive case forwhyNixon needed to be stopped in 1960-and how Nixon put his candidacy ahead of world peace to finally win in 1968. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1960 presidential election,The Man Who Stopped Nixonis an illuminating new chapter in the Nixon-Kennedy saga and a refreshing look at an era that continues to find new ways to capture readers’ imaginations.