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Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency
Nearly fifty years after being sworn in as president of the United States in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Baines Johnson remains a largely misunderstood figure. His force of personality, mastery of power and the political process, and boundless appetite for social reform made him one of the towering figures of his time. But he was one of the most protean and paradoxical of presidents as well. Because of his flawed nature and inherent contradictions, some claimed there were as many LBJs as there were people who knew him.
Intent on fulfilling the promise of America, Johnson launched a revolution in civil rights, federal aid to education, and health care for the elderly and indigent, and expanded immigration and environmental protection. A flurry of landmark laws—he would sign an unparalleled 207 during his five years in office, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Head Start, and Medicare—are testaments to the triumph of his will. His War on Poverty alone brought the U.S. poverty rate down from 20 percent to 12 percent, the biggest one-time drop in American history. As president, he was known for getting things done.
At the same time, Johnson’s presidency—and the fulfillment of its own promise—was blighted by his escalation of an ill-fated war in Vietnam that tore at the fabric of America and saw the loss of 36,000 U.S. troops by the end of his term.
Presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove offers an intimate portrait of the endlessly fascinating LBJ, his extraordinarily eventful presidency, and the turbulent times in which he served. We see Johnson in his many guises and dimen the virtuoso deal-maker using every inch of his six-foot-three-inch frame to intimidate his subjects, the relentless reformer willing to lose southern Democrats from his party for a generation in his pursuit of civil rights for all Americans, and the embattled commander in chief agonizing over the fate of his “boys” in Vietnam—including his two sons-in-law—yet steadfast in his determination to thwart Communist aggression through war, or an honorable peace.
Through original interviews and personal accounts from White House aides and Cabinet members, political allies and foes, and friends and family—from Robert McNamara to Barry Goldwater, Lady Bird Johnson to Jacqueline Kennedy—as well as through Johnson’s own candid reflections and historic White House telephone conversations, Indomitable Will reveals LBJ as never before. “ For it is through firsthand narrative more than anything,” writes Updegrove, “that Lyndon Johnson—who teemed with vitality in his sixty-four years and remains enigmatic nearly four decades after his passing—comes to life.”
Intent on fulfilling the promise of America, Johnson launched a revolution in civil rights, federal aid to education, and health care for the elderly and indigent, and expanded immigration and environmental protection. A flurry of landmark laws—he would sign an unparalleled 207 during his five years in office, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Head Start, and Medicare—are testaments to the triumph of his will. His War on Poverty alone brought the U.S. poverty rate down from 20 percent to 12 percent, the biggest one-time drop in American history. As president, he was known for getting things done.
At the same time, Johnson’s presidency—and the fulfillment of its own promise—was blighted by his escalation of an ill-fated war in Vietnam that tore at the fabric of America and saw the loss of 36,000 U.S. troops by the end of his term.
Presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove offers an intimate portrait of the endlessly fascinating LBJ, his extraordinarily eventful presidency, and the turbulent times in which he served. We see Johnson in his many guises and dimen the virtuoso deal-maker using every inch of his six-foot-three-inch frame to intimidate his subjects, the relentless reformer willing to lose southern Democrats from his party for a generation in his pursuit of civil rights for all Americans, and the embattled commander in chief agonizing over the fate of his “boys” in Vietnam—including his two sons-in-law—yet steadfast in his determination to thwart Communist aggression through war, or an honorable peace.
Through original interviews and personal accounts from White House aides and Cabinet members, political allies and foes, and friends and family—from Robert McNamara to Barry Goldwater, Lady Bird Johnson to Jacqueline Kennedy—as well as through Johnson’s own candid reflections and historic White House telephone conversations, Indomitable Will reveals LBJ as never before. “ For it is through firsthand narrative more than anything,” writes Updegrove, “that Lyndon Johnson—who teemed with vitality in his sixty-four years and remains enigmatic nearly four decades after his passing—comes to life.”
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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March 6, 2015
"The Lyndon Johnson I worked with was brave and brutal, compassionate and cruel, incredibly intelligent and infuriatingly insensitive, with a shrewd and uncanny instinct for the jugular of his adversaries. He could be altruistic and petty, caring and crude, generous and petulant, blatantly honest and calculatingly devious-all within the same few minutes."
- Joseph Califano, special assistant to the President, 1965-1969
This was an audio experience unlike any other. This book aims to portray the magnitude, paradoxical nature and complexity of Lyndon Baines Johnson through the recollections of those around him. However, what made this so incredible as an audiobook was that they actually spliced in speeches and phone calls when possible. Hearing LBJ on the phone with the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie O, Eisenhower and (perhaps especially) Lady Bird, made this feel like a real living, breathing history.
That author, Mark Updegrove, gives us LBJ in all of his complexity is a rarity unto itself. History seems to have taken every opportunity to "put a dark twist to something Johnson did." While he was by no means innocent of accusations lobbed at him (especially with respect to Vietnam), this has resulted in a skewed sense of the ways in which the Johnson Administration changed the lives of American Citizens.
Vietnam came at the end of Johnson's stint as POTUS, and we seem to remember endings best. The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Office of Economic Opportunity- Johnson's legislation was not insignificant. While I don't have a conclusion to draw from all this, the tragedy that was LBJ's time in office and legacy became richly apparent to me by the end of this book. As a people, we seem to need villains (and I am no exception).
Updegrove mentions (and I'll leave you with) the covers of TimeMagazine that bestowed LBJ with the title of "Man of the Year" (the first in 1965, the latter in '68) which capture a certain sense of his fall from grace.
March 20, 2012
Hey, I have a question. Isn't it about time that scholarship in Lyndon Johnson addressed a very salient fact? Namely, that LBJ shot his way into the White House?
Lyndon Johnson's signature achievement - the civil rights act - was his "get out of jail card" for the JFK assassination. Many liberals justifiably believed that LBJ was behind the murder of JFK, so he had to give them something. Civil rights was LBJ's bone to the liberals who deeply distrusted him. The real agenda of LBJ was to keep himself out of jail and free himself from the Bobby Baker scandal, preserve the oil depreciation allowance for other oil executive perps in the JFK assassination, reward hawks in CIA/military and let his good buddy Hoover keep his job.
Mark Updegrove, the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, is in a pickle. Does he tell the TRUTH about Lyndon Johnson or does he get fired from his job? Many, many, many people in life choose to keep their jobs/status/position of privilege rather than tell the truth. Or, more importantly, even seek the truth.
This book has the feel of a "rush job" - as if someone said get out something fairly positive on LBJ asap. So apparently the staff just glommed together some LBJ quotes and quotes about LBJ and "bingo!" we have an instant book, wafer thin on any analysis of LBJ and who he really was.
