Customer Reviews

LBJ: A Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want a quick, easy read on LBJ and don't want many minute details, this is the book for you. It is written in a breezy and readable style, but the research and footnotes here are haphazard, at best. If you want a more scholarly, reliable look at Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro and Robert Dalleck have written the much superior works.

However, this biography does illuminate LBJ's private life quite well and throws additional light on his complicated relationship with Lady Bird. It is also refreshing to see a sympathetic biography of Johnson, who has been pilloried for Vietnam and never given the credit he deserves as the greatest civil rights President in American history.

This is a good introduction for students of LBJ and will hopefully spur people on to read in greater depth about his flawed giant of a man.

But not only does this book suffer the fate of any one-volume biography, that of being neccessarily incomplete, but it also is rather sloppily written, at least by the standards of academic works. It has about as many instances of trivial sloppinesses, such as "He tried outfor the baseball team..." or The new student activism was a electric shock..." as I'd expect to see in a mass-market paperback, mistakes which I'm much less willing to accept in a book like this one.

A far superior biography of Johnson can be found in Rober Dallek's two-volume set, "Lone Star Rising" and "Flawed Giant".

This is an excellent biography. As an avid presidential history buff, I was fairly familiar with Lyndon Johnson's accomplishments as President. I was surprised to learn, however, Johnson's rise from freshman Congressman from rural Texas to Majority leader in an amazingly short amount of time. He was the towering figure in the Senate in the 1950's and accomlished much, even though the Democrats were in the minority during most of the Eisenhower years. LBJ was able to get votes where others couldn't by the sheer force of his personality. His ability to work with the members on the opposite side of the aisle should be emulated by most of today's politicians, who put partisan politics above what is best for the country.

Irwin and Debi Unger do an excellent job of trying to explain what drove LBJ. His rural background gave him an inferiority complex that caused him to work harder and longer than everyone else to get things done. It also made him feel that the public never fully appreciated his service to the country, especially after rising to the Presidency because of the assassination of JFK, a beloved figure.

If not for his ill-advised Vietnam polcies, however, I believe Johnson would have been re-elected in 1968 and would have been remembered as one of our great Presidents. Overall, an excellent read for both admirers and critics of LBJ.

The Ungers have composed a carefully researched, sympathetic and for the most part fascinating primer biography of one of the most demonized President in contemporary history.

What that means is while the Ungers do a fine job defending LBJ from his many attackers by illustrating many of his fine political gifts and successes, the entire book appears somewhat abridged.

The Ungers frequently hint at Johnson's warts and missteps, but never do they fully explore and expand. This is not to suggest that dirt digging would a better book make, simply that bringing such points up need, I feel fleshing out. Unlike McCullough, Amrose and Ellis, the Ungers aren't quite as successful as building, in a one volume form, the broader historical and cultural spectrum for LBJ. The book certainly needs a touch of "the bigger picture".

This criticism aside, LBJ certainly works as a fine introduction to a complex man who was a gifted politician who possessed an uncanny ability to forge bipartisian coalitions to pass a great many pieces of legislation. Were it not for the inherited morass of Vietnam, the Ungers suggest that history could have been much kinder to the man from Texas.

The LBJ as portrayed in this book is a driven man plagued by many contradictions, least of all his oscillation between depression and doubt and victory and satisfaction.

LBJ as book, despite its overall "Reader's Digest" feel, does introduce Johnson to a new generation. A solid read.

What a treat it was to read a one-volume biography of Johnson which included just enough detail to give you a complete, colorful picture of his entry into politics, his ascendency in Congress, and his almost-brilliant Presidency! Unger focuses on LBJs childhood and relationship with his mother to set the table for the glaringly apparent psychological handicaps (insecurity, need for adulation)that held him back from greatness later in life. Reading about his years as a Congressional aide conjures up images of an innocent, pre World War II Washington DC where a young man could come from the dust bowl of Texas and seize the reigns of power. The story of LBJ's first, breathtaking campaign for Congress is memorable, as is the well-narrated U.S. Senate race a few years later, giving us insight into the complexities of the Texas Democratic Party of the 1940s. The reader rises along with LBJ through the U.S. Senate into his role as Majority Leader, and his fateful decision to seek the 1960 Presidential nomination (while avoiding the primaries) and his decision to run with JFK that year. Unger paints a picture of Johnson as a man with boundless energy and drive, who was instrumental in some of the great New Deal programs, which set the stage for the slew Great Society legislation he got passed in 1964 and 1965. When the book has you at the height of his Presidency, getting everything he wants from Congress, mastering his relations with the House and Senate in a way no President has been able to approach since him, with a booming economy and feeling on the verge of breakthroughs in civil rights, poverty, housing, environment and urban renewal, the ugliness of the war in Vietnam creeps in and you can actually feel the presidency weakening, the country dividing, and LBJ losing his place in history as some one who worked harder for minorities, women and the poor than perhaps every other President combined (if it sounds like idolotry, just read what he did!) The difficulties in Vietnam, and the agonizing decision over whether to run in 1968, while desperately trying to make a breakthrough in the peace process in Vietnam (all the while escalating the war and sending more troops just to preserve the status quo!)and Johnson's unseemly poutiness which perhaps cost Humphrey the 68 election to Nixon, all paint an objective portrait of LBJ as a man who basked in greatness and suffered in defeat, and one who demanded unrealistic loyalty from all those around him but showed little in return at times. He dies just 4 years after leaving the White House and it is sobering to read how he spent those years attempting to repair his image and remain relevant. This book was a great read for anyone interested in learning what is actually a history of our government from World War II into the 1970s. You finish the book feeling that Vietnam truly robbed Johnson of what would otherwise have been a brilliant presidency, and hoping that future historians will see his near-greatness.

