Shortly before Jack Kennedy's first-ballot nomination at the Democratic Convention of 1960, an offer came from the Kennedy forces to Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson. If L.B.J., at that moment J.F.K.'s only serious rival for the nomination, would withdraw from contention, he could become Kennedy's vice-presidential running mate.
Lyndon, as a consummate politician, already knew that Kennedy had him whipped for the top spot. He was still reluctant to give up, but he was avidly being urged to do so by Bobby Gene Baker, a youthful friend and protégé for whom he had got a job as the U.S....
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