Robert Caro's Johnson Biographies (war, Mexican, JFK, assassin)

[cpg35223]

Anybody else read the biography, now into the fourth volume? Opinions?

[Grandstander]

"The Path to Power", the first volume, is probably the best political biography I have ever read. Before getting to Johnson, Caro presented a fascinating portrait of the Texas region where LBJ was born and raised. LBJ seems to have been one of those sorts who crawled from the womb with his adult character already fully formed. Johnson comes across as an extraordinary mixture of true ideals and compassion for the less advantaged, along with a classic Southern snake oil salesman personality and an ego which demanded that he made others subordinate to him.

I was truly looking forward to Volume Two, "Means of Ascent" and was very much disappointed that it did not grip me the way the first book had. "Means" covered just the seven years between Johnson's first failed Senate campaign and his second, successful one. Mostly it is the story of the 1948 election and if you are a student of the most minute details of Texas politics, this is the book for you. That was the problem for me, it ceased being a book about LBJ in favor of being a book about the micro world around LBJ. "Path etc" was who he was, "Means etc" was what he did.

This is not to say it wasn't a very good book, it was, it just wasn't the great book that Volume one was.

I've long intended to get around to reading "Master of the Senate", but somehow have not. Now I'm two volumes behind.

[Irishtom29]

I had the same experiences as Grandstander: loved the first book, disappointed with the second and thus no experience with the subsequent ones.

[cpg35223]

I have to admit that I'm a political junkie. I thought Caro's second volume was very much a revelation of character for Johnson, and a fascinating glimpse into the inner working of a campaign. Master of the Senate to me was nothing less than a revelation into how that body works. And now I'm about 200 pages into the fourth volume, speaking about the Kennedy Johnson ticket. Just fascinating stuff to me.

[PhenomenalAJ]

I read those first three, all were amazing books, each one better than the next. Those books really are more than one man's life, they tell the whole history of politics and America in those times. Master of the Senate is a masterpiece in how it gets into how the Senate worked. It's just astounding how Johnson got a civil rights bill passed at all and an amazing story about a seemingly impossible situation. I've heard the new book actually takes the Warren Commission report as truth and that worries me a bit but I plan to read it before I make judgment.

[markg91359]

I'm reading the fourth volume now "Passages of Power". Its excellent. Several things really stood out to me about it.

1. JFK was a very physically sick man both before he became President and afterwards. He had Addison's Disease which almost killed him until cortisone was discovered. Cortisone was an immense help to him. He also had serious back problems that were acutely painful. He constantly wore a back brace and than wrapped himself thoroughly before going out.

2. Bobby Kennedy and Johnson's mutual hatