Customer Reviews

Flawed Giant: Lyndon B. Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973

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I strongly preferred Dallek's first volume, Lone Star Rising, over the two Caro books that cover most of the same period, because Dallek presented a detailed and human portrait, while Caro seemed to have so completely turned against his subject he couldn't see anything good about him. So I looked forward to Dallek's treatment of his Vice Presidency and Presidency with as much anticipation as I can recall.

I was frankly disappointed in this volume. The entire Vice Presidency is handled in a single chapter and contains no insight greater than that LBJ was frustrated in the job, hardly a revelation. And the treatment of the Presidency, while providing a good general treatment, gives far less insight into his thinking and the way he made decisions, than the first volume. One can get far more insight from reading Michael Beschloss's edited transcripts in "Taking Charge".

One cogent example: in discussing the reaction to the 1967 Detroit riots, he quotes LBJ reacting to criticism by saying his statement was drafted by the best constitutional lawyer in the U.S. Yet one has to look at the footnotes to discover that this "lawyer" is Abe Fortas, who was then on the Supreme Court. That the president was consulting a justice about a domestic policy statement is an important issue, but one Dallek doesn't bother to tell us about. Yet it is that kind of insight that one looked forward to seeing in this volume. It's a shame it's not there.

Over the last several years I've read more than 30 presidential biographies, usually letting Amazon reader's guide me to the best choice. While I would place Dallek's LBJ Volume 1 in the top five presidential biographies, Volume two is not quite in the same class. Dallek continues to write well, and I think he presents a complex man and a very difficult time in a balanced way. But over half of this biography details the morass of Viet Nam, and it is truly depressing to read as Johnson and his advisers relentlessly lead the country over the cliff.

During the first two years of LBJ's presidency he led the US Congress to pass some of the most significant legislation in our history - Medicare, greatly increased low income housing, legal aid, increased funding for education and student loans, the most important civil rights legislation of the 20th Century, and the Great Society legislation, a muddled effort to end poverty.

Then, slowly and inexorably LBJ took the US deeper and deeper into Viet Nam. Dallek argues that whatever other geo-political factors were involved, LBJ's drive to be a great president and his fear of failing made the Viet Nam catastrophe inevitable. Johnson simply could not admit to being the first president to lose a war, he couldn't cope with the reality of the corruption of Viet Nam's leadership, and he couldn't stand to be honest in telling the American people just how poorly the war was going. Dallek presents a president who was increasingly paranoid of a nonexistent communist menace influencing the anti-war movement and of Bobby Kennedy leading JFK's ghost to steal LBJ's legacy.

Today, there are numerous editorials comparing the war in Iraq to Vietnam (or denying any comparison). I've yet to see an article comparing President Bush to LBJ, and in most ways they are polar opposites. Still, this biography is very timely. There are unmistakable similarities between America's descent into the two wars, Iraq and South Viet Nam's lack of resources to provide leadership to their own people, our leaders' reluctance to level with the US, the isolation each president sought to avoid criticism, and a society that was so polarized by other issues that it is somehow ok to not take an objective look at the facts of the war.

Unlike some other reviewers, I was not disappointed by this sequel to Lone Star Rising. LBJ was so complex, and so was his Presidency. I've read many books on him and often get the impression given by the parable of the elephant and the three blind men: each writer gives a part of the description of the 'elephant' that was Johnson, but no real complete picture. Mr. Dallek comes closer, in my opinion, to representing the complete picture of Johnson and his Presidency, than others. I've always viewed Johnson in the same mold as FDR, in terms of scope of personality and ability to place a personal stamp on his Presidency. Both mean had such great assets and achievements, and both had great shortcomings. The difference that comes to mind immediately is Johnson's lack of confidence in many judgments and life-long lack of self-confidence; this is well-illustrated in this book. Unlike Roosevelt, Johnson lacked the ability to disguise his motives and emotions in an ongoing manner.

Like other reviewers, I only wish there had been greater coverage of Johnson's Vice-Presidential years. I've never read any detailed history of this period in Johnson's life, other than the feuding with the Kennedy clan. There's probably a book here for someone willing to spend the time and effort.

Dallek's writing is much more balanced than the books by Caro, and I think history will prove them of greater value.

