Bibliograph

JFK, "Superman comes to the supermarket" ; a pointed portrait of a political campaign, Norman Mailer

Type

Label

JFK, "Superman comes to the supermarket" ; a pointed portrait of a political campaign, Norman Mailer

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliography (pages 363-365)

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

JFK

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Norman Mailer

Sub title

"Superman comes to the supermarket" ; a pointed portrait of a political campaign

Summary

With his Hollywood good looks, boundless enthusiasm, and mesmeric media presence, John F. Kennedy was destined to capture the imaginations of over 70 million Americans who watched the nation s first televised presidential debate. Just days after winning the election by the narrowest margin in history, Kennedy himself said, It was the TV more than anything else that turned the tide. But one man begged to differ: writer Norman Mailer, who bragged that his pro-Kennedy treatise, Superman Comes to the Supermarket, had won the election for Kennedy. Whether or not that was the case, the article, published in Esquire magazine just weeks before polls opened, did redefine political reporting and journalism itself, spawning a form that would be called New Journalism. Mailer's frank, first-person, irreverent voice reflected on Kennedy's cult of personality, calling him the existential hero who could awaken the nation from its postwar slumber and staunchly conformist Eisenhower years

resource.variantTitle

Superman comes to the supermarketPointed portrait of a political campaignOn the verge of history : an inside look into John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign for AmericaInside look into John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign for America

Classification