In Search of History

by Theodore H. White

History, American Studies

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, American History, Journalism, Politics

720 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1978

About the author

Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 presidential elections.
White became one of Time magazine's first foreign correspondents, serving in East Asia and later as a European correspondent. He is best known for his accounts of two presidential elections, The Making of the President, 1960 (1961, Pulitzer Prize) and The Making of the President, 1964 (1965), and for associating the short-lived presidency of John F. Kennedy with the legend of Camelot. His intimate style of journalism, centring on the personalities of his subjects, strongly influenced the course of political journalism and campaign coverage.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most astonishing sentence of Theodore White's memoir is: "But Chou En-lai was, along with Joseph Stilwell and John F. Kennedy, one of the three great men I met in whose presence I had near total suspension of disbelief or questioning judgment." Given that White was a journalist who then turned his reporting into books of history, this seems like an admission on the order of a judge confessing that he meticulously listened to the evidence in all his cases except those of accused murderers Bobby, Susie, and Doug, who are freed without trial.

I was at a disadvantage reading this book of White's first, without having read any of the others, because this is sort of a summarizing of his work. I should have started with The Making of the President, 1960, which would have prepared me to better analyze whatever hero worship or fudging went on here.

The most interesting chapters are the ones covering Asia and the U.S. involvement in China's Nationalist/Communist civil war. This surprised me because I have no natural interest in this topic. But White's storytelling here is the most vivid and interesting, whether he's describing the utterly ghastly child labor factories in Shanghai, shown to him by a Danish inspector when he first arrives in China right out of his Harvard B.A. program, or General Stilwell's conflicts with Claire Chennault, or painting a portrait of Chiang K'ai-shek.

When he finally moves on to Europe and the Marshall Plan, it pales by comparison.

Interwoven with his stories about historical events are his workaday battles with bosses like Henry Luce of Time and Henry Wallace, editor of The New Republic, and his shortish career at Collier's until it folded.

The most unfortunate parts of the memoir are the introductions to each section, where for some misguided reason White decided to refer to himself in the third person, not only as White, but as the Storyteller, the Sightseer, the Reporter, the Homecomer, and the Outsider. These sections are not superfluous; they contain interesting information, but the third person reportage is so clunky it's a huge relief when he goes back to first person.

You might expect the section on Kennedy to be riveting, but when he writes about the 1960 campaign it's actually quite dry and unrevelatory, except for one anecdote where JFK asks him to write the text for a pamphlet praising Kennedy that will be put on the seats of all the delegates at the Democratic convention. White at first demurs: "I was a reporter, paid my own fare, was not part of his staff. I said I didn't know him well enough, but he insisted, so I did my best." [!!!] White is then saved from his bad decision when Kennedy rejects the text as not his style.

The most interesting and revealing Kennedy story is Jackie Kennedy's tête-à-tête with White one week after her husband's assassination. White travels to Hyannisport at Jackie's request, on a tight deadline, to interview her for a story that will run in Life. Now apparently this Life article is quite famous, although I learned about it here for the first time. For hours Jackie pours out her heart to White, talking about the terrible day and Jack's blood and brains all over her face, hair, clothes, and lap. Then she starts talking about how history mustn't forget Jack, and must give him his proper due, and she comes up with the term Camelot. White must describe the Kennedy era as Camelot, she says. History never forgets heroes, and there will never be another Camelot again.

"So the epitaph on the Kennedy administration became Camelot - a magic moment in American history, when gallant men danced with beautiful women, when great deeds were done, when artists, writers and poets met at the White House, and the barbarians beyond the walls held back.

Which, of course, is a misreading of history. The magic Camelot of John F. Kennedy never existed."

[Checkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Theodore White covers the years from his childhood until 1963. During those years he attended Harvard (scholarship - not wealth), was the senior correspondent for Time magazine in China during WWII, worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe (48-53) and covered politics in the Unites States. The man saw much and met many well known personages. While other reviewers have remarked on White's political stance (he was a classic FDR New Deal Liberal) it doesn't (and shouldn't) take away from his experiences or the fact that he was an intelligent and thoughtful observer.