Here is one of the quotes that the staff somehow overlooked.
Gus Russo:
In his oral history, Robert Kennedy bitterly recounted a remark that Johnson supposedly made to someone else after the assassination. "When I was young in Texas, I used to know a cross-eyed boy," Johnson said. "His eyes were crossed, and so was his character... That was God's retribution for people who were bad - and you should be careful of cross-eyed people because God put his mark on them ... Sometimes I think that what happened to Kennedy may have been divine retribution." JFK himself had slightly crossed eyes.
[Leo Janos, LBJ speechwriter, Church Committee interview by Rhett Dawson, Oct. 14, 1975 ... also Gus Russo, Live by the Sword, p. 377]
Another insightful LBJ conversation that was somehow was overlooked for this effort: the talk that Lyndon Johnson had on the night of 12/31/63, just 6 weeks after the JFK assassination, with his mistress Madeleine Brown at the Driskill Hotel in Austin:
"Lyndon, you know that a lot of people believe you had something to do with President Kennedy's assassination."
He shot up out of bed and began pacing and waving his arms screaming like a madman. I was scared!
"That's bull___, Madeleine Brown!" he yelled. "Don't tell me you believe that ____!"
"Of course not." I answered meekly, trying to cool his temper.
"It was Texas oil and those _____ renegade intelligence bastards in Washington." [said Lyndon Johnson, the new president; Texas in the Morning, p. 189]
I guess that would not put a shine on the LBJ legacy, would it? When will academia start addressing the ugly realities of the JFK assassination in an honest manner?
Updegrove's first chapter is entitled "A Man Who Remains a Mystery." LBJ is not a mystery. It is just there are some folks who just don't want to address the dark side of Lyndon Johnson and tell us who he really was.
The terms "sociopath," "psycopath," "pathological liar" are terms that are often misused; perhaps applied to some people when it is not applicable. Not in the case of Lyndon Johnson, though. LBJ was a textbook psychopath. LBJ was textbook sociopath. LBJ was a textbook pathological liar. Johnson was also a textbook manic depressive, an alcoholic and a very worried man who at times was smoking 60 cigarettes a day.
Lyndon Johnson was ruthless, crude, ultra-vulgar and dangerous. He was a pure a criminal as we have ever had in the White House. And he murdered John Kennedy among many others. The most dangerous psychopaths and sociopaths are the charming ones, the ones with social skills who never get "caught" and never go to jail. They usually die with the fruit of their plunder around them and dozens, hundreds of thousands of human wreckage left in their wake.
These psychopaths have the ability to turn their followers into cult members; they seek people who will toady to them and usually trick people into degrading themselves far beyond what a normal person is willing to do.
Here is Robert Caro on LBJ:
"And by 1941, also the major patterns of his entire life are established and clear. In attaining this influence, he has displayed a genius for discerning a path to power, an utter ruthlessness in destroying obstacles in that path, and a seemingly bottomless capacity for deceit, deception and betrayal in moving along it"
Let's examine some of the folks who appear in Updegrove's work. And some who pointedly do not.
Jack Valenti - if there ever was the human embodiment of the word "sycophant" it would be Jack Valenti. Brownnoser, butt kisser - Valenti was exactly the kind of guy who Lyndon Johnson demanded serve him. Valenti was such a toady that he married LBJ's secretary who Johnson was having an affair with, Mary Margaret Wiley, and pretty much was a "beard" so that the LBJ-Mary Margaret affair could continue. LBJ will tell you that Courtenay Lynda Valenti is the biological daughter of Johnson. After LBJ became president, Jack Valenti would let his "wife" go into the White House to have sex with Johnson.
Read the book "Dog Days at the White House" by Traphes Bryant for more on this.
LBJ and Lew Wasserman, an LBJ donor, later placed Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association where one of his key roles was to continue the cover up of the JFK assassination. Valenti was one of the lead organizers in 1992 of the over-the-top CIA/CFR attacks on the Oliver Stone's movie JFK. Valenti and Bill Moyers, another LBJ toady who sold his preacher boy soul to the devil, also orchestrated the attacks the removed the groundbreaking The Men Who Killed Kennedy (the Guilty Men) from the History Channel. That series was a direct assault on the legacy of Lyndon Johnson and exposed his critical role in the JFK assassination. You can still find it on YouTube.
Another one of LBJ's sychopants who makes an appearance in this book is Doris Kearns (Goodwin), an LBJ flirtation as well as biographer. Her husband Richard Goodwin is on the record as to how scarily mentally unhinged LBJ was a president as he collapsed under the weight of Vietnam and covering up for his role in the JFK assassination. Doris Kearns, presidential historian, is yet another one who has never told the full truth on LBJ.
Maybe it was because she was sleeping with him. You have *got* to read a Sally Quinn WashPost article titled "A Tale of Hearts and Minds" dated 8/24/75.
Sally Quinn:
"Doris Kearns also told authors Richard Harwood and Haynes Johnson about her relationship with LBJ in an interview that Sally Quinn refers to:
"They both took copious notes. In the interview Kearns told the reporters that her relationship with President Johnson was extraordinarily complicated, that she was still having trouble placing it in perspective, that she was troubled about how to handle her personal relationship with Johnson when she published her own book.
She told them that the essence of their relationship was that LBJ was in love with her, the he "pressed me very hard sexually the first year," that he courted her aggressively, the he asked her to marry him, that he was jealous of other men in her life.""
LBJ (age 59) was asking Doris Kearns (age 24) to marry him. My question: what was Lady Bird going to do?
Throw rice at the wedding?
Speaking of Lady Bird, it was painful to read quotes in this book by and about her. Lyndon Johnson humiliated her to no end, both by his ugly remarks and dreadful behavior. I think Lady Bird was "co-dependent" on LBJ in much the same way Hillary was on Bill Clinton. Would you want your daughter to marry Lyndon Johnson?
Most men who cheat on their wifes, at least do it somewhere else. Lyndon Johnson was literally boinking women 2 rooms down from Lady Bird both in the White House and at the LBJ Ranch.
LBJ once made the remark that he had gotten more women by accident than John Kennedy had gotten on purpose. LBJ, JFK and Bill Clinton were all "man-whores" of the first degree.
Again, I ask, can we *finally* start telling the truth about Lyndon Johnson, a man completely unworthy of having a legacy *protected* as this book is such an obvious effort at doing just that?
