New LBJ Biography
I'm in San Antonio Texas this week for a convention, but I have a day off tomorrow and plan to spend it at the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, about 78 miles from here. I promise to take lots of pictures and share them on here.
On the flight down I read Charles Peters' new biography of Johnson and loved it. It's part of the American Presidents Series that I've journalled about previously in this community. These biographies are concise, but surprisingly filled with a lot of interesting details generally not found in biographical summaries. Peters writes from the perspective of a Washington insider and mixes gossip with fair historical commentary. For instance, he writes about Johnson's numerous affairs, naming names, and also about the condescending and demeaning way in which Johnson treated his staff. For example, at page 139 Peters writes:
"Johnson's behavior could be disgusting. He would, for example, require staff members to accompany him to the bathroom, where he would proceed to defecate in their presence. He also demanded that his subordinates join him for nude swimming in the White House pool. Johnson was enormously proud of his large penis (which he called Jumbo) and delighted in humiliating his less well-endowed associates by requiring them to reveal their relative inadequacy."
But Peters also conducts an objective accounting of Johnson's presidency, praising him for his amazing achievements in civil rights and social programs, while being critical of Johnson's judgement about Vietnam. Peter concludes:
"It seems likely that history will rank Lyndon Johnson in the group of presidents just below the top tier of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Only Roosevelt can match Johnson's legislative record. Consider just two of the many laws Johnson got passed: Medicare, which saved older Americans from a cruel choice between untreated illness and medical bills they could not afford; and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which finally gave African-Americans real political power.
"The credit Johnson is given for these accomplishments is usually accompanied by the blame he receives for Vietnam. Johnson's failure was that he could not bear to lose - understandable for a man reared on the legend of the Alamo and with the memory of World War II. When these lessons of history combined with Johnson's fear of being seen as a coward and his misunderstanding of the Kennedys - partly their fault, partly his - the result was tragedy."
I can't wait to see his Presidential Library tomorrow.
On the flight down I read Charles Peters' new biography of Johnson and loved it. It's part of the American Presidents Series that I've journalled about previously in this community. These biographies are concise, but surprisingly filled with a lot of interesting details generally not found in biographical summaries. Peters writes from the perspective of a Washington insider and mixes gossip with fair historical commentary. For instance, he writes about Johnson's numerous affairs, naming names, and also about the condescending and demeaning way in which Johnson treated his staff. For example, at page 139 Peters writes:
"Johnson's behavior could be disgusting. He would, for example, require staff members to accompany him to the bathroom, where he would proceed to defecate in their presence. He also demanded that his subordinates join him for nude swimming in the White House pool. Johnson was enormously proud of his large penis (which he called Jumbo) and delighted in humiliating his less well-endowed associates by requiring them to reveal their relative inadequacy."
But Peters also conducts an objective accounting of Johnson's presidency, praising him for his amazing achievements in civil rights and social programs, while being critical of Johnson's judgement about Vietnam. Peter concludes:
"It seems likely that history will rank Lyndon Johnson in the group of presidents just below the top tier of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Only Roosevelt can match Johnson's legislative record. Consider just two of the many laws Johnson got passed: Medicare, which saved older Americans from a cruel choice between untreated illness and medical bills they could not afford; and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which finally gave African-Americans real political power.
"The credit Johnson is given for these accomplishments is usually accompanied by the blame he receives for Vietnam. Johnson's failure was that he could not bear to lose - understandable for a man reared on the legend of the Alamo and with the memory of World War II. When these lessons of history combined with Johnson's fear of being seen as a coward and his misunderstanding of the Kennedys - partly their fault, partly his - the result was tragedy."
I can't wait to see his Presidential Library tomorrow.