White was there as history was being made. Both large (WWII, Chinese Communist Revolution, JFK's election, the implementation of the Marshall Plan) and small (the increase of street crime in New York City, the devastating effect that runaway inflation can have on economies and people, the horror of famine). White aknowledges that some of his memories are those of a younger man and his notes from the time periods aren't always as comprehensive as he would like. Not necessarily lacking in detail, but lacking contemplation, no appreciation of the history that he was recording. It's an excusable oversight though. White was a young man (especially during WWII) and in a hurry. Very few of us can claim otherwise when we look back on our twenties - I certainly can't.

In Search of History is better than the typical autobiography. Instead of a laundry list of places and people that the author has gone to and met White tells you about his experiences and the conditions of where he lived and worked. He explains, details and comments. It's an interesting book and while it might seem old fashioned to younger readers, even conservative by today's standards, it's a well written personal history. It will also give the reader a better sense of the Depression/WWII generation that made such a major contribution to the United States and whose impact will be felt for decades to come.

Strongly reccommended for those who are interested in history on a Human scale.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theodore H. White is mainly remembered today for his "Making of the President" books about elections from 1960 to 1980, as well as for being a talking head for NBC's election night coverage during many of those years. It would be simple to dismiss him as another mainstream journalist who got too close to the powerful and ultimately glorified them. This book gives a welcome introduction to the real Teddy White, a man who came from a poor Boston childhood to a Harvard education. This was his ticket to adventure, which he pursued all over the world just as war clouds gathered in the late 1930s. He would not have agreed that the expression "May you live in interesting times" is a curse of any kind. In a career that carried him from wartime China to postwar Europe and Washington at the zenith of power, he meets great people as he tries to determine what it all means to history. His memoir is fascinating both as history and as a rare example of someone willing to admit to past errors in judgment. I especially looked forward to his conclusions about JFK; they were interesting, thoughtful and fair. A unique look at a large slice of history.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

It will probably take me another week or two to finish this book; it is a very slow read for me, rich in detail that I don't want to skim over. White was a journalist in the best sense of the word and a specialist in both American politics (he wrote The Making of the President four times covering elections in 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972) and Asia. In Search of History is autobiographical and is fascinating.His contact with world leaders, his approach to history in the making, and then his later looking back at events that were chaotic at the time of his original reports, but that later fit a pattern that he could sense, but not fully understand at the time, make this history at its best. Having lived through most of the history White is writing about makes this book all the more interesting to me.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3.75 stars, if we were allowed to give fractional ratings; very nearly a 4 star book, but there were a few things about it that annoyed me a bit, etc. I'll try to get a full review written by the end of this week in which I will discuss this book in greater detail. Overall, though, whatever one might think about the late Teddy White, he was extremely intelligent, a very good writer and a damned fine reporter during a time when reporters of equal or even greater skill were practically a dime a dozen; truly a "golden age" of journalism. Consequently, I always find his work worth reading...

[Ted Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent memoir. White was able to report from the center of events on a number of occasions from three decades spanning WWII to Kennedy's assassination. He met all the players including Chou En-lai and Mao from China, MacArthur and Joseph Stillwell in the Pacific, the European leaders during the Marshall Plan, Lucius Clay who oversaw Germany's reconstruction, Konrad Adenauer who led Germany after the war, Eisenhower during his presidency, and Kennedy who he immortalized with the mythos of Camelot. He was also ensnared in the McCarthy maelstrom, just managing to elude its destructive wake. Through it all he covered the events that forged American power during and just after the war and remade the country in the decades that followed. A story told by a man whose powers of observation made him the ideal storyteller.

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is at once a product of its time, and prophetic at the same time. Theodore White witnessed some of the great events of the 20th century, the revolution in China, World War II, the resurgence of Europe after World War II, the Civil Rights era and finally the beginning and end of Camelot (a phrase he coined in Life Magazine). This work is an attempt to make sense of these events.