Bobby Baker - that was LBJ's virtual son as LBJ had been a professional son to Sam Rayburn and Richard Russell. Robert Kennedy was going to use the Bobby Baker scandal in the fall of the 1963 to finally politically execute the hated Lyndon Johnson once and for all. For 3 years the Kennedy brothers were waging a sub rosa war. The Kennedys brought knives the the battle; LBJ brought guns an it was settled at 12:30PM on 11/22/63 in Dallas, TX.
LBJ was one week ago from a LIFE magazine expose of his gargantuan corruption when JFK was murdered. RFK was feeding LIFE and the Senate Rules Committee damaging info on Lyndon Johnson. The word was out: get rid of LBJ.
McGeorge Bundy is in this book. That was the National Security Advisor to JFK who was manning the White House situation room on 11/22/63. McBundy unreasonably and suspiciously adopted the "lone nutter scenario" with in hours when much of the evidence was point to multiple shooters in Dallas. Bundy was also close to Allen Dulles and he was the secretary of the CFR in 1949 when Allen Dulles was the president. McGeorge Bundy assumed a lot of power over Lyndon Johnson post JFK assassination.
His brother Bill Bundy, also CIA and CFR, was the one who authored the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution." That allowed LBJ to wage and unconsitutional, undeclared "hot war" with Congress actually declaring war. LBJ and his staff knew their were serious questions about the attack on the American ships, but it was the provocation they wanted to wage war. A lot of Americans and Vietnamese died because of that.
JFK, as we now know, was very reluctant to go into Vietnam and in fact had plans to withdraw. LBJ told the JCS at their 1963 Christmas party, get me elected and I will give you your war in Vietnam! He did.
"Just let me get elected, and then you can have your war." [Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A History, Viking, 1983, p. 326] Stanley Karnow's source for that LBJ quote was Gen. Harold K. Johnson, the Army chief of staff.
Walter Cronkite- that was the CBS anchor who LBJ told we had been waging "Murder, Inc." in the Carribean. As the revelations of Billie Sol Estes demonstrate, Lyndon Johnson had been waging "Murder, Inc." down in Texas to cover up all his crimes and liability. Yes, LBJ was that evil. LBJ was as worth of the Texas death row as anyone we have had in Texas in the past 60 years.
Gov. Allan Shivers directly accused Lyndon Johnson, to his face, for the murder of Sam Smithwick in the mid 1950's. Sam Smithwick was threatening to talk about the Box 13 scandal and Coke Stevenson was on his way to visit Smithwick. Smithwick was soon found hung in his jail cell. Like Gov. Shivers, I believe that Lyndon Johnson had the man murdered.
Lyndon Johnson was capable of absolutely *anything.* Read the book Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson by D. Jablow Hershman. I consider it a psychological smoking gun to the JFK assassination.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Beyond-Re...
Gerald Ford - that was the FBI's guy on the Warren Commission and he helped to cover up the JFK assassination. Allen Dulles was the primary perp there, but John J. McCloy, longtime chairman of the Rockefeller controlled Council on Foreign Relations and a close friend of Clint Murchison, Sr., was another key cover up artist.
Nicholas Katzenbach - CFR member - that was the man who wrote the memo on Sunday 11/24/63 that the government must doing everything it can to make the American people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald, and only Lee Harvey Oswald, murdered JFK.
Katzenbach:
"The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial."
"Speculation about Oswald's motivation ought to be cut off, and we should have some basis for rebutting thought that this was a Communist conspiracy or (as the Iron Curtain press is saying) a right-wing conspiracy to blame it on the Communists... We need something to head off public speculation or Congressional hearings of the wrong sort."
Oswald was US intelligence and he shot no one on 11/22/63 - not Kennedy and not Tippit. And Oswald sure was not on the Grassy Knoll where most credible JFK researchers and academics think the kill shot to JFK came from.
George Reedy - this man has given us a glimpse into what the real LBJ was like:
"He may have been a son of a bitch, but he was a colossal son of a bitch."
"Not only did Johnson get somewhat separated from reality, he had a fantastic faculty for disorienting everybody around him as to what reality was."
"What was it that would send him into those fantastic rages where he could be one of the nastiest, most insufferable, sadistic SOBs that ever lived and a few minutes later really be a big, magnificent and inspiring leader?"
In his book, Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir by George Reedy... Reedy is quoted on his book flap as calling LBJ "a bully, a sadist, lout, and egoist." He describes LBJ as "magnificent, inspiring leader; the other that of an insufferable bastard."
I have always thought this passage contained a lot of truth regarding Johnson and the JFK assassination:
From Defrauding America, Rodney Stich, 3rd edition 1998 p. 638-639]:
"The Role of deep-cover CIA officer, Trenton Parker, has been described in earlier pages, and his function in the CIA's counter-intelligence unit, Pegasus. Parker had stated to me earlier that a CIA faction was responsible for the murder of JFK ... During an August 21, 1993, conversation, in response to my questions, Parker said that his Pegasus group had tape recordings of plans to assassinate Kennedy. I asked him, "What group were these tapes identifying?" Parker replied: "Rockefeller, Allen Dulles, JOHNSON of Texas, GEORGE BUSH, and J. Edgar Hoover." I asked, "What was the nature of the conversation on these tapes?"
I don't have the tapes now, because all the tape recordings were turned over to [Congressman] Larry McDonald. But I listened to the tape recordings and there were conversations between Rockefeller, [J. Edgar] Hoover, where [Nelson] Rockefeller asks, "Are we going to have any problems?" And he said, "No, we aren't going to have any problems. I checked with Dulles. If they do their job we'll do our job." There are a whole bunch of tapes, because Hoover didn't realize that his phone has been tapped. Defrauding America, Rodney Stich, p. 638-639]
"We can't be checking up on every shooting scrape in the country" Lyndon Johnson, 11/25/63 as LBJ was resisting the formation of the Warren Commission.
Lyndon Johnson's signature achievement - the civil rights act - was his "get out of jail card" for the JFK assassination. Many liberals justifiably believed that LBJ was behind the murder of JFK, so he had to give them something. Civil rights was LBJ's bone to the liberals who deeply distrusted him. The real agenda of LBJ was to keep himself out of jail and free himself from the Bobby Baker scandal, preserve the oil depreciation allowance for other oil executive perps in the JFK assassination, reward hawks in CIA/military and let his good buddy Hoover keep his job.
Mark Updegrove, the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, is in a pickle. Does he tell the TRUTH about Lyndon Johnson or does he get fired from his job? Many, many, many people in life choose to keep their jobs/status/position of privilege rather than tell the truth. Or, more importantly, even seek the truth.
This book has the feel of a "rush job" - as if someone said get out something fairly positive on LBJ asap. So apparently the staff just glommed together some LBJ quotes and quotes about LBJ and "bingo!" we have an instant book, wafer thin on any analysis of LBJ and who he really was.
