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L B J Exercise of Power
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March 19, 2022
Evans and Novak's book is a political biography of Lyndon Baine Johnson, one of the most tragic figures in American political history.
One of a kind among American policy-makers, Johnson had been near or at the center of Washington power throughout all of the most momentous events of his era. He arrived in the capital in 1931, more than a year before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to work as the secretary of a right-wing millionaire congressman from Texas. As the years went by and his power grew, Johnson left his mark on each of those events. Since James Madison's times, he was the first to become President. Therefore, he succeeded where such eminent figures as Henry Clay, Thomas Reed, and Robert Taft had failed.
No man in the history of America became President with a greater love for power or with more experience in its exercise than him. Nevertheless, when he entered into office on November 22, 1963, it was the martyred John F. Kennedy that the American people loved and adored. Kennedy had left his successor a domestic policy plan that was only partially completed, and this plan, motivated by the national longing to make up for Kennedy's assassination, gave Johnson his golden opportunity. With the same grasp of great political talent that he had demonstrated as the Senate's Majority Leader, he completed Kennedy's plan. He passed the Civil Rights Bill, which can be considered a miracle and was achieved mainly thanks to Johnson’s outstanding knowledge of the inner workings of the Senate. Furthermore, in a never before seen collaboration with Congress, he expanded it with an impressive, progressive second plan, the Great Society, whose goal was a unified, prosperous America that excited the American people not only because of its ambition but also because so much of it was indeed achieved legally.
Lyndon Johnson's problem was the ghost of John F. Kennedy, who continued to haunt him many months after he had been elected President in his own right. This is why, in the late spring of 1966, Johnson called several senators to the White House to discuss the war in Vietnam. He quoted Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, his most outspoken Democratic critic on the conflict, who had said that "the Great Society is dead." The President reached on his desk for a Budge Bureau memorandum that showed the notable increases in federal spending for education, health, poverty, and other Great Society programs, and then said: "They say Jack Kennedy had style, but I'm the one who's got the bills passed." This was a characteristically Johnsonian reaction to criticism. It exposed his ego, hypersensitivity, lack of taste in slandering the dead President, and his intense sense of competitiveness, which drove him to continue competing even with the late Kennedy. The Vietnam conflict confounded Johnson's presidency. It was the worst of all the crises faced by the President. His ego and intense competitiveness drove him into a war that he knew was costly, disastrous, and probably unwinnable. In fact, as Vice President, he was one of the critics of the growing American commitment. Because Kennedy never had the chance to change his official stance on the American involvement in Vietnam – he continued to insist that Vietnam should not be lost – Johnson could never come to terms with becoming the president who lost Vietnam, so he chose to escalate instead.
However, there was also another Lyndon Johnson, the keeper of Kennedy's memory and legacy, the Johnson who believed that power should be used to do good in the world. He was, in the author's description, "bigger than life – bigger in both the good and the bad." Johnson craved for affection, but his ego constantly interfered. He preached humbleness, but often overshadowed it with his own arrogance. In the words of one of his counselors, "90 percent of what he [Johnson] does is right, and 90 percent of the way he does it is wrong." For Johnson, there was a constant conflict between his public position as the American President and the private manipulations of the cunning politician he was. The noble goal and the hard use of power to achieve it are vital for a successful presidency, but Johnson frequently exaggerated the goal and abused his powers, which sometimes undermined his reputation and sometimes led to unexpectedly great accomplishments. A good example of the first is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which, if we think about it, was scandalous. Why should the President be allowed to deploy military forces without Congress’s approval? Had it not been for the Resolution, the American involvement in Vietnam might have not been so costly and would have probably ended earlier. A good example of the second is the passing and implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Local level officials attempted to counteract the Act, but Johnson, in an expansion of federal power unseen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s times, prevented them from doing so. Just like FDR, he did not hesitate to compromise state rights to assert what he believed to be the right thing.
Whether pretentious or not, whether considerate or insensitive, he devoted his political career to the acquisition and use of power. Long before he reached the White House, having spent years on the Capitol, Johnson knew where power rested, how to gain it, and, most importantly, how to exercise it. He could be gentle and solicitous, ruthless and deceptive, with a subtle threat in his gaze. The clumsy Texan, who looked like a gang boss, had come a long way from Texas to the White House, and he indeed knew more about the sources of power in Washington than any other President from the 20th century.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON is a brilliant biography that paints a candid, well-rounded portrait of Lyndon Baine Johnson from his time in Congress to his two terms as the American President. He was a figure of paradoxes, a talented domestic president who, ironically, had to face one of the biggest foreign policy crises of the 20th century during his presidency. This book is without doubt one of the best works about Johnson among those I have read. Evans and Novak had done a splendid job being both sympathetic and objective. I highly recommend their work to anyone interested in Lyndon Johnson's character, motivations, and political career.
One of a kind among American policy-makers, Johnson had been near or at the center of Washington power throughout all of the most momentous events of his era. He arrived in the capital in 1931, more than a year before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to work as the secretary of a right-wing millionaire congressman from Texas. As the years went by and his power grew, Johnson left his mark on each of those events. Since James Madison's times, he was the first to become President. Therefore, he succeeded where such eminent figures as Henry Clay, Thomas Reed, and Robert Taft had failed.
