Customer Reviews

The Kennedy Assassination--24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was 6 months old when Kennedy was assassinated and my parents were Republicans so I never really felt like November 22, 1963 was a big day in my life. However, as I have grown older and started to embrace my inner lefty, I became more interested in the Kennedy clan, and the Democratic establishment of the 60s.

I will admit that I have not done a great deal of reading on the Kennedy assassination -- most of what I know has been based on documentaries from TV. When a previous reviewer recommended this as a good first overview, I decided to start here.

The book is pretty interesting to read. You feel like you really get to "peek behind the curtains" of what was going on that chaotic day. Reading (or seeing if you happened to see the TV version of the book) the "step-by-step" details that went on to effect a "smooth" transfer of power and understanding all the little details that made that process relatively "seamless" to the rest of the world is what really kept me going in the book. The book itself is a pretty easy and quick read so if you aren't interested in heavy academic histories, you are definitely spared that with this book.

Overall, I would say that the author goes out of his way to be very "neutral" -- it quickly becomes clear that there is considerable animosity between the Kennedy camp and the LBJ loyalists and the author tries very hard (and generally succeeds) in not taking sides.

However, I believe that the author spends too much time trying to ascribe psychological motives -- particularly to LBJ's actions -- which I'm not sure is appropriate. For example, when LBJ goes out of his way to get "buy in" from the Kennedy camp for taking the oath of office in Dallas, that is perceived and interpreted as being "weak" and "overly-sensitive" and "paranoid". However, given the microscope that LBJ was under at the time along with the clear distrust by the Kennedy camp, it seems more politically shrewd and motivated to project the image of a PEACEFUL transfer of power and to avoid public airing of dirty laundry which could be seized upon as weakness at the highest level of our government. LBJ seems to have been in a no-win situation: if he "seized the bull by the horns" and went for a unilateral approach, that would have been interpreted as taking advantage of the situation and opportunistic (not to mention casting some level of suspicion on LBJ himself for the "plot" since it happened on his home turf). However, by at least trying to create the illusion of consensus and bilateral support, he is perceived as being "weak" and not "accepting responsibility".

Further, while the author seems to grant the Kennedy camp license for emotional reactions (and realistically -- who wouldn't be emotional under the circumstances), any hint of emotional response on the part of LBJ is portrayed as a negative trait rather than a normal response to the traumatic events of the day. Regardless of the personal relationship between Kennedy and LBJ, not even the most hard-hearted individual could go through that day without feeling some level of ambivalence, fear, and sadness. I just really disagreed with how many times the author related actions of LBJ and then concluded that whatever was done was because of LBJ's "fragile self-concept" (my words... not the authors').

Other than that, I still found the book to be a very useful read and it has inspired me to want to read more.

One note about the Kindle Edition (which is the version I read) -- it was terrible in terms of the number of typos and grammatical errors. This was very annoying and I just wish they would provide the same level of proofing for the electronic version as they hopefully give to the hard copy.

I picked this book up with some worries: Do we really need ANOTHER book about the assassination? I was very pleasantly surprised, however. This is not a rehash of the shooting. There is no mention of "magic bullets" or gunmen on the grassy knoll. The author does not debate whether the Warren Commission got it right, and he presents no new theories about who shot JFK. People looking for another "who shot JFK" book will probably be disappointed.

This is really a book about Lyndon Johnson, not JFK, and its about how Johnson handles events after the shooting. I have read most of the books about the assassination, but I found lots of fresh new information here. The author managed to get access to some new documents, including William Manchester's research notes, which he uses extensively. The chapters about LBJ at Parkland Hospital in the hour after the shooting are amazing. I had no idea about the secret arrangement between LBJ and JFK in the event Kennedy was incapicated. The author tries to get into the heads of the major players, especially LBJ, Robert F. Kennedy, and Kenneth O'Donnell. Its fascinating stuff. I was convinced by the authors reworking of the chronology of events -- he calims that JFK was dead earlier than previously reported and LBJ learned he was President sooner than the Warren Commission said he did. There is also a great scene on Air Force One where general Godfrey McHugh claims to have found LBJ in the bathroom crying hysterically. Despite that interesting detail, the author overall seems to like LBJ and beleive that he handled the crisis exceptionally well. The last chapter tries to place the day in some context by suggesting that Johnson revealed qualities on those first 24 hours that foreshadowed his presidency.

Overall, this is a great read. It reads more like a novel than a history book. Unlike most of the books on this subject, the author doesn't seem to have an axe to grind or a new theory to support. He is fair to all of the players. He is sympathetic to the Kennedy people, but willing to point out poorly they treated LBJ in those hours. I'm not a big LBJ fan but I came away with renewed respect for the job he did that day.

If this is the first book you've read on the JFK assassination, it's as good a place as any to begin learning about how Lyndon Johnson dealt with having the presidency thrust upon him under the ugliest circumstances imaginable. If you're well-versed on those long-ago events in Dallas, however, you won't find anything new here that hasn't already been thoroughly covered in William Manchester's "Death of a President," Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot," and Vince Bugliosi's "Four Days in November." But what distinguishes this book from the others is that Stephen Gillon had access to the actual transcripts of the Manchester interviews from 1964-1966--and the quotes from the key players, which were either paraphrased or abbreviated in "Death of a President," are seen here for the first time in their full, unabridged contexts.