Here is one of the quotes that the staff somehow overlooked.
Gus Russo:
In his oral history, Robert Kennedy bitterly recounted a remark that Johnson supposedly made to someone else after the assassination. "When I was young in Texas, I used to know a cross-eyed boy," Johnson said. "His eyes were crossed, and so was his character... That was God's retribution for people who were bad - and you should be careful of cross-eyed people because God put his mark on them ... Sometimes I think that what happened to Kennedy may have been divine retribution." JFK himself had slightly crossed eyes.
[Leo Janos, LBJ speechwriter, Church Committee interview by Rhett Dawson, Oct. 14, 1975 ... also Gus Russo, Live by the Sword, p. 377]
Another insightful LBJ conversation that was somehow was overlooked for this effort: the talk that Lyndon Johnson had on the night of 12/31/63, just 6 weeks after the JFK assassination, with his mistress Madeleine Brown at the Driskill Hotel in Austin:
"Lyndon, you know that a lot of people believe you had something to do with President Kennedy's assassination."
He shot up out of bed and began pacing and waving his arms screaming like a madman. I was scared!
"That's bull___, Madeleine Brown!" he yelled. "Don't tell me you believe that ____!"
"Of course not." I answered meekly, trying to cool his temper.
"It was Texas oil and those _____ renegade intelligence bastards in Washington." [said Lyndon Johnson, the new president; Texas in the Morning, p. 189]
I guess that would not put a shine on the LBJ legacy, would it? When will academia start addressing the ugly realities of the JFK assassination in an honest manner?
Updegrove's first chapter is entitled "A Man Who Remains a Mystery." LBJ is not a mystery. It is just there are some folks who just don't want to address the dark side of Lyndon Johnson and tell us who he really was.
The terms "sociopath," "psycopath," "pathological liar" are terms that are often misused; perhaps applied to some people when it is not applicable. Not in the case of Lyndon Johnson, though. LBJ was a textbook psychopath. LBJ was textbook sociopath. LBJ was a textbook pathological liar. Johnson was also a textbook manic depressive, an alcoholic and a very worried man who at times was smoking 60 cigarettes a day.
Lyndon Johnson was ruthless, crude, ultra-vulgar and dangerous. He was a pure a criminal as we have ever had in the White House. And he murdered John Kennedy among many others. The most dangerous psychopaths and sociopaths are the charming ones, the ones with social skills who never get "caught" and never go to jail. They usually die with the fruit of their plunder around them and dozens, hundreds of thousands of human wreckage left in their wake.
These psychopaths have the ability to turn their followers into cult members; they seek people who will toady to them and usually trick people into degrading themselves far beyond what a normal person is willing to do.
Here is Robert Caro on LBJ:
"And by 1941, also the major patterns of his entire life are established and clear. In attaining this influence, he has displayed a genius for discerning a path to power, an utter ruthlessness in destroying obstacles in that path, and a seemingly bottomless capacity for deceit, deception and betrayal in moving along it"
Let's examine some of the folks who appear in Updegrove's work. And some who pointedly do not.
Jack Valenti - if there ever was the human embodiment of the word "sycophant" it would be Jack Valenti. Brownnoser, butt kisser - Valenti was exactly the kind of guy who Lyndon Johnson demanded serve him. Valenti was such a toady that he married LBJ's secretary who Johnson was having an affair with, Mary Margaret Wiley, and pretty much was a "beard" so that the LBJ-Mary Margaret affair could continue. LBJ will tell you that Courtenay Lynda Valenti is the biological daughter of Johnson. After LBJ became president, Jack Valenti would let his "wife" go into the White House to have sex with Johnson.
Read the book "Dog Days at the White House" by Traphes Bryant for more on this.
LBJ and Lew Wasserman, an LBJ donor, later placed Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association where one of his key roles was to continue the cover up of the JFK assassination. Valenti was one of the lead organizers in 1992 of the over-the-top CIA/CFR attacks on the Oliver Stone's movie JFK. Valenti and Bill Moyers, another LBJ toady who sold his preacher boy soul to the devil, also orchestrated the attacks the removed the groundbreaking The Men Who Killed Kennedy (the Guilty Men) from the History Channel. That series was a direct assault on the legacy of Lyndon Johnson and exposed his critical role in the JFK assassination. You can still find it on YouTube.
Another one of LBJ's sychopants who makes an appearance in this book is Doris Kearns (Goodwin), an LBJ flirtation as well as biographer. Her husband Richard Goodwin is on the record as to how scarily mentally unhinged LBJ was a president as he collapsed under the weight of Vietnam and covering up for his role in the JFK assassination. Doris Kearns, presidential historian, is yet another one who has never told the full truth on LBJ.
Maybe it was because she was sleeping with him. You have *got* to read a Sally Quinn WashPost article titled "A Tale of Hearts and Minds" dated 8/24/75.
Sally Quinn:
"Doris Kearns also told authors Richard Harwood and Haynes Johnson about her relationship with LBJ in an interview that Sally Quinn refers to:
"They both took copious notes. In the interview Kearns told the reporters that her relationship with President Johnson was extraordinarily complicated, that she was still having trouble placing it in perspective, that she was troubled about how to handle her personal relationship with Johnson when she published her own book.
She told them that the essence of their relationship was that LBJ was in love with her, the he "pressed me very hard sexually the first year," that he courted her aggressively, the he asked her to marry him, that he was jealous of other men in her life.""
LBJ (age 59) was asking Doris Kearns (age 24) to marry him. My question: what was Lady Bird going to do?
Throw rice at the wedding?
Speaking of Lady Bird, it was painful to read quotes in this book by and about her. Lyndon Johnson humiliated her to no end, both by his ugly remarks and dreadful behavior. I think Lady Bird was "co-dependent" on LBJ in much the same way Hillary was on Bill Clinton. Would you want your daughter to marry Lyndon Johnson?
Most men who cheat on their wifes, at least do it somewhere else. Lyndon Johnson was literally boinking women 2 rooms down from Lady Bird both in the White House and at the LBJ Ranch.
LBJ once made the remark that he had gotten more women by accident than John Kennedy had gotten on purpose. LBJ, JFK and Bill Clinton were all "man-whores" of the first degree.
Again, I ask, can we *finally* start telling the truth about Lyndon Johnson, a man completely unworthy of having a legacy *protected* as this book is such an obvious effort at doing just that?
Bobby Baker - that was LBJ's virtual son as LBJ had been a professional son to Sam Rayburn and Richard Russell. Robert Kennedy was going to use the Bobby Baker scandal in the fall of the 1963 to finally politically execute the hated Lyndon Johnson once and for all. For 3 years the Kennedy brothers were waging a sub rosa war. The Kennedys brought knives the the battle; LBJ brought guns an it was settled at 12:30PM on 11/22/63 in Dallas, TX.
LBJ was one week ago from a LIFE magazine expose of his gargantuan corruption when JFK was murdered. RFK was feeding LIFE and the Senate Rules Committee damaging info on Lyndon Johnson. The word was out: get rid of LBJ.
McGeorge Bundy is in this book. That was the National Security Advisor to JFK who was manning the White House situation room on 11/22/63. McBundy unreasonably and suspiciously adopted the "lone nutter scenario" with in hours when much of the evidence was point to multiple shooters in Dallas. Bundy was also close to Allen Dulles and he was the secretary of the CFR in 1949 when Allen Dulles was the president. McGeorge Bundy assumed a lot of power over Lyndon Johnson post JFK assassination.
His brother Bill Bundy, also CIA and CFR, was the one who authored the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution." That allowed LBJ to wage and unconsitutional, undeclared "hot war" with Congress actually declaring war. LBJ and his staff knew their were serious questions about the attack on the American ships, but it was the provocation they wanted to wage war. A lot of Americans and Vietnamese died because of that.
JFK, as we now know, was very reluctant to go into Vietnam and in fact had plans to withdraw. LBJ told the JCS at their 1963 Christmas party, get me elected and I will give you your war in Vietnam! He did.
"Just let me get elected, and then you can have your war." [Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A History, Viking, 1983, p. 326] Stanley Karnow's source for that LBJ quote was Gen. Harold K. Johnson, the Army chief of staff.
Walter Cronkite- that was the CBS anchor who LBJ told we had been waging "Murder, Inc." in the Carribean. As the revelations of Billie Sol Estes demonstrate, Lyndon Johnson had been waging "Murder, Inc." down in Texas to cover up all his crimes and liability. Yes, LBJ was that evil. LBJ was as worth of the Texas death row as anyone we have had in Texas in the past 60 years.
Gov. Allan Shivers directly accused Lyndon Johnson, to his face, for the murder of Sam Smithwick in the mid 1950's. Sam Smithwick was threatening to talk about the Box 13 scandal and Coke Stevenson was on his way to visit Smithwick. Smithwick was soon found hung in his jail cell. Like Gov. Shivers, I believe that Lyndon Johnson had the man murdered.
Lyndon Johnson was capable of absolutely *anything.* Read the book Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson by D. Jablow Hershman. I consider it a psychological smoking gun to the JFK assassination.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Beyond-Re...
Gerald Ford - that was the FBI's guy on the Warren Commission and he helped to cover up the JFK assassination. Allen Dulles was the primary perp there, but John J. McCloy, longtime chairman of the Rockefeller controlled Council on Foreign Relations and a close friend of Clint Murchison, Sr., was another key cover up artist.
Nicholas Katzenbach - CFR member - that was the man who wrote the memo on Sunday 11/24/63 that the government must doing everything it can to make the American people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald, and only Lee Harvey Oswald, murdered JFK.
Katzenbach:
"The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial."
"Speculation about Oswald's motivation ought to be cut off, and we should have some basis for rebutting thought that this was a Communist conspiracy or (as the Iron Curtain press is saying) a right-wing conspiracy to blame it on the Communists... We need something to head off public speculation or Congressional hearings of the wrong sort."
Oswald was US intelligence and he shot no one on 11/22/63 - not Kennedy and not Tippit. And Oswald sure was not on the Grassy Knoll where most credible JFK researchers and academics think the kill shot to JFK came from.
George Reedy - this man has given us a glimpse into what the real LBJ was like:
"He may have been a son of a bitch, but he was a colossal son of a bitch."
"Not only did Johnson get somewhat separated from reality, he had a fantastic faculty for disorienting everybody around him as to what reality was."
"What was it that would send him into those fantastic rages where he could be one of the nastiest, most insufferable, sadistic SOBs that ever lived and a few minutes later really be a big, magnificent and inspiring leader?"
In his book, Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir by George Reedy... Reedy is quoted on his book flap as calling LBJ "a bully, a sadist, lout, and egoist." He describes LBJ as "magnificent, inspiring leader; the other that of an insufferable bastard."
I have always thought this passage contained a lot of truth regarding Johnson and the JFK assassination:
From Defrauding America, Rodney Stich, 3rd edition 1998 p. 638-639]:
"The Role of deep-cover CIA officer, Trenton Parker, has been described in earlier pages, and his function in the CIA's counter-intelligence unit, Pegasus. Parker had stated to me earlier that a CIA faction was responsible for the murder of JFK ... During an August 21, 1993, conversation, in response to my questions, Parker said that his Pegasus group had tape recordings of plans to assassinate Kennedy. I asked him, "What group were these tapes identifying?" Parker replied: "Rockefeller, Allen Dulles, JOHNSON of Texas, GEORGE BUSH, and J. Edgar Hoover." I asked, "What was the nature of the conversation on these tapes?"
I don't have the tapes now, because all the tape recordings were turned over to [Congressman] Larry McDonald. But I listened to the tape recordings and there were conversations between Rockefeller, [J. Edgar] Hoover, where [Nelson] Rockefeller asks, "Are we going to have any problems?" And he said, "No, we aren't going to have any problems. I checked with Dulles. If they do their job we'll do our job." There are a whole bunch of tapes, because Hoover didn't realize that his phone has been tapped. Defrauding America, Rodney Stich, p. 638-639]
"We can't be checking up on every shooting scrape in the country" Lyndon Johnson, 11/25/63 as LBJ was resisting the formation of the Warren Commission.
December 3, 2022
After reading Mark Updegrove’s fabulous recent book on the presidency of John Kennedy, looked for other books from him. I found this one that I had not previously come across.
While I have read two previous biographies on Lyndon Johnson, I didn’t think I had still ‘captured’ him. And not yet being prepared to invest in Robert Caro’s odyssey in LBJ, thought this maybe a good ‘wedge’.
And it pays off - while not a true biography by any sense, it does allow the reader to get a good grasp of what made LBJ tick. It does this by outlining personal interviews, anecdotes and direct quotes from all the people in his orbit, including LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson.
Really solid book and I look forward to more from this author.
While I have read two previous biographies on Lyndon Johnson, I didn’t think I had still ‘captured’ him. And not yet being prepared to invest in Robert Caro’s odyssey in LBJ, thought this maybe a good ‘wedge’.
