Customer Reviews

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Doris Kearns prefers to write about people she likes. This is fine, even if it is something of a limitation. WHile she prefers to avoid the "pathography" genre, unfortunately I feel that she gives people of power a bit too much of a break. She clearly lives in a different world than Robert A. Caro, who tries to balance the good with the undeniable evil and abuse. Kearns' world is populated by people of good will, inspiration, and talent; their backroom deals, egotism, and other less appealing aspects are mentioned, but do not seem to infect the more positive sides of their character. It is one view, and quite valid as far as it goes.

ALso, Kearns' personal presence is in this book. SHe was an aide for Johnson, whom he cultivated and then used to ghost-write his self-serving memoir, The Vantage Point. So she is well versed in Johnsonia and 60s history and has great stories to tell about Presidential electric toothbrushes and the like. But you can also tell that she loved the guy - he would even creep into her bed at his ranch, where she describes herself as listening to him instead of you know what. I think that that great pol seduced her, if not physically then spiritually.

Kearns' voice is an important one, as her presence on TV attests. SHe is a fluent writer with a distinctive voice of unwavering optimism. However, you just have to wonder if she glides on the surface and avoids the tough questions, preferring instead to buy into self-promoting myth.

Goodwin's writing style is fluid and lyrical. She tells a story of a great president with a great deal of compassion and interesting criticism. Her personal experiences as an aid on Johnson's staff make this a unique account about him. Johnson allowed Goodwin close contact with his personality, political style, and drive to improve this country. The book has a great assortment of personal and public history with plenty of anecdotes thrown into the mix. This biography brings Johnson's inner character to life as well as details some of many policy decisions of his illustrious political career.

Doris Kearns Goodwin has done a great service to history with this book. All too often members of any important person's staff take a far different approach to this type of project. Those who know their subject in ways the rest of us can never know that person often hide all of the warts and paint their former boss as a near saint. Not Goodwin. In this book the reader will get a look at the whole LBJ, good and bad.

Goodwin starts with Johnson's childhood and may get a little carried away with psychoanalytical insights including a reference to Freud. Her conclusions may be right on target but as she herself admits most of her conclusions were based on Johnson's tales of his childhood and he tended to remember his past as he wanted it to be instead of as it was. That same fault would haunt him as President as he convinced himself everything was fine when things were far from fine.

We get the first real look at the LBJ who would dominate the Senate while he is in college. There he works long and hard to overthrow the old guard and make himself the most powerful student on campus. The same tactics he used in college would make him the most powerful man in the Senate and the most powerful Democrat in the country while Ike was President. It seems that Johnson assumed he could use those same tactics yet again to make him as V.P. the real power behind JFK. Instead he found that Bobby Kennedy held that position and wasn't about to move over for Johnson.

Somehow it didn't sink in to Johnson that if what had worked so well in the Senate didn't work for the Vice President it wasn't likely to work for the President. In fact, as Goodwin points out, the very qualities that made him a great leader in the Senate often had the oppisite effect in the White House. For example, his secret way of doing business in the Senate had served him well. Once he was in the White House he decided if he could keep the American people from finding out what was really going on in Vietnam he could keep the Great Society going strong. With or without the public's knowledge the simple economics of the situation buried the Great Society.

There are many other examples like this in Goodwin's book which makes Johnson's failure much more understandable. Needless to say, if you are interested in the Vietnam era, the Presidency, or the civil rights movement this book is a must. Or if you are a baby boomer like myself this book will help you understand what was going on around you during your childhood. Many works by scholars of Goodwin's stature are dry and hard to read but I think anyone will find this is a very readable book.

For those wanting to see the tragedy which is Lyndon Baines Johnson, this book, as well as the new release by Robert Dallek("Fallen Giant"), is a perfect buy.

LBJ's Presidency was, indeed, a horrible tragedy. LBJ had the greatest of intentions in regard to civil rights, social welfare and fighting Communism. Yet, all ended up as a disaster. Civil rights, though surely the greatest aspect of his Presidency, has been regressed recently due to the fact that the action taken by Democrats and Liberals during the 1960's. The "white backlash" has resulted in a right of center national attitude on the subject. The Social Welfare policies taken by the Administration were quite succesful on some parts, such as Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to K-12 public schools and Head Start, and horrible in others, such as the welfare crisis explosions and Model Cities. Yet, the overall assessment of these programs has been, unfairly I think, negative. In regard to fighting Communism, history all too tragically tells the story.

Goodwin, I think, draws a fair picture of LBJ's legacy here. She does not progress the view that he is a great President, but a would-be great President who deserves to be known as a 'good' one. He was a good one. He passed into law great programs, such as Medicare, Head Start, Minimum Wage increases, consumer protection, environmental protection and labor law reform. He pushed through 3 grant and giant civil rights laws. He is THE civil rights President, in my view. He pushed through the brand of legislation which no other President could pass through. Yet, Vietnam ruined it all. This sounds rather Clintonian! Yes, he did great things domestically, but his lies and 'credibility gap' only worsened the coming crisis in public confidence in government. For that, he deserves some rebuke.

This is also a great book for the grand human side of LBJ. Here you see LBJ as not only the great Presidential leader, but as the human. After all, we can not forget that this 'fallen giant' was indeed nothing but a human with the greatest of intentions. Unfortunately, public opinion is against LBJ to this day, as are some historians. That is a tragedy for I believe we will never have a leader who would have enough guts to say to the American people that 'we shall overcome.' May the good aspect of LBJ's legacy and works live on and be appreciated and may we simply understand his failings as only a part of the man and his vision.

Whatever your political views might be about this political party or another, there is no arguing that Lyndon Johnson had a long and productive political career. There is also no arguing that his personality was almost as large as the events that he took part in. All of this is covered by this very engaging and interesting one volume look into this presidents life. The author gives the reader a nice overview of LBJ's up bringing, takes you through his political life right to the presidential years. There is a constant battle within the book as to what was more interesting, the odd, ego driven and larger then life personality of LBJ or the significant issues that he covered especially during the presidential years.

What I found most interesting about this book was the view into LBJ's personality. It is surprising to me about just much of an egomaniac LBJ was. You have to wonder if it was the massive "me first" view of the world that gave him the ability to pass through the legislation he did or was his political skill such that it exaggerated his ego. Overall I found the book very enjoyable. There was a lot of great bits of info tossed in and the book did not get bogged down into legislative details. I did think that the authors admiration for LBJ seeped into the reporting, but overall it did seem fair. What I was left with was not a better view of his accomplishments, but just how unique a man he was. If you are interesting in LBJ, American Presidents or just the twentieth century, then I would recommend this book.

After finishing David Halberstam's "Best and the Brightest," I decided to learn what Goodwin had to say about LBJ. I was disappointed. This book does not even mention the word "Tonkin" in any way, shape, or form. How can you write a book about LBJ and not mention Tonkin? Well, that's where my 3-star rating comes in. For despite a superficial treatment of Johnson's White House years, Goodwin does succeed in communicating the enormity of Johnson's tragic ego-centrism and insecurity. First came Johnson, then Nixon. Which means the collective "we" elected two very sick personalities to the highest office in the land without nary batting an eyelash. Which of course is a comment on "us" and I believe that is part of Goodwin's thesis.

Although Goodwin's access to Johnson certainly provided for some incredible insights into the psychological mess that was LBJ, I am not a fan of historians who over-use psychoanalysis in the treatment of their subjects. Although Johnson certainly was and remains a candidate for a good shrink, I don't think Goodwin has the credentials to make a psycho-analytic case. And after finishing the book, I think she really didn't need to try. She could allow the reader to make up his/her own mind about Johnson by just sticking with the facts. The ironies and themes that keep popping up over and over would make such a case all by themselves.