White's memoirs written from the vantage point of the late 70s after he had completed his classic Making of the President series (tantalizingly, there was almost a Making of the President 1956). He saw an America that was weary of the social change that shook the country after the death of his friend John F. Kennedy. He saw the 1960s as the end of a golden period of opportunity and unprecedented social change, if only he knew what the next 30 years would bring (White died in 1986).

This book is at its best when White describes his career covering the Chinese Revolution. Chou En-Lai was an early friend, who memorably forced the Jewish White to eat pork. White soon assessed the lack of competence by Chiang Kai Shek's government would lead to Mao's ultimate triumph.

Who lost China? Why the China Lobby of course. White's boss was Henry Luce, a founder of the China Lobby who refused to publish anything negative on Chiang's government or anything positive on Mao. In love with the illusion of a democratic and Christian China, the Lobby's agenda led to White leaving China in disgust, and a relentless purging of any experts on Asia in the US State Department. Regional expertise could be hazardous to one's career, particularly if one was correct in the outcome of the Civil War.

Many of White's observations concerning the capacity of self delusion by the US concerning China have modern application. The same failings, the same inability to understand the realities not only undermined US capacity to fail in China, but also Vietnam and Iraq. Reading this detailed refusal of media people like Luce to grasp reality and officials like Patrick Hurley to understand the actual dynamics, suggests that there may be commonalities among US foreign policy failings since 1945.

This is a very good memoir with portraits of McArthur, Chou En-Lai, Mao, Jean Monet, Luce, General Joseph Stilwell, and John F. Kennedy. Worth the read!

[Drusha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the most interesting history book I've ever read. It provides an overview of U.S. history covering 1930-1976. It covers 1) China during WWII, 2) the administration of the Marshall Plan in Europe, 3) the McCarthy era & the Eisenhower presidency, 4) the 1960 Presidential election & John Kennedy, 5) personal anecdotes of author's interaction with the Kennedy family right after his assassination, and 6) the post-Kennedy years.

In Search of History is a fascinating personal overview of events as observed by one who was there and saw first-hand, history in the making. It's one of the few books I would re-read. Teddy White's quote of a government's responsibility to its citizens gives one much to ponder when considering our own situation in the U.S.

[Alfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

White has a great perspective on history - he was on the frontlines in Asia in the WW2, japanese occupation of china, rise of Mao era, moved to Europe after the war and saw the unrolling of the Marshall plan, moved to the US and got interested in presidential races, where he covered elections from JFK to Carter.

He writes about those periods in this book with the benefit of hindsight, and points out where his perceptions of events unfolding were improperly informed in the longer historical context - in other words he doesn't make excuses for where he got it wrong, just points out when he did.

[Martha Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after I was in college and I felt so complicated about how he had witnessed such great and important events and I was missing life, somehow. That turned out not to be true but it was a strong sense in me that the world was changing around us. Revolutionary times. For all of us.

[Crusade Bus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent journalism memoir; probably one of the best I’ve read. White transgresses every known journalistic ethical boundary in a career that took him from the Chinese civil war to post-WWII Europe to being the foremost chronicler of mid-20th century presidential politics and tells the tale of his remarkable career, warts and all.

The are criticism by other readers of White switching between the first and third person; but I sorta get what he was going for. He switched between conventional journalistic detachment at the beginning of chapters before switching to a first person narrative — part of his exploration of what it means to be a journalist versus a narrator of history. It probably doesn’t quite work for most readers if they’re not familiar with journalistic conventions but I understand what he was trying to do.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solid memoir by a journalist who enjoyed tremendous access for decades across multiple scenarios. White benefited from luck and timing early in his career in moving to China in the 1930s and then successfully pivoted into several, totally different areas of focus. To go from embedment in China during WWII, cultivating relations with both the Nationalists and the Communists, to coverage of the Marshall Plan in Paris, and then on to analysis of the American presidential elections, is all very impressive.
The structure of the book is a little goofy and outdated, with the first chapter in each new section told in third person. Otherwise, an enjoyable read.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teddy White was front and center for the pre- WWll personalities and battles that would define the US and China relationship at that time. He witnessed the impact of decisions being made and the consequences of those decisions. His writing helps the reader feel as though they are sitting beside him during his travels.