And it pays off - while not a true biography by any sense, it does allow the reader to get a good grasp of what made LBJ tick. It does this by outlining personal interviews, anecdotes and direct quotes from all the people in his orbit, including LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson.
Really solid book and I look forward to more from this author.
September 3, 2012
Poignant and mind blowing to read this history of LBJ while living in a time in America so far away from his values and the seemingly shared values of the majority of Americans at that time. He launched a "War Against Poverty" while today it seems to be a war on the poor (now that we've finally tired of the bogus "War Against Drugs"). The Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Public Broadcasting, The Higher Education Act and more progressive-minded programs were established during LBJ's term. Where is the government headed these days other than coddling Corporations and lowering the taxes of the rich? When did we stop being the United States and start heading into this Third World country where only a small rich elite gets to benefit from the legacy of our great country?
Reagan mocked LBJ's War on "Poverty, saying "Looks like Poverty won", but during LBJ's term the poverty rate took the biggest drop under any president. No one expected poverty to completely disappear, but he took it as a priority to keep it low, whereas a Darwinian conservative like Reagan or Bush or the new Empty Heads, just assume it's your own damn fault for not being born rich. The percentage of people going to college before LBJ's term was in the single digit percentile, during his presidency it shot up to 30%.
Also it's very eye-opening and heartbreaking to read quotes from both people representing both parties in this book testifying that before Medicare becoming old pretty much assured you becoming impoverished unless you were lucky enough to have wealthy children willing to care for you.
And to think I mostly only knew Johnson as the guy who took over after Kennedy was assassinated and liked to hold staff meetings in the toilet. I'm very glad to have read this book to remind me of a time when this country had more heart and soul and I hope we can get back there sometime. And of course the irony is that it's not like we suffered bad economies under presidents who showed compassion. We had a very good economy under Johnson and Clinton and then Bush did his best to destroy every foundation of humane governing during his reign and the economy tanked at a near record level low.
If Romney and Ryan take over I have no doubt we'll be living in a Third World Hate-Ocracy.
Reagan mocked LBJ's War on "Poverty, saying "Looks like Poverty won", but during LBJ's term the poverty rate took the biggest drop under any president. No one expected poverty to completely disappear, but he took it as a priority to keep it low, whereas a Darwinian conservative like Reagan or Bush or the new Empty Heads, just assume it's your own damn fault for not being born rich. The percentage of people going to college before LBJ's term was in the single digit percentile, during his presidency it shot up to 30%.
Also it's very eye-opening and heartbreaking to read quotes from both people representing both parties in this book testifying that before Medicare becoming old pretty much assured you becoming impoverished unless you were lucky enough to have wealthy children willing to care for you.
And to think I mostly only knew Johnson as the guy who took over after Kennedy was assassinated and liked to hold staff meetings in the toilet. I'm very glad to have read this book to remind me of a time when this country had more heart and soul and I hope we can get back there sometime. And of course the irony is that it's not like we suffered bad economies under presidents who showed compassion. We had a very good economy under Johnson and Clinton and then Bush did his best to destroy every foundation of humane governing during his reign and the economy tanked at a near record level low.
If Romney and Ryan take over I have no doubt we'll be living in a Third World Hate-Ocracy.
June 23, 2014
I love LBJ. When I was around 10 I wrote him a letter asking him to adopt my miniature long-haired dachshund so I could get a collie. I guess I figured since he liked floppy eared dogs he wouldn't mind another one......
I got a genuine autograph in return which I still treasure.
He's the one that got us into 'Nam? No. The armed forces generals, who had never lost a war and assumed this one would be like all the rest, did. "We can win this war with 200,000 more men. That's all it will take - we don't need any more." "Well, I guess maybe 200,000 more will make the final decision...."
LBJ had 2 sons-in-law who were both active duty during the war. Does it make sense that he would want to put more of other people's sons in the line of danger, too?
Besides, he got the Paris Peace Talks started, trying to get North and South to agree on SOMETHING. However, not long before the Presidential election (he had decided to run for health reasons, not because he thought he wouldn't win), the South Vietnamese delegation went home. It's now been proven that the Nixon campaign had a plant that told the delegation they would get a better deal if they waited until Nixon was elected. So LBJ is linked to failure in 'Nam.
What he SHOULD be remembered for is the Great Society. Civil Rights voting, equal housing, Head Start, Medicare, reducing the poverty rate from 20 percent to 12, expanding environmental protections, expanding immigration. This is the LBJ I choose to remember.
Updegrove's book is not a standard biography. He outlines an action, such as the fight for a Civil Rights voting bill and then gives us recollections by people who were involved, friend AND foe. He doesn't shirk the fact that LBJ was "bigger than life" physically and personality-wise. He was an extremely flawed personality who was paranoid, controlling, unforgiving (sometimes), able to recognize when he'd done something personally stupid but utterly unable to apologize, an in-your-face staff manager and one helluva politician.
LBJ got things done. His network of contacts, both inside and outside of Congress, was vast and he played tit-for-tat often - offering a dam for a vote, a future plum for one right now.
Just incredible. If you don't believe me, read this.
I got a genuine autograph in return which I still treasure.
He's the one that got us into 'Nam? No. The armed forces generals, who had never lost a war and assumed this one would be like all the rest, did. "We can win this war with 200,000 more men. That's all it will take - we don't need any more." "Well, I guess maybe 200,000 more will make the final decision...."
LBJ had 2 sons-in-law who were both active duty during the war. Does it make sense that he would want to put more of other people's sons in the line of danger, too?
Besides, he got the Paris Peace Talks started, trying to get North and South to agree on SOMETHING. However, not long before the Presidential election (he had decided to run for health reasons, not because he thought he wouldn't win), the South Vietnamese delegation went home. It's now been proven that the Nixon campaign had a plant that told the delegation they would get a better deal if they waited until Nixon was elected. So LBJ is linked to failure in 'Nam.
What he SHOULD be remembered for is the Great Society. Civil Rights voting, equal housing, Head Start, Medicare, reducing the poverty rate from 20 percent to 12, expanding environmental protections, expanding immigration. This is the LBJ I choose to remember.
Updegrove's book is not a standard biography. He outlines an action, such as the fight for a Civil Rights voting bill and then gives us recollections by people who were involved, friend AND foe. He doesn't shirk the fact that LBJ was "bigger than life" physically and personality-wise. He was an extremely flawed personality who was paranoid, controlling, unforgiving (sometimes), able to recognize when he'd done something personally stupid but utterly unable to apologize, an in-your-face staff manager and one helluva politician.
LBJ got things done. His network of contacts, both inside and outside of Congress, was vast and he played tit-for-tat often - offering a dam for a vote, a future plum for one right now.
Just incredible. If you don't believe me, read this.
February 6, 2024
Lyndon Johnson is one of those presidents who accomplished many great things but is routinely remembered for his biggest failure, the Vietnam War.
In this excellent book Mark Updegrove navigates LBJ's presidency with a narrative interlaced with many recollections of those of served under LBJ as well as LBJ himself and members of his family.
I found many of the recollections fascinating and great interesting such as some of the parts on LBJ's relationships with Richard Russell, Barry Goldwater & Hubert Humphrey.
The sections on Vietnam don't pull any punches and show the torment the conflict caused LBJ personally as well as divided the country.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the 1960s, LBJ and his presidency.
In this excellent book Mark Updegrove navigates LBJ's presidency with a narrative interlaced with many recollections of those of served under LBJ as well as LBJ himself and members of his family.
I found many of the recollections fascinating and great interesting such as some of the parts on LBJ's relationships with Richard Russell, Barry Goldwater & Hubert Humphrey.
The sections on Vietnam don't pull any punches and show the torment the conflict caused LBJ personally as well as divided the country.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the 1960s, LBJ and his presidency.
September 9, 2019
What an amazing slice of history! I had no idea LBJ was responsible for so many government changes regarding poverty, equal rights, racism, health care, Natl parks and road beautification, education, immigration, etc AND all while coping with Middle East wars, Vietnam...
Lady Bird seemed to be a class act as well.
I really enjoyed this glimpse into what happened and to get to know LBJ other than the guy who inherited the presidency because JFK was shot.
Lady Bird seemed to be a class act as well.
I really enjoyed this glimpse into what happened and to get to know LBJ other than the guy who inherited the presidency because JFK was shot.
May 11, 2023
Uniquely written book about a man who made an profound impact on American life.
September 3, 2012
An interesting book that describes LBJ's life and times through oral histories. Some of this book was laugh-out-loud funny (the Haggar company interview made me go on Youtube to find the actual tape recordings --- you have to hear it to believe it!), and it made me realize that there's more to LBJ than just civil rights and Vietnam, enough that makes me want to read more about the presidency of LBJ.
Want to read
June 22, 2016Received this book free from a 2 day teacher workshop at the LBJ Library.
March 24, 2018
There’s certainly no shortage of books about Lyndon Johnson, but this one, an oral history of his presidency by Mark Updegrove, a former director of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum, is both interesting and brisk. It’s a great option for people who want to better understand the 36th President and legendary Texan without committing to Robert Caro’s 4*-volume project. LBJ biography enthusiasts will note that Updegrove and his sources each take some shots at Caro for portraying Johnson cynically. In spite of that, though, there’s not a lot of daylight between Caro’s LBJ and Updegrove’s. The man is still, in the words of one source, “a miserable person… a bully, sadist, lout, and egotist.” For both authors, though, his domestic achievements are astonishing. Some of the best things our government has done (and still does, though decreasingly) are because of him.
*And hopefully, within in the next few years, 5
*And hopefully, within in the next few years, 5
February 3, 2021
audio book - Eye opening; a president sandwiched between Kennedy and Nixon who seems overshadowed by them. First, let me say the book is history, and the contemporaneous quotes of people involved adds to the realism of the events. It covers his life but concentrates on the Presidency. Also, being an audio book allows for audio recordings from Johnson White House recordings. The only downside is that some of the conversations were hard to hear. But hearing MLK's voice on the phone to LBJ is fascinating. His successes are historic. Listening to a list of the laws and programs he passed is inspiring. Unfortunately, Viet Nam casts a pall over all else. He really understood the way the Senate worked and as President, how he needed to work them to get his agenda through.
June 11, 2023
Lyndon Baines Johnson was a complex, many talented, flawed, crude, insecure man with a boundless energy for social reform. Deeply misunderstood but a relentless reformer, he accomplished so much more than an individual citizen can even remember. Despite all he accomplished, his time in office is blighted by the ill-fated war in Vietnam.
The author presents his facts in interviews with the movers-and-shakers of LBJ's time...and some of the "common folk" who knew and loved him. Although published in 2020, interviews from LBJ himself are included.
This book is well worth reading about this giant of a man.
The author presents his facts in interviews with the movers-and-shakers of LBJ's time...and some of the "common folk" who knew and loved him. Although published in 2020, interviews from LBJ himself are included.
This book is well worth reading about this giant of a man.
November 21, 2017
I have read a lot of LBJ. Mark Updegrove's Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency has fast become one of my favorites. What sets this book apart is the Updegrove's generous use of the voices of LBJ's contemporaries. In this sense, the author gives us his interpretation but he welcomes many more people into his conversation. I loved that feature as I did his book. Fair. Fascinating. Fast Paced. After Caro, I'd read Indomitable Will . . . maybe I'd even read it first.
March 19, 2020
Prior to reading this I did not know much about LBJ’s presidency and viewed him more or less as a marker or placeholder in between more consequential presidents like JFK and Nixon. But I was not disappointed and wrestled with his legacy which is neither white nor black. I walked away not truly knowing how to feel about him as a man and President. Some good, some bad! Great book!
July 12, 2025
An interesting approach to writing about LBJ. Narrator topics and then quotes regarding the subjects from people in the thick of it. Once I found the rhythm, I enjoyed it. Vietnam has been hung around his neck but his administration did soooo much to advance the causes of justice. Too bad the US Govt has forgotten those lofty ideals.
December 31, 2017
It was a challenging read. Lots of quotes strung together. But as I read I really grew in respect for Johnson. I was very surprised that I knew so little of this period of history and I had put Johnson in too small of a box. I grew greatly in respect,
June 8, 2018
Great read. I think the reader will gain much perspective about LBJ that most books fail to capture. The book captures the history of his presidency while giving you access to his personal life as well. If you are eager to learn about LBJ this is a must read.
May 7, 2019
I learned a ton about American history and politics through reading this. A guys guy, LBJ was a really interesting character. A bit forgotten by history and greatly underappreciated for his accomplishments in my opinion. He shaped so much we experience today, it was really interesting to read.
July 24, 2021
I had read this book out of curiosity. I enjoyed reading this book because I got an inside look at Lyndon Johnson's presidency from the people who worked for him. I loved the attention and that it was well researched. I thought the book was well written. It is a must read.
July 13, 2017
Very interesting & informative look at Johnson's political life.
March 15, 2018
Interesting backstory of Johnson’s whitehouse. A man maybe misunderstood .
November 21, 2018
Read in anticipation of my upcoming trip to Austin to the LBJ museum.
November 11, 2020
Much-needed insightful portrait, audio clips are refreshing.