I admire Dalleck and think he's an able historian, but volume two is leagues inferior to volume one, "Lone Star Rising." Dalleck glosses over LBJ's Vice Presidential years in twenty pages and reveals little new material from the early 1960's. His treatment of the JFJ-LBJ political and personal relationship also is lacking.

Robert Caro is writing the definitive treatment of LBJ and Caro is a more accomplished writer, but Dalleck at least cuts Johnson a break and sees the good in this flawed giant. Dalleck is particularly good at illuminating the Great Society and Johnson's sweeping social programs. His military treatment of Vietnam is hardly penetrating.

This is an adequate book on Johnson as President, but not as gripping as the initial volume.

This is the second volume of a two-volume biography; the first is "Lone Star Rising", which covers Johnson's life up until his run for the vice-presidency with JFK; this volume covers his years as vice president, president, and his short retirement.

Dallek does a very good job of showing both the positives and the negatives of a man who he demonstrates clearly deserves the title of the book. Johnson is unquestionably a giant of American history; his domestic accomplishments, most notably pushing the Civil Rights Act through congress (something that few other men could have accomplished in the same position, given that Johnson had more influence with southern politicians who were inclined to oppose the act than most liberal democrats at the time) are certainly undeniable. Yet his flaws were spectacular too, notably his handling of the Vietnam war; it isn't just that he escalated the war from a minor, we-had-a-few-advisors-over-there situation to a situation in which thousands of Americans were dying; it isn't just that he refused to pull out when it became apparent that we weren't going to win the war anytime soon, and that Americans by and large didn't support the cost in lives of staying the course. It's that he lied repeatedly about our prospects there in order to build support for something that he knew perfectly well people wouldn't support if they knew the truth, and that he became downright paranoid on the subject, considering anyone who disagreed with him on it to be a "commie dupe" and a "traitor". It's that he subtly undercut the presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey, his own vice-president and the man most likely to continue his domestic policies, in favor of Richard Nixon, because Nixon's stance on Vietnam seemed more in keeping with his own.

Dallek does an excellent job of detailing all of this, and having read this book, I am both more aware of the good Johnson did, and more aware of the reasons why, prior to reading this book, I did not credit his presidency for that good; all I knew prior to reading this book was the negative side of the story, and not even all of that.

I sped through last year reading all three mammoth books in Robert A. Caro's Pulitzer Prize-winning LBJ biography series, and found them an incredibly readable, detailed portrayal of a man who was half megalomaniac, half incredibly gifted politician, a complex American Shakespearean character whose presidency crumbled into self-induced tragedy. Caro hasn't written the final book in his series yet concentrating on LBJ's presidency, so I decided to check out a competing LBJ biography by Dallek focusing on those years. And it's solid history, with great insight into LBJ's character and the disastrous decisions he made in Vietnam that undermined all the powerful social changes he achieved in civil rights and Medicare. Yet "Flawed Giant" is also kind of a slog, which Caro's books weren't. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Dallek lacks the fluid prose, deft research into place and era, and storytelling talent that Caro brought to LBJ - I was able to read hundreds of pages about dry as toast subjects like congressional redistricting and vote tallies and found them compelling reading under Caro. Yet here, I ended up getting bored silly by Dallek's bland recitation of the ups and downs of Vietnam, which you think would be interesting stuff. Dallek is a bit more even-handed in his appreciation of LBJ than Caro, but it just all felt a little too much like work. Guess it goes to show that it's as much in the storyteller as it is in the story. I'll be eagerly awaiting Caro's take on this same era, whenever it comes out.

Robert Dallek completes his two volume biography of Lyndon B. Johnson with "Flawed Giant". Its a well written book that tells the story of a brilliant politician who is overwhelmed and outmatched by events he failed to anticipate.

The book begins with Johnson in the unhappy position of serving as Vice President under John F. Kennedy. A most difficult place for a man of Johnson's ego and stature to find himself. Nevertheless, Johnson struggles and does the best he can with this job obtaining recognition in his efforts to further U.S. diplomacy abroad and advance the space program.

On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy is assassinated and Johnson becomes President. No one could ever accuse Johnson of not seizing the moment and this he does masterfully. Within a year, he obtains passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a number of domestic initiatives aimed at reducing poverty and improving quality of life for Americans that become known as the "Great Society". Johnson's accomplishments as President all took place during the first two years of his presidency. Some of those accomplishments include the Head Start Program for disadvantaged children, a federal student loan program for college students, the Job Corps program for kids who dropped out of school, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enfranchised millions of blacks, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Medicare.

