Richard Ben Cramer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of “What It Takes,” a prodigious account of the 1988 presidential election that has been widely hailed as among the finest books about American politics ever written, died on Monday night in Baltimore. He was 62.
Richard Ben Cramer Dies at 62; Wrote of Presidential Race
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Published: January 8, 2013
His daughter, Ruby Cramer, said he died of complications of lung cancer at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center.
Mr. Cramer was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his coverage of the Middle East as a correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and he wrote a best-selling biography of Joe DiMaggio (“Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life,” 2000), but he was most known for “What It Takes: The Way to the White House,” published in 1992.
At 1,047 pages, the book uses exhaustive research and vigorous, detailed reporting to delve into the passions, idiosyncrasies and flaws of George Bush, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Joseph Biden and other candidates as they fought for the presidency in 1988.
As he reported for the book, Mr. Cramer spent time with the candidates’ relatives, college roommates and sometimes even their elementary-school teachers. He grew close to the candidates themselves and in some cases formed friendships that endured after the election. Mr. Biden later gave him tips on fixing up an old farmhouse that he purchased in Maryland, Mr. Cramer said.
“He made no bones about the fact that he became friendly with the people he reported on,” said Mr. Cramer’s longtime friend Stuart Seidel, an editor at NPR. “He liked Joe Biden and Bob Dole and both Bushes. He did not feel compromised by allowing himself to get close to them. He did not see himself in a confrontational reportorial role — he was telling a story.”
The book is a product of a bygone era, before campaigns tried to micromanage the press corps as they do now — granting interviews, for example, only on the condition that quotations for publication be subject to the campaigns’ approval. It was a time when minute-by-minute coverage of a presidential campaign was a technological impossibility.
“What It Takes” begins with Mr. Bush, then the vice president, throwing out the first pitch at a Houston Astros game in 1986.
“He’ll be cheered by 44,131 fans — and it’s not even a risky crowd, the kind that might get testy because oil isn’t worth a damn, Houston’s economy is down the crapper, and no one’s buying aluminum siding,” Mr. Cramer wrote. “This is a playoff crowd, a corporate-perks crowd, the kind of fellows who were transferred in a few years ago from Stamford, Conn. You know, for that new marketing thing (and were, frankly, delighted by the price of housing), a solid G.O.P. crowd, tax-conscious, white and polite.”
Mr. Cramer was born on June 12, 1950, in Rochester. He received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and later studied at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He worked at The Baltimore Sun before joining The Inquirer in the 1970s.
After “What It Takes” was published, Mr. Cramer went on to write for Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and Esquire, where in 1986 he wrote an article about Ted Williams that became a hallmark of sports journalism. The article, titled “What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?,” demythologized one of the greatest hitters in baseball.
“It was often said Ted would rather play ball in a lab, where fans couldn’t see,” Mr. Cramer wrote. “But he never blamed fans for watching him. His hate was for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t feel with him, his effort, his exultation, pride, rage or sorrow.”
Mr. Cramer’s first marriage, to Carolyn White, ended in divorce. Besides his daughter, Ruby, from that marriage, Mr. Cramer is survived by his second wife, Joan Cramer. He lived in Chestertown, Md.
Disappointed with the sales of “What It Takes,” Mr. Cramer never again wrote as expansively about politics. He turned his Esquire article about Ted Williams into a book in 2002 and returned to write about the Middle East in “How Israel Lost: The Four Questions,” published in 2005. At his death he was working on a book about Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees.
But campaigns and the news media’s role in them remained an abiding interest. In a 2011 interview with The New York Times, he described political journalists in his day as wielding real power, in contrast to their heirs today, who often appear to be at the mercy of the campaigns they cover.
“Even if you had the wherewithal to embarrass a reporter, there was no mechanism to do it,” Mr. Cramer said. “And in most cases, you might as well save your breath because the reporter had no shame anyway.”
A version of this article appeared in print on January 8, 2013, on page B14 of the National edition with the headline: Richard Cramer, 62, Wrote of Presidential Race.
