Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America (.) [Hardcover]

Nick Kotz (Author)

Book Description

Series: . | Publication Date: January 12, 2005

Opposites in almost every way, mortally suspicious of each other at first, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr., were thrust together in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Both men sensed a historic opportunity and began a delicate dance of accommodation that moved them, and the entire nation, toward the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Drawing on a wealth of newly available sources -- Johnson's taped telephone conversations, voluminous FBI wiretap logs, previously secret communications between the FBI and the president -- Nick Kotz gives us a dramatic narrative, rich in dialogue, that presents this momentous period with thrilling immediacy. Judgment Days offers needed perspective on a presidency too often linked solely to the tragedy of Vietnam.
We watch Johnson applying the arm-twisting tactics that made him a legend in the Senate, and we follow King as he keeps the pressure on in the South through protest and passive resistance. King's pragmatism and strategic leadership and Johnson's deeply held commitment to a just society shaped the character of their alliance. Kotz traces the inexorable convergence of their paths to an intense joint effort that made civil rights a legislative reality at last, despite FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's vicious whispering campaign to destroy King.
Judgment Days also reveals how this spirit of teamwork disintegrated. The two leaders parted bitterly over King's opposition to the Vietnam War. In this first full account of the working relationship between Johnson and King, Kotz offers a detailed, surprising account that significantly enriches our understanding of both men and their time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. King's leadership of the Civil Rights movement catalyzed a revolution in public consciousness that Johnson's matchless political skills cemented in the landmark voting and civil rights laws of the 1960s. In this engrossing narrative history, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kotz (A Passion for Equality) follows their tense but fruitful working relationship from Johnson's assumption of the presidency in 1963 to King's assassination five years later. Theirs was a wary partnership, uneasy when they joined forces against Jim Crow in the wake of Kennedy's assassination, strained by King's opposition to the Vietnam War and continually undermined by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who bombarded Johnson with reports of King's links to Communists and of his sexual indiscretions. In Kotz's sympathetic but complex and critical assessment, the Machiavellian politician and the visionary activist become almost brothers under the skin—both genuine idealists and cool-headed, at times even ruthless political strategists, both plagued by inner demons that threatened to undo their agenda. Employing newly available telephone conversations and FBI wiretap logs, among other sources, Kotz's detailed and gripping account takes readers into the bloody trenches of the Civil Rights movement and the bitter congressional floor battles to get legislation past the segregationist bloc. It is a fascinating portrait of two leaders working at a time when the low skullduggery of politics really was infused with the highest moral values. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Critics agree that the strength of Judgment Days lies in its new approach to an old story. One detractor found the account stale at times, complaining that the section on Vietnam seemed like a rehash. Most readers, however, focused less on the familiarity of Kotz’s source material and more on the remarkable insight he brings to a tense relationship. Judgment Days is not an exposé, but rather a personal and psychological approach to an oft-analyzed political moment. Kotz deserves particular praise for his deep examination of Johnson, who emerges from Judgment Days as a man of serious flaws but monumental courage.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First edition (January 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618088253
• ISBN-13: 978-0618088256
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting History, January 10, 2005

By 

Charles H. Warner (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America (.) (Hardcover)

Judgment Days is riveting history and journalism--a real page turner about two fascinating, larger-than-life characters that come to life as in no other book I've read about Lyndon Johnson or Martin Luther King, Jr. Best of all, you'll hate J. Edgar Hoover more than you ever did and like Johnson and King better than you ever did.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LBJ, MLK Jr and J. Edgar Hoover, March 8, 2005

By 

James Schuyler "Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives" (Richmond VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America (.) (Hardcover)

This is an extraordinary re-creation of a particularly important time in American history. For those of you who lived through that era, this book offers significant new information as well as provides a vital context for understanding the interaction of legislation and civil rights activities. Both President Johnson and Rev. King emerge as sympathetic and complex and conflicted--yes, real people. Hovering over the book is the evil and vicious J. Edgar Hoover--and at times the book reads like a thriller with a tangled web of relationships among the three actors. For those of you for whom this era is ancient history, there is much to learn here about federal civil rights legislation and the civil rights movement. It may lead you to read more about the 1960's, and Kotz provides an extensive bibliography of some of the best books on a broad range of subjects. In any event, this is a great read which will get you thinking and perhaps even motivate you to action to promote equal rights.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Very Readable History, June 2, 2005

By 

M. T. Vancampen (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America (.) (Hardcover)

Though Kotz is writing about oft-covered material, this book comes across as a fresh and vital examination of the relationship of two of the most important figures of the previous century. He spends a lot of time going over well known facts but also highlights the personalities of these two men. The portraits that emerge are quite interesting. MLK comes across as a man committed to change and--despite minor flaws--as the hero he was.

More surprising is Kotz take on LBJ, who comes across as equally committed to change and righting wrongs. Kotz argues that LBJ always displayed a commitment to improving the lot of the poor. Though he does not explain LBJ's early votes against civil rights, he argues that his eventual support of major civil rights legislation had its roots in his desire to help the disadvantaged, like those he grew up with in the Hill Country of Texas.

While stressing that both men were brilliant leaders, Kotz does not shy away from their flaws--of which LBJ had many. Most interesting is his take that both hoped to accomplish significantly more in the realm of abolishing poverty when their efforts were cut short--LBJ's by the morass of Vietnam and MLK's by a bullet. Ultimately this was a great read and should serve to hold those readers over who are eagerly awaiting the years-away release of Robert Caro's next LBJ volume.