No man in the history of America became President with a greater love for power or with more experience in its exercise than him. Nevertheless, when he entered into office on November 22, 1963, it was the martyred John F. Kennedy that the American people loved and adored. Kennedy had left his successor a domestic policy plan that was only partially completed, and this plan, motivated by the national longing to make up for Kennedy's assassination, gave Johnson his golden opportunity. With the same grasp of great political talent that he had demonstrated as the Senate's Majority Leader, he completed Kennedy's plan. He passed the Civil Rights Bill, which can be considered a miracle and was achieved mainly thanks to Johnson’s outstanding knowledge of the inner workings of the Senate. Furthermore, in a never before seen collaboration with Congress, he expanded it with an impressive, progressive second plan, the Great Society, whose goal was a unified, prosperous America that excited the American people not only because of its ambition but also because so much of it was indeed achieved legally.
Lyndon Johnson's problem was the ghost of John F. Kennedy, who continued to haunt him many months after he had been elected President in his own right. This is why, in the late spring of 1966, Johnson called several senators to the White House to discuss the war in Vietnam. He quoted Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, his most outspoken Democratic critic on the conflict, who had said that "the Great Society is dead." The President reached on his desk for a Budge Bureau memorandum that showed the notable increases in federal spending for education, health, poverty, and other Great Society programs, and then said: "They say Jack Kennedy had style, but I'm the one who's got the bills passed." This was a characteristically Johnsonian reaction to criticism. It exposed his ego, hypersensitivity, lack of taste in slandering the dead President, and his intense sense of competitiveness, which drove him to continue competing even with the late Kennedy. The Vietnam conflict confounded Johnson's presidency. It was the worst of all the crises faced by the President. His ego and intense competitiveness drove him into a war that he knew was costly, disastrous, and probably unwinnable. In fact, as Vice President, he was one of the critics of the growing American commitment. Because Kennedy never had the chance to change his official stance on the American involvement in Vietnam – he continued to insist that Vietnam should not be lost – Johnson could never come to terms with becoming the president who lost Vietnam, so he chose to escalate instead.
However, there was also another Lyndon Johnson, the keeper of Kennedy's memory and legacy, the Johnson who believed that power should be used to do good in the world. He was, in the author's description, "bigger than life – bigger in both the good and the bad." Johnson craved for affection, but his ego constantly interfered. He preached humbleness, but often overshadowed it with his own arrogance. In the words of one of his counselors, "90 percent of what he [Johnson] does is right, and 90 percent of the way he does it is wrong." For Johnson, there was a constant conflict between his public position as the American President and the private manipulations of the cunning politician he was. The noble goal and the hard use of power to achieve it are vital for a successful presidency, but Johnson frequently exaggerated the goal and abused his powers, which sometimes undermined his reputation and sometimes led to unexpectedly great accomplishments. A good example of the first is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which, if we think about it, was scandalous. Why should the President be allowed to deploy military forces without Congress’s approval? Had it not been for the Resolution, the American involvement in Vietnam might have not been so costly and would have probably ended earlier. A good example of the second is the passing and implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Local level officials attempted to counteract the Act, but Johnson, in an expansion of federal power unseen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s times, prevented them from doing so. Just like FDR, he did not hesitate to compromise state rights to assert what he believed to be the right thing.
Whether pretentious or not, whether considerate or insensitive, he devoted his political career to the acquisition and use of power. Long before he reached the White House, having spent years on the Capitol, Johnson knew where power rested, how to gain it, and, most importantly, how to exercise it. He could be gentle and solicitous, ruthless and deceptive, with a subtle threat in his gaze. The clumsy Texan, who looked like a gang boss, had come a long way from Texas to the White House, and he indeed knew more about the sources of power in Washington than any other President from the 20th century.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON is a brilliant biography that paints a candid, well-rounded portrait of Lyndon Baine Johnson from his time in Congress to his two terms as the American President. He was a figure of paradoxes, a talented domestic president who, ironically, had to face one of the biggest foreign policy crises of the 20th century during his presidency. This book is without doubt one of the best works about Johnson among those I have read. Evans and Novak had done a splendid job being both sympathetic and objective. I highly recommend their work to anyone interested in Lyndon Johnson's character, motivations, and political career.
September 15, 2014
This is not a strict biography of Lyndon B. Johnson; it is a political biography. For that reason it is not written in chronological order. It deals with the power that Johnson could wield at particular times in his life. It does follow a more-or-less chronological order - it covers his time in the Senate before his Presidency - but it may go into detail on something later in time that was caused by something he did during a specific time. For instance, his tendency in the Senate not to do anything to upset his gas/oil constituency in Texas made a difference when he was running for VP. So the incident is covered during the Senate time (in showing how this affected the later time), but then you are referred back to it when it is mentioned again later during the actual time it occurred. (Does that make sense? My mind isn't working perfectly today....)
Anyhow, anyone who thinks he/she knows Johnson should read this book. It was published in 1966, so it doesn't cover the entire Presidency, but what it covers was extremely current at the time. It also gives information about politics and happenings during the early 20th century that I didn't know - for instance, the affair in the Dominican Republic which got Johnson a lot of flack even though he did the right thing.
I would say this is a book more for people who already know the basic facts of Johnson's life. But for those of us who do, and are fascinated by the man and the myth, this is a superb book.
Anyhow, anyone who thinks he/she knows Johnson should read this book. It was published in 1966, so it doesn't cover the entire Presidency, but what it covers was extremely current at the time. It also gives information about politics and happenings during the early 20th century that I didn't know - for instance, the affair in the Dominican Republic which got Johnson a lot of flack even though he did the right thing.
I would say this is a book more for people who already know the basic facts of Johnson's life. But for those of us who do, and are fascinated by the man and the myth, this is a superb book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews