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JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality Upon Politics

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The thing you need to remember when reading this book- and believe me, you will read it, is that Johnson had trouble dealing with Kennedy becoming president only 6 years after playing a good little Democrat boy in the Senate. Johnson forced Kennedy to play ball and later Kennedy forced Johnson to play ball with him. The book is riviting.

This book was assigned to me in a Presidential Politics course taught at Gettysburg College in the seventies. It talks about JFK's intent to remove a large portion of American troops from Viet Nam before his assasination. Wicker goes on to describe how LBJ wanted to push for the policies supported by the late President but could not continue with JFK's planned change of policy in Southeast Asia because it had not yet been announced. Acting in concert with JFK's plans by disengaging would, paradoxically, have been seen as a break with past policies and an imposition of LBJ's intent on his newly obtained office.

Wicker's skills as an analyst of each president's personality brings a richness to his narrative in this and other areas not always seen in political history. His methodology relies more heavily on the Great Man theory (individual leaders impact on world events)than on a systemic explanation.

Around this time, Wicker further demonstrated his insight into the effect of personality on politics in a largely forgotten novel titled "Facing the Lions." I have not read either book in 30 years but remember both works more than many others I have read over that same period and would not hesitate to recommend them to the contemporary follower of presidential politics.