July 3, 2021
This is an excellent oral history of the LBJ Presidency. Comparable to Merle Miller's Lyndon, but limited to the years of his Presidency. Extremely readable; hard to put down;
June 21, 2022
Excellent look into an interesting time.
October 27, 2022
Wow this was a wonderful review of a time I lived. So informative.
December 11, 2023
Great and accessible read for anyone interested in learning more about LBJ's presidency!
Updegrove is also an amazing speaker :)
Updegrove is also an amazing speaker :)
December 24, 2016
Very informative book, mapped in a unique way - with commentary of LBJ's intimates, enemies and colleagues woven throughout. It is said that LBJ was an enigma, and the picture painted of him seems to confirm as much. Though adept at putting on different masks for different audiences, he was a man of deeply felt convictions - one being the adoption of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. LBJ knew the Act would alienate the South from the Democratic Party, but he enacted it nonetheless, for his vision of the Great Society.
There were many enjoyable "yarns", or anecdotes about LBJ, and one I particularly liked came from Richard Goodwin, speechwriter for JFK and a special assistant to LBJ (p.140):
"[Alabama Governor] Wallace sent a telegram to the White House saying he'd like to meet with the President to discuss the situation [passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act]. Johnson said, 'Well, you just come right ahead.' [Wallace came to the Oval Office and he's] about 5'4", and Johnson is about 6'4". So, he leads Wallace in and sits him down on the couch. Wallace sits down so he's now about 3' tall, and Johnson sits at the edge of [his] rocking chair leaning over him. And [Johnson's] Southern voice always deepened when he spoke to other Southerners. And he says, 'Now, you agree that the Negro's got the right to vote, don't you?'
He says, 'Oh yes, Mr. President, there's no point about that.'
He says, 'Then why don't you let them vote?'
And he says, 'Well, you know, now, I don't have that power. That belongs to the county registrars in the state of Alabama.' And Wallace insists that, no, he didn't have the legal authority.
'Well, why don't you persuade them, George?'
He said, 'Well, I don't think I can do that.'
He said, 'Now, don't you sh*t me about your persuasive powers, George. You know, I sit down in the morning when I get up, and I've got three TV sets lining up right after the other...and I had it on this morning, and I saw you when I pressed the button. And you was attacking me, George.'
He says, 'Well, I wasn't attacking you, Mr. President. I was attacking the whole principle of states' rights.'
And he says, 'You was attacking me, George. And you were so damn persuasive, I almost changed my mind.'
Well, this goes on for a half hour or more and he finally turns to Wallace and says, 'George, you and I shouldn't be talking about 1964, we should be talking about 1984. We'll both be dead and gone then. Now, you got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama, a lot of ignorant people. A lot of people need jobs, a lot of people need a future. You could do a lot for them, George. Your president will help you. Now, in 1984, George, what do you want left behind? Do you want a great big marble monument that says, 'George Wallace - He Built.' Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine board lying across that harsh, caliche soil that reads, 'George Wallace - He Hated'?"
There were many enjoyable "yarns", or anecdotes about LBJ, and one I particularly liked came from Richard Goodwin, speechwriter for JFK and a special assistant to LBJ (p.140):
"[Alabama Governor] Wallace sent a telegram to the White House saying he'd like to meet with the President to discuss the situation [passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act]. Johnson said, 'Well, you just come right ahead.' [Wallace came to the Oval Office and he's] about 5'4", and Johnson is about 6'4". So, he leads Wallace in and sits him down on the couch. Wallace sits down so he's now about 3' tall, and Johnson sits at the edge of [his] rocking chair leaning over him. And [Johnson's] Southern voice always deepened when he spoke to other Southerners. And he says, 'Now, you agree that the Negro's got the right to vote, don't you?'
He says, 'Oh yes, Mr. President, there's no point about that.'
He says, 'Then why don't you let them vote?'
And he says, 'Well, you know, now, I don't have that power. That belongs to the county registrars in the state of Alabama.' And Wallace insists that, no, he didn't have the legal authority.
'Well, why don't you persuade them, George?'
He said, 'Well, I don't think I can do that.'
He said, 'Now, don't you sh*t me about your persuasive powers, George. You know, I sit down in the morning when I get up, and I've got three TV sets lining up right after the other...and I had it on this morning, and I saw you when I pressed the button. And you was attacking me, George.'
He says, 'Well, I wasn't attacking you, Mr. President. I was attacking the whole principle of states' rights.'
And he says, 'You was attacking me, George. And you were so damn persuasive, I almost changed my mind.'
Well, this goes on for a half hour or more and he finally turns to Wallace and says, 'George, you and I shouldn't be talking about 1964, we should be talking about 1984. We'll both be dead and gone then. Now, you got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama, a lot of ignorant people. A lot of people need jobs, a lot of people need a future. You could do a lot for them, George. Your president will help you. Now, in 1984, George, what do you want left behind? Do you want a great big marble monument that says, 'George Wallace - He Built.' Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine board lying across that harsh, caliche soil that reads, 'George Wallace - He Hated'?"
January 25, 2017
This was one of the most moving books I have ever listened to. The United States in it's citizens owes a lot to LBJ's success as the 36th President. While shadowed with the Vietnam War, no President has done more to shape this country than him. FDR is the only other President to shape this country as much as LBJ did. Lyndon's legacy continues to shape this country to this day. If they were to add another face to Mount Rushmore, look no farther than LBJ. LBJ is a true legend in this great country. Every student who has ever received financial aid for a higher education, owes a debt to LBJ. Legislation passed by the Congress with direction by LBJ in his Presidenct includes the Civil Rights act of 1964 and 1968, voting rights act of '65, public broadcasting (PBS and NPR), medicare, medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and abolition to poverty. LBJ established the Endowment of the Humanities. He improved funding to Elementary and secondary education. Programs like head start, food stamps, and work study were also formed under his direction. These legislation was done the proper way, not by executive order, but by the house and senate. LBJ was instrumental to NASA and the Space Program. He also appointed the first African American justice to the supreme court in Thurgood Marshall. LBJ grew up mostly poor, got a degree to be a teacher and worked his way into Washington DC and was a highly decorated senator. LBJ prooves that anyone, no matter what background, can become President.
This book did an outstanding job at giving a first hand view of LBJ's Presidency from being sworn in after the assassination of JFK through his five years in the office. If you want first hand accounts and the truth about LBJ, look no further.
This book did an outstanding job at giving a first hand view of LBJ's Presidency from being sworn in after the assassination of JFK through his five years in the office. If you want first hand accounts and the truth about LBJ, look no further.
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