To Joan and Richard Cramer, for everything …
To Adam Goodheart and Ted Widmer for the desk in the attic; to Matt DeFilippis, for the spark; to Paul Swibinski, for the front-row seat; to Matt Bai, for showing how it’s done; to Birch and Kitty Bayh, for the ongoing colloquy; to Michael Weisman, for wit and will; to Andrew Oros, Steve Clemons, Dan Premo, Melissa Deckman, Janet Kaufman, Harold Heinz, Leslie Breese, Robert Lynch, Christine Wade, and Donald McColl, for making me think …
To the New York Public Library, its Frederick Lewis Allen Room, and Jay Barksdale, for the shelf and the quiet; to the JFK Library, its research staff and the Theodore C. Sorensen Fellowship, for letting us touch history; and to Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, for opening the door to the past …
To all the archivists and librarians, and sources who spoke to me, for their time—especially Peter Edelman, Adam and Jane Walinsky, and Frank Mankiewicz, for talking to a kid; and to Nancy Dutton, for the best interviews …
To agent Robert Guinsler, for direction and humor; to Flip Brophy, for curiosity and honesty; to my first editor, Pete Beatty, for the crack at it; to editor George Gibson, for his warm guidance; to assistant editor Grace McNamee for keeping the train on the tracks; to publicists Beth Parker and Lauren Hill, for liftoff; to Jackie Johnson, Callie Garnett, Sara Kitchen, Jennifer Kelaher, and the team at Bloomsbury, for seeing it through …
To Brendan Cunningham, for the best advice; to Bob Bennett, for the guide to gardening and life; to Steve Kornacki, for a few hundred editing tutorials and many more laughs; to Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist, for making waves; to Casey Schaeffer, Eelin Reily, and Alex Korson, for their supportive leadership …
To friends and colleagues—Josephine Bathan, Sterling Brown, Mike Buczkiewicz, Louis Burgdorf, Laura Chamberlain, Jayme Cohen, Stephanie Cunningham, Jason Driscoll, Brian Duffy, Pam Granda, Eric Greenberg, Maureen Hanna, Miller Hawkins, Dan Hollis, Sasha Issenberg, Drew Katchen, Marc Katz, Laura Kim, Colleen King, Eric Kleefeld, Steve Lima, Russell Lovelady, Alex Lupica, Jack Manning, Henry Melcher, Jonathan Martin, Ben Mayer, Merrick Nelson, Adam Noboa, Areej Noor, Patrick O’Neill, Dom Palumbo, Camila Perez, Amitai Perline, Daniela Pierre-Bravo, Scott Rocco, Yadira Rodriguez, Andy Salsman, Lauren Schweitzer, Jason Squitieri, Anthony Scutro, Amy Shuster, Ben Smith, Austin Stone, Monica Suarez, Luna Szoke, Jesse Rodriguez, Yadira Rodriguez, Brittany Terrell, Anne Thompson, Adam Tzanis, Morgan Walker, Jeremiah Wilcox, and Corey Yow—for making life easier …
To Teresa Gianotti, for filling up my heart and home—and Tux’s bowl; to Rita Ciolli, for making coffee; Peter Gianotti and Claire Gianotti, for pasta and cannoli …
To Josephine Richards, for her love of storytelling; Belle Richards and Michael Bokar, for a well of confidence; to Marilyn and Tuck Cach, the Infante famiglia, the O’Donnells, the Williams clan, Jim Bohrer and his brood, for helping make my story …
To Gerald Edward, for being my first role model; to Jerry Bohrer, for always doing the right thing; and to Joanne Bohrer, my best girl, and to whom this book is dedicated …
I thank you from the bottom of my heart.