Irwin and Debi Usher wrote this book about our thirty-sixth president. They tell the tale of a man who would spend a life in politics fighting for the poor and underprivileged, yet would involve the nation is one of the bloodiest and stupidest wars in its history. The late Tim Russert once described him as the victor of a thousand battles who was ultimately beaten in the end. The story of Lyndon B. Johnson is one of tragedy and triumph.

Johnson was born in 1908, the year William H. Taft was elected president, his grandfather and father; both named Sam Johnson, were fighters for the common people. The Ushers tell a story of a Lyndon Johnson who followed his father's career in the state legislature very closely, watching him do politics and fight for benefits for the common people. In some ways, the reason why Johnson would go off to Washington so early in his career, is he had already experienced a career in Austin by being so close to his father.

Johnson would first go to the U.S. Congress as a congressional aide before winning his own seat in 1936. Johnson was a very eager young new dealer, the tall skinny Congressman from Texas was on very good terms with the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR would refer to Johnson as 'his boy' in Texas. His time in Congress was interrupted by World War II. LBJ would serve as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.

In 1948 he would fulfill a prophecy his grandfather made when he was born, that he would be a U.S. Senator. Johnson would take to the Senate like a fish to water. In only two years, he convinced his colleagues in the Democratic caucus, after the massive defeat in the 1952 presidential election that saw the Democrats lose of the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time in twenty years, to make him the new minority leader. Two years later, he had the Democrats back in the majority and for the first (and only) time in the history of the U.S. Senate the body had a ruler. Johnson would be the master of the Senate, whatever came out of that body during the next six years had to have Johnson's approval, and if it did not it was dead on arrival.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy, a little accomplished senator from the state of Massachusetts, shocked the world by winning the presidential nomination on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention. Johnson would end up joining the ticket, to the horror of Bobby Kennedy, and was probably the most important pick a presidential candidate had ever made in regards to a running mate and was crucial to Kennedy's narrow victory over Richard Nixon.

"When it came to Congress he felt like a powerless outsider among the people he had once so successfully dominated. And he could barely bring himself to help Kennedy in the legislative area, where his services would have been most appreciated. 'Johnson pulled back...after that caucus,' related a Kennedy aide. 'He hadn't expected it, and it made him reluctant to approach senators.' At the weekly White House breakfast meetings for legislative leaders, Johnson was uncharacteristically silent. He looked tired and tense, giving his opinion only when specifically asked by Kennedy to offer one, usually mumbling his answers." p.261

Johnson was miserable as vice president; he was not a Kennedy insider and was not close to those who were. He was no longer allowed in the Senate caucus and was at times utterly miserable. Johnson and President Kennedy got along enough but Johnson was at a career low. In Dallas, on November 22, 1963, while campaigning, the President of the United States was assassinated in front the nation on live television. On Air Force One, Johnson was sworn in as the new president. Assuming the role of mourner-in-chief, Johnson led a grieving nation. With the martyr ghost of JFK at his side Johnson would get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. The Republicans would nominate the extreme Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Johnson would slaughter him in the biggest landslide elections in our nation's history.

