The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson

Synopsis

OC My effort here is to give firsthand testimony on the man and president I saw, OCywith bark off, OCO as he used to say when he wanted me to describe a difficult situation cold and true, with no punches pulled. OC The Lyndon Johnson I knew was brave and brutal, compassionate and cruel, incredibly intelligent and infuriatingly insensitive, with shrewd and uncanny instinct for the jugular of his allies and adversaries. He could be altruistic and petty, caring and crude, generous and petulant, bluntly honest and calculatingly deviousOCoall within the same few minutes. OCOOCoJoseph A. Califano, Jr. Joe CalifanoOCoLyndon JohnsonOCOs closest domestic adviser during the White House yearsOCohas created a remarkable presidential portrait, a frank, tough-minded memoir that reveals not only the singular personality of LBJ, but the rough grain of American politics. More than previous biographers, scholars, or reporters, CalifanoOCowho worked day and night in the trenches with LBJOCoshows us who Johnson really was and recreates life in the White House at the height of the turbulent sixties. aaLyndon Johnson was bigger than lifeOCoand no one who worked for him ever forgot it. Writing with perception and energy, Califano captures his mentorOCOs lively, irascible spirit as he puts us in the White House alongside LBJ during such momentous events as the assassination of Martin Luther King and the wrenching violence that followed, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic Convention, and the national trauma surrounding the Vietnam War. We see Johnson manipulate the economy and the Supreme Court; confront race riots in Watts, Newark, and Detroit; and deal with the Arab-Israeli Six Day War. We witness his achievements in the areas of education, health care, consumer safety, civil rights, environmental protection, and the arts. And we watch him squander his credibility, as he doggedly wages both his warsOCothe one against poverty and the one in VietnamOCodetermined to prevent the blood-shed in Southeast Asia from spoiling his dream of a Great Society at home. a"The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson" is an intimate portrait of a president who towering ambition for his country and himself ultimately led to his decision to surrender the arena in which he fought so hard. Joe Califano has added uniquely to our understanding of LBJ, whose achievements and mistakes mirror his own complex and contradictory nature. a"

Copyright:

2000

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781610390750

Publisher:

PublicAffairs

Date of Addition:

12/14/15

Copyrighted By:

Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.