The personalities of politics make public affairs live. Who are they and why? Is it necessary to view them with alarm, or should we rather point to them with pride?

--From the original prospectus for TIME

EVER since those lines were written 38 years ago, TIME has been trying to answer those questions and to make politics live through personalities as well as issues. In political 1960, politics is well populated with lively personalities. One of the liveliest is this week's cover subject, Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas, who is making his third appearance on TIME's cover.*

Ever since serious talk about the 1960 campaign began, TIME has had all the recognizable Democratic presidential hopefuls on the cover. The first was Massachusetts' Senator John Kennedy, who was spotlighted as the front runner on Dec. 2, 1957. As campaign talk heated up, we took a cover look at the whole field of Democratic hopefuls (Nov. 24, 1958), then a closer look at Candidate-to-be Stuart Symington (Nov. 9, 1959) and Candidate Hubert Humphrey (Feb. 1, 1960). Adlai Stevenson's last individual appearance on the cover was on the issue of July 16, 1956; he was among the hopefuls of November 1958. The leading personality on the Republican side of the 1960 ticket--Richard Nixon -- was last on the cover on Aug. 3, 1959, during his Khrushchev-arguing visit to Moscow. Nelson Rockefeller, whose name keeps coming up, was a cover subject on Oct. 6, 1958.

As the politics of 1960 moves closer to the end of its first act (the nominating conventions) and on to its finale (the November election), TIME will continue to try to make this period of history live through its personalities as well as its issues. Needless to say, not all of TIME's judgments will please all of our readers. But we hope we will never fail to answer those questions: "Who are they and why?"

* The first (June 22, 1953) introduced him as a skillful Senate leader of a then defeated and demoralized party; the second (March 17, 1958) told how he had helped lead his party to new power on Capitol Hill.

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