"There were still pestiferous amendments to get out the way, 115 in all. All told there were 106 Senate roll-call votes on the bill. It was clear that the real battle was over, however, when at one point, Richard Russell was speaking and Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy cut him off, telling him his time was up. Dick Russell had never been treated so rudely before. As Russell took his seat, he had tears in his eyes. Finally, Dirksen came up with a 'revised' bill, one that almost a duplicate of the strong measure the House had passed in February. The one proviso that diluted the bill somewhat was the 'Mrs. Murphy's clause,' exempting from nondiscrimination provisions boardinghouses with no more than five rooms to rent. Nine days after cloture was invoked, the Dirksen bill passed the Senate, 73 to 27. On July 2 Johnson signed into law the most comprehensive civil rights act in the nation's history." p.311

Johnson would unveil his 'Great Society' programs in a revival of New Deal polices that would see the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Johnson's programs would become as important as Roosevelt's New Deal reforms in the 1930s. However as the war in Vietnam escalated, Johnson sent more and more troops in, feeling that doing anything else was appeasement. Facing a hostile right and an increasingly dissatisfied left--that had very little appreciation for what had been accomplished but was really concerned about what had not. Race riots that were occurring that became worse after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy that June killed the hopes of the Democratic Party in the election of 1968.

"In truth, his advisers' views did not entirely conflict with Johnson's own inclinations. The president's understanding of twentieth-century history, especially the abysmal appeasement chapter of Munich, would not allow him to surrender part of the Free World to Communist subversion without a fight. Shortly after the Ann Arbor speech, Johnson discussed American policy in Southeast Asia at a news conference. In Vietnam, he said, he would be guided by four principals: One, 'American keeps her word.' Two, 'The issue is the future of Southeast Asia as a whole.' Three, 'Our purpose is peace.' Four, 'This is not a jungle war, but a struggle for freedom on every front of human activity.'" p.319

Johnson having already declined to run for another full term sat back and watched his vice president, Hubert Humphrey; lose the presidency to Richard M. Nixon. On January 20, 1969, Johnson was replaced as president by the man who he had replaced as vice president eight years earlier. Johnson entered his post-presidency extremely unpopular; he went back to Texas to work on his ranch. He watched the party he loved make the serious mistake of nominating George McGovern, who was beaten nearly as badly in 1972 as Goldwater was in 1964.

Lyndon Johnson died on January 22, 1973 had he served another term as president then he would have lived only two days after the term ended. I highly recommend this book about President Johnson; the Ungers do an incredible job telling the story of a complicated president.

This biography of Lyndon Johnson is certainly worth reading if his life interests you, although it is largely a sympathetic and somewhat incomplete work. The authors take pains to document LBJ's life from his hardscrabble roots in Texas to the apex of his Presidency, and finally, his rapid downfall.

The bulk of the book focuses on Johnson's legislative accomplishments and burgeoning war in Vietnam after he assumed the Presidency upon Kennedy's death. Here the authors offer little critique of his free-spending ways, although the growing concern over the rapid growth of government spending and the economic fallout from it are explored.

Throughout the book Johnson's relationships and hands-on personality are frequently examined, along with his perplexing feelings of inferiority. Perhaps the most telling parts of the biography is when its mentioned that Johnson could little enjoy his brief moment of popularity since he feared it would not last. In the end his management of the Vietnam War and rebellion within the Democratic party is what led to his decision to serve just a single full term.

Johnson's love for his wife Lady Bird and children are evident in the book, as well as his concern for the civil rights movement and the less fortunate. However, at the same time Johnson had great disdain for anyone who offered a different viewpoint than himself, especially from the intellectual classes. It's hard to believe he ever agreed to be Kennedy's V.P!

Overall I recommend the book because it presents a view of Johnson that, while being sympathetic, does not sugarcoat his shortcomings and his ultimate political fall from grace. I think readers will get a view of Johnson that is overlooked today since he seems to be overshadowed by the Vietnam War itself and his legacy is too complicated for today's 10 second soundbites.

On reading a one-volume biography on an individual that had such a long career in public office you know that it is an overview, there is just not the pages to really go through the work he did. If you are interested in LBJ you know that there are any number of books that focus on his decisions with the Viet Nam war and his record on civil rights laws. There may be even a few that talk about his plan to assassinate JFK but they belong with in the fiction section. What this book provides to the reader is a well-documented and constructed book that covers his life. Personally I could have done with less on his life before the age of 18, but that is standard fair for a bio.

The reader gets a good overview of the civil rights battles and laws LBJ fought for and put in place. It covers this section rather well and it left me wondering if maybe the authors focused on this positive aspect of his LBJ's presidency to the detriment of his dealings with the war. To be honest this was the section of the book I was most interested with and felt the authors could have done a better job and provided more detail.

The book is a good overview of LBJ. I felt the authors had a positive view of LBJ and if there were room for maneuver, they would take the road that left him in a more positive light. This is a good, broad review geared for the reader that maybe just starting to look into LBJ or just wants a nice general overview. If this is what you are looking for then this is the book for you.

an excellent biography of the career of LBJ, craftilly weaving between the simple values man and the complex politician. very worthwhile reading