That being said, the "controversies" exposed and examined here are more along the lines of small curiosities that have no bearing on the larger impact of those four days. The conflicting accounts of who informed Lyndon Johnson that JFK had died--a Secret Service agent or a member of the president's staff--are indeed somewhat noteworthy, but hardly deserving of such close scrutiny. The same holds true for the revelation that the president was likely pronounced dead at 12:50 p.m. instead of 1:00 p.m., as announced officially. (Gillon offers an intriguing and compassionate speculation here: It's possible that the surgeons at Parkland Hospital were willing to fudge the time of death by ten minutes so that Jacqueline Kennedy would believe that her husband's soul was still in his body when he received the last sacrament of the Catholic church just before 1:00 p.m.)

One flat-out criticism that can't be overlooked is the sloppy nature of the fact-checking that went into this book. Luci Baines Johnson, LBJ's daughter, has her first name consistently misspelled throughout; Governor Connally's last name, similarly, is spelled two different ways; and, most unforgivably, one of the central figures in the assassination, patrolman J.D. Tippit--murdered by Oswald shortly after the president was shot--is referred to as "Officer Tibbet." It's errors like these that call into question the credibility of the entire enterprise.

This book recounts the events of that fateful day and draws a portrait of Lyndon Johnson, the man who would become the next president that afternoon. Johnson's personality quirks and insecurities are noted throughout the book, as well as the frosty relationship between him and Robert Kennedy that goes back to the 1960 Democratic Convention, when Johnson felt RFK wanted to JFK dump him as a running mate. The grief and shock of the events of November 22 brought to the surface long simmering feuds between the Kennedy and Johnson camps that remained long after the president's death. This book sheds new light on how the main actors of this tragedy really felt about each other and how personalities and politics shaped the Democratic Party and its fortunes in 1968.

To people of my generation (read: OLD) who lived through the Kennedy assassination, this book is a very interesting read. The focus of the book is the relationship between the Kennedys and LBJ, and though I knew there was some animosity between them, I never realized the extent or depth of it. I saw a special on the History Channel about the twenty-four hours after Kennedy's death, and this inspired me to find this book.
For political junkies with a love for American history, this is definitely a book to read.

This book is not about the assassination of JFK. It is about the two factions of government and the new president, LBJ. Kennedy's Irish Mafia tells its' side of the what the new president was like right after the assassination, and then leads us though the first 24 hours of the Johnson Administration. The Johnson cronies tell us their idea of what happened, as their man tried to assume power from the horrible tragedy that killed a very popular and elite president. Very fast paced and a good read.

The author reexamines some of the many misconceptions that grew after JFK was shot down in Dallas. In the rush to saint JFK, LBJ became the bad guy. Using the perspective of time as well as the inclusion of some new material not avaible to earlir researchers, this book presents a more balanced view.

I think that little in this book is new or earth shaking but it is a fast and a good read.

Steven Gillon has a very solid look at one or two "small" corners of Jack Kennedy's assassination.

The first is, about transition of power worries of the first, and so far only, assassination of a president in the nuclear age. Contra to some people who say, "What's the big deal whether Jack Kennedy" officially was declared dead at 1 p.m. or at 12:53 p.m., if Oswald HAD been part of either a Soviet or a Cuban conspiracy, this would have been HUGE! And, as Gilliam shows, Johnson and just about everybody else was thinking this was at least a possibility.

The second corner is that Jack's assassination ripped the mask of politeness off the RFK-LBJ angst, and rubbed salt in it. Gillon shows how a variety of LBJ worry about Bobby's reaction to decisions of his, LBJ's natural duplicity, the Irish Mafia's snobbishness and more, all contributed to making reasonable decisions into tragic grand opera, or comic opera or a bit of both. Gilliam makes a good effort to get past the "spin" both camps put on some of their decisions and largely succeeds.

This is a bit pricey as a book, even for today, and might be more four-star than five, if my review were the only one. But, as at other times, reviews here on Amazon are a blog of sorts, and sometimes, a review's star-weight needs bumping upward, or downward, to counter the current average.

Steven M. Gillon is a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. This new book is a companion piece to the History Channel Documentary on the Kennedy assassination in Dallas on Friday November 22nd 1963. This was truly the "black Friday" in American history.
In this short book the author focuses the camera on the actions, thoughts and plans of Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) the former Senate Majority Leader and a Texas liberal. Kennedy had been visiting Texas for money to pay of the Democratic Party's huge debts, add to his war chest for the 1964 re-election campaign and to patch up a Texas Democratic Party war between liberals led by Senator Ralph Yarborough and conservatives whose standard bearer was Governor John Connollay.
Gillon says that the first day LBJ was president revealed the flaws and postive aspects of his larger than life character which would be revealed in his five year presidency. Among the points made are:
1. LBJ was considerate of Jackie Kennedy in her moments of horrible grief. He was the only vice-president who had to take office after the chief executive was instantly killed.
2.LBJ and Robert F. Kennedy the attorney general and JFK's ambitious brother despised one another. LBJ felt inferior around the wealthy ivy league educated Kennedys and their supporters.
3. Tensions developed over where the oath of office would be taken and who would escort Mrs. Kennedy off the plane.
4. LBJ was a man of action who began planning the Great Society when the plane returned to Washington.
5.LBJ is a tragic figure whose great domestic programs of health care and education were destroyed by race riots and the Vietnam War.
This book is a good introduction to the assassination of JFK and a sage look into the soul of LBJ. Well recommended and worthy of your spending time and money. The book is short, well written and can be perused in one or two days.

I have just read a large print edition of this book, which is an interesting read and,if nothing else, makes one aware of certain nuances of the early moments of the transition of power. Moreover, the many endnotes verifying sources are valuable. The book could be improved by more careful editing, especially in chapter 17, where some of the usage errors give a jolt in a book that presumes to rise above the colloquial and be even mildly scholarly. Perhaps the two persons in Basic Books mentioned in the acknoledgements didn't see these pages?