Johnson proves his skill as a politician by defeating opponent Barry Goldwater with almost 62% of the vote in the 1964 election. Unfortunately, these same skills waned as time went on. By the end of 1965, the positive accomplishments of the Johnson Presidency had come to an end. Johnson inherited the Vietnam War from his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. However, he made a series of mistakes after doing so. First, he concluded that America had to hold onto South Vietnam and prevent a "take over" by the North. He never grasped that the conflict was not an attack by the communist world upon the free world, but simply a regional civil war that had gone for decades. Second, he failed to grasp early on that the conflict was not winnable by conventional means, so he committed 500,000 American soldiers. Third, he failed to understand that the American people wouldn't stand idly by for years supporting such a war with no measurable progress being made. Fourth, he failed to consider steps such as simply withdrawing when it did become apparent that the war was unwinnable.

As the Johnson Presidency unfolds, the accomplishments of the Great Society are overwhelmed by the Vietnam War. Johnson finally realizes his mistake at the end of his presidency. He announces he won't run again and initiates peace talks with North Vietnam.

One must look at Johnson carefully and not jump to conclusions. He was a complicated man who did much good during his presidency. Sadly, though, he will most likely be remembered for the Vietnam War which cost America 58,000 lives.

Fine, scholarly biography of the Ph.D.-thesis type. Dallek relies mainly on documentary sources (which he reviewed copiously). The result is somewhat detached.

You get little feel for the lengendary "Johnson treatment" that LBJ used to such great effect. There is, though, much quasi-psychological stuff. Johnson was poorly educated but intellectually brilliant. He was absolutely driven. He was Lincoln-like in his humor, his yarns, his frontier similes. But these gifts were often misdirected. He just had to be first, the best, at everything. He was frighteningly insecure, almost to the point of true paranoia. There are many stories of his abuse of subordinates.

Dallek is a New Deal/Great Society liberal, and this viewpoint pervades. He is mostly enthusiastic about the Great Society and civil rights achievements, but scathing about Johnson's handling of Vietnam. The most revealing part is the recital of how Johnson felt forced to back into the war, and to try to do it almost surreptitiously. Reassuringly, Dallek presents Johnson as simply misguided and ill-advised. There is none of that Oliver Stone crap about being a tool of the military-industrial complex.

Robert Caro's latest volume in his multi-volume opus, "The Master of The Senate", takes Johnson only up to 1960. Dallek's two volumes cover Johnson's whole life. Caro puts in ten years of research for every one that Dallek has put in, and Caro's doggedness is beyond herioc. Dallek is a solid, straightforward writer (unusual for an academic), but he has little of Caro's inspired literary style. Flesh, blood, and sinew pervade Caro's books. Dallek's sounds like a political science seminar.

Read it by all means, if you are interested in Johnson. But wait for Caro's next volume is you want the definitive treatment.

Robert Dallek's concluding volume on Lyndon Johnson completes what is to date the definitive biographical account of Johnson's life. Flawed Giant primarily deals with Johnson's Presidential years and is a bit more sober in tone than the lyrical Lone Stare Rising. But Dallek provides a fresh look at the difficult decisions facing a conflicted man with absorbing detail. This is no small feat, as the events of Johnson's life from 1961 to 1973 have been picked apart by biographers, historians and journalist again and again. It is unfortunate that the middlebrow, popular accounts of Johnson's life by Robert Caro have received so much attention. The result has been that serious biography on this subject has not been given it's day in the sun. I should note that Robert Dallek's comments about Mr. Caro have been much kinder to the popular writer than mine. Flawed Giant is a must read for those interested in American history and politics.

Mr. Dallek has concluded his work addressing Lyndon Johnson and this years with this volume which covers the period of 1961 through 1973 which covers his presidency. As with the first volume, the author is far more sympathetic with this complex man than most of his recent biographers. It is my personal feeling, that Caro's work is better, but it is a good thing to read these two volumes by Dallek to get a more ballanced view. This was a difficult time in our history and Johnson and his contemporaries were difficult men (and women) to understand and judge. As with any story, we owe it to ourselves to examine all issues from as many angles as possible. Mr. Dallek has given us just one more of those angles. The book is well written and appears to have been well researched. I am glad I added this one to my Johnson collection and do recommend it.