'Reaching for Glory': The Workings of Lyndon Johnson's Mind

The New York Times (Book Review) ^ | December 29, 2001 | GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

[PJ-Comix]

Anybody else have an update as to Caro's third volume of LBJ? The first two volumes along with the bio of Huey Long by T. Harry Williams were the BEST political biographies I have ever read.

[TEXICAN II]

A small paper-back was published approx 1965-66, A Texan Looks at Lyndon, by J. Evits Haley ( historian, was hist prof at the then West Texas State Teachers College, Canyon, Tx ). It detailed a great deal of bad acts by LBJ & Company, prior to & into his presidency. I was very nearly ejected from my high school civics class for daring to give a book report on this ( the Korean war Marine vet settled for a toung-lashing at me that took the entire next class ). It is STILL AVAIL on many used book finder sites. Another text which I took seriously was "Protracted Conflict" by several retired military & some John Birch folks ( also still true & avail ). This detailed what had happened & was on-going via the nice guys in Moscow & Bejing ( surely the title tells the tale for you ).

The Johnson family made soo much $ from their 'work' in Viet Nam they had to buy 1/3 of the banks in Texas &, now, they have lost most I hope. I was a furniture rep ( wholesale ) for many years & my father & I had a curious customer who bought more than he needed, paid on time, had race horses & race cars ( way too much $ for small town ). Years later, I met a nice young fellow who had worked at the store during high school & laughed at my ignorance of the true nature of the small town furn dealer-his last name was Johnson! He was, per the former employee, a $ laundering front for LBJ! The fellow giving me this was really straight & seemed genuine. He just exploded with laughter at my naive ignorance! West Texas is repleate with folks who profess knowledge of bits & pieces of LBJ & Billie Sol Estes ( a fertilizer kingpin who fomented huge scam in cahoots with LBJ ).

[TEXICAN II]

Do you hail from Moscow, or Bejing? Pravda is still in operation & socialism is still king there-they very well might use your work!

[billhilly]

Imagine that the first $100 billion annual budget occurred during the presidency of LBJ. Think of the magnitude of what he did. That man did more to stifle the strength of America than all of his predecessors. His "war on poverty" was a dismal failure, but an enormous waste of this country's resources.

[Marianne]

I read sometime ago that Robert Caro delayed publication of the third volume because official documents had recently been released that hadn't been available when he was doing research for the final book. He wanted to see the newly released documents before publication.

[MissAmericanPie]

I think it is a toss up between Clinton and Johnson as to who did the most damage to our nation. We have not seen the end of the damage that Clinton may have inflicted with his handing over of our missle technology to the Chinese. His act may actually lead to the murder of the entire nation, too early to tell yet.

[LiberalBuster]

LBJ was a war criminal ... and the bleeding-heart liberal that made millions of Americans dependent on the federal dole. Oh, and he was a racist.

"I'll have them n*g*ers voting Democratic for the next two hundred years." - President Lyndon B. Johnson, Inside the White House by Ronald Kessler

[jackbill]

But when discussing Vietnam with the Senate majority leader, Mike Mansfield, he confesses, ''I'm no military man at all.''

Yes, but the SOB was enough of a "military man" to campaign for and accept a Silver Star in WWII for flying an observation mission that turned back before seeing the enemy.

That give me enough information about the SOB to know that I'd want nothing to do with him. He always was a SCUMBAG.

[LiberalBuster]

Goldwater was disappointed with his presidential run because he didn't have the opportunity to run against an honest and honorable candidate.

He had been looking forward to going head-to-head with a decent and classy guy - JFK. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Instead, he got LBJ, the man who mastered dirty (filthy lying) political ads. He introduced what is now classic Democrat demagoguery and fearmongering (ex. the Daisy ad implying Goldwater was nuke-trigger happy).

I don't think an honest Democrat has run for president since Andrew Jackson. Granted, JFK comes close.

[jackbill]

On the plus side Johnson achieved a great many domestic gains. (Unmatched by any subsequent President) These include Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights. When he left office the country was divided over Vietnam, yet the budget was balanced and unemployment was at historic lows. With time both his supporters and his critics will be taking a more balanced view of his Presidency.

Horse Crap!!! He will forever go down in history as a piece of garbage.

Perhaps, in the future, the Vietnam Wall will be renamed "Johnson's Legacy".

[GretchenEE]

I note you posted this very appropriately under "Crime, Corruption."

LBJ was a blot on the face of America. I wonder if he could have succeeded in his colossal failure in Viet Nam without a military draft. I doubt it.

[KC_Conspirator]

A generation later, the programs Johnson had enacted that frenetic year -- Medicare, Head Start, the Voting Rights Act -- continue to strengthen America.

Johnson is the worst president ever, even worse than Jimmy Carter. Medicare is an inefficient money pit. Head Start, despite its nice connotation, has yet to produce ANY long term benefits and has not had an cost-benefit analysis until recently, where it failed. As for the Voting Rights Act, it has alienated a whole country of african Americans to the point where they are captive of left wing politics.

Johnson sent Americans into a war and he did not let them win. He also presided over the collapse of the black family and crime rates tripled during his time in office.

[RLK]

The entire groups was a collection of mental defectives.

[AmericanVictory]

You are right.
This is spin.
He was given an opportunity to do the right thing and
he did not reach for glory,
he ran away from it
and viciously attacked those who gave him the opportunity
for an American victory and for glory.

The man did not have it in him.

[AmericanVictory]

You are right.
This is spin.
He was given an opportunity to do the right thing and
he did not reach for glory,
he ran away from it
and viciously attacked those who gave him the opportunity
for an American victory and for glory.

The man did not have it in him.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

I don't think an honest Democrat has run for president since Andrew Jackson. Granted, JFK comes close.

JFK definitely had charisma and charm, and handled himself well in the presidency. He certainly had more backbone and honesty than his brother Theodore does, who is a liberal sellout to this country.

But administratively, I'd say he was a failure. From the Berlin crisis, to Cuba, to Vietnam, which Johnson inherited, Kennedy was a washout.

But the media has martyred him because he was an assassinated liberal.

It would have been interesting though to see what he would have done with Vietnam if he had been able to continue. That war tore the country apart.

[911]

As Reagan so aptly put it, "We declared war on poverty, and poverty won."

[sarcasm]

I only read Path to Power - it left me so disgusted that I couldn't bear to read more about LBJ's corruption.

[SteveH]

It took me a while to get to the bottom line: "we can win the war against Communism and we can win the war against poverty" at the same time... with the help of a temporary increase in income taxes. Evil**3.

[PJ-Comix]

I only read Path to Power - it left me so disgusted that I couldn't bear to read more about LBJ's corruption.

Too bad because "Means Of Ascent" was really terrific. In particular the LBJ's Senate race against Coke Stevenson in which some "mysterious: votes gave him victory. Also of great interest was the section about Pappy "Pass the Biscuits" O'Daniel.

BTW, the reason for the delay of volume 3 from what I understand is that Robert Caro found new material that couldn't be ignored. I am wondering if this new material are those hundreds of hours of conversations that LBJ secretly taped?