Goodwin does a masterful job of relating the truly incredible story of Johnson's rise in local and national politics, in particular his successful seizure of power in the Senate. That story could stand all by itself. But if you're really interested in Johnson and Viet Nam, be sure to pick up Halberstam's book. Much of that information is glossed over or left out of Goodwin's work completely, making this particular volume light on detail and political insight while strong on bringing to life LBJ's huge ego. Which of course means what the presence of such usually means in an individual - that his self esteem was severly wanting.

Also, Goodwin could probably benefit from updating the fate of The Great Society. She leads you to believe that the whole thing was dismantled by Nixon. In fact, much of The Great Society remains intact to this very day, and much of it has, through its continued existence over time, been adopted as normative by both parties.

A great biography of one of the greatest Presidents of the twentieth century. Lyndon Johnson, whether people like it or not, has left an indelible mark on American society with his programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, his tough and admirable stance on civil rights, and, in a very different way - his war in Vietnam.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, who first met Johnson while a student at Harvard, and became close to him in his later life, has written a book that is much a memoir of her times with the man as it is a general overview of his life. Other reviewers have complained that her study of Johnson is too psychological, and places too much importance on linking his childhood experiences to his later life. I strongly disagree. Too many biographies of important people seem to gloss over their childhood, but understanding a person's childhood is paramount in understanding how it shaped their outlook on life. Another common complaint of this book is that Goodwin is not critical enough of Johnson, but again, anyone who has read this book properly will know this is simply not true. Goodwin time and time again highlights Johnson's flaws - his tendency to withdraw from competition if he felt there was the slightest chance of him losing, his childlike love of power, and his inability to admit where he went wrong. If anything, I believe the author does not praise Johnson high enough.

Vietnam of course was a mistake, no one in their right mind would claim otherwise, but domestically, Johnson was an undeniably outstanding President. People have time and time again claimed that Vietnam was the main factor that undermined Johnson's Presidency, which I agree with, but I also think the other big mistake Johnson made was becoming President after Kennedy. Lacking his predecessor's good looks, charm and charisma, Johnson was never going to win over the American people in the way that Kennedy did. But his ingenious negotiating skills, his concern for the country's poor, and his stance on civil rights that saw him do more for African Americans than any other President in history barring Lincoln, means that Johnson was more than a worthy successor. His Great Society programs, while not as successful as he would have hoped, still helped in the fight against poverty. Even with Vietnam, many contemporary historians contend he had fewer options than was believed at the time, and the way Nixon initially handled the war before pulling out shows that Johnson should not be judged so harshly on the subject as he has been.

A beautifully written tribute to a great President and an equally fascinating character.

I wanted to like this book. Goodwin is a respected author (Pulitzer Prize winner, etc). But I didn't enjoy her writing style. Her tone is arrogant. She repeatedly psychoanalyzes - or, rather, psychoBABBLEizes - LBJ. Too often, her subject matter is herself - HER thoughts, HER feelings, HER background. Who cares about her? This book is supposed to be about LBJ. What was Goodwin ever the President of? The President of boring, if you ask me.

This book by Doris Kearns Goodwin has too much of one thing and not enough of a couple of things. This book has too much psychoanalysis, relating every decision Johnson made back to his childhood, or his parents. One thing this book lacks is interesting stories. LBJ was probably the most colorful President in history, yet this book depicts him much differently. Finally this book lacks a lot of information about his time in the Senate. LBJ was a much more successful senator than president, yet this book flies through the Senate years. The stuff about the Presidency is great though and you do understand this man better after reading this book.

Dorris Kearns Goodwin is a great history and a marvelous writer. She is a little to close to her subject in this book. That being said I think Lydon Johnson and the American Dream is a great read for political and historical enthusiasts. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars because it truly covered his life from start to finish, connects at a personal level, and its well deserved. I'm currently reading a bio on all of the presidents and this one provides an interesting perspective so I would recommend this one on Lydon B Johnson.