[Bill Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was very interesting the last two chapters held your attention. The Fifties was just plain dull.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

First 1/2 was great

[Cassandra]

I did not actually finish reading this ...

[Sloe ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book when I encountered this one book that specifies how "In Search of History" is the most beautiful book ever. Well, I'm raring to read this!

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In Search of History" by Theodore White was interesting but not a keeper. He was the "Time" reporter in China during WWII and covers areas that I know little about - I learned about the importance of the US role in China for the land invasion of Japan, how the US was key to the success of Chiang Kai-Shek, the rise and beliefs of Mao, the feud between Gens. Stillwell and Chenault, and how Henry Luce did not want to hear any bad news about Chiang Kai-Shek and thus ignored the rise of Mao. The beginning of the book was a bit much for me as he discusses returning to his childhood home and the disappointment of how much his neighborhood had changed. After the first 60 pages I got engaged into the book. His stories are well laid out and I learned a lot. I bought Hannah Pakula's "The Last Empress" as a result of reading White's book which is about Madam Chiang Kai-Shek which I have yet to read.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

White's "In Search of History" is the fun rumination of a 50 something guy that has seen and been a part of a lot of amazing stuff. Theodore White was a reporter for TIME magazine during World War II in China and met such figures as General Stilwell, Mao ZeDong, and Chang Kai-Shek. White was on the ground level of television evening news when it started in earnest in the 1950s and coined the phrase "Camelot" to describe the Kennedy years after JFK was assassinated in 1963. White is one of my favorite writers since his prose is eloquent and the information he relays is always interesting. This motley stew of remembrances of a reporter surveying his best years lived during the 1940's, 50's, and 60's is essential to any student of the twentieth century.

[Paul Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent history book written almost as it happened. While you can tell what side of the political fence White is on, it gives an excellent insight into politics. I also found it interesting to compare what White wrote in 1978 and some of his predictions, and compare them to what actually has happened. While he came close on some, on others he was off.

This book is out of print so you will probably need to find a used copy of it somewhere, I found mine in a little antique store, A good book to add to any collection.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gave me a better understanding of how the Marshall plan worked and the goings on in Europe just after the war. The rest of it, I have read many other books on the covering the same stuff as White did here. It is so interesting that you can read five different books mentioning someone like LUCE and get five different pictures of the person, none alike. This book may have deserved four stars but i was so tired of reading it by the time i finished it. It was a rehashing of what i have read so many times before by other authors.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good memoir of a reporter's life stretching from 1938 China to 1950 Europe to 1963 America. At times he contradicts himself and his thoughts sometimes appear incomplete and unedited, but he effectively evokes the vitality of events and personalities past. I now see better the importance of JFK, the unintended flaws of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, and the sadness that marks modern-day China. He successfully makes history flesh.

[Rich Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best historical books I've ever read -- and by a journalist who was there when it all happened. It's about the storied career of Theodore H. White, who was famous for covering presidential campaigns. But the best part of this is when he was in China during and right after World War II. He concluded (rightly) that Chiang was an incompetent warlord, and he broke with his boss, TIME's own emperor, Henry Luce.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my book club. The older members (60+) loved it. I think it is more meaningful to people who lived through much of the time documented by White. They could bring a certain perspective to the narrative that made it come alive. They enjoyed getting the "inside scoop" on many of the historical figures they had known of from a distance. For me, it was simply a history. White, is a masterful writer and storyteller though.

[Michael Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy history and biographies and this combines both. A good read about China before WWII and up to the late 70's as well as an enjoyable story of Ted White. Picked this up at the Friends of the HHI library.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think of good writers, gifted storytellers and excellent teachers three names always come to mind. David Halberstam, Tom Friedman and Theodore White. In Search of History included all of Mr. White's talents.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good and even moving. A memoir and reflections on 40 years of journalism and his life before his career. VERY thoughtful and extremely insightful on the development of post-war (WW II) America. I intend to read the follow up he wrote about five years later.

[Sandra D · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm interested in American political history so I wanted to like this one, but Teddy bored me. I got about halfway through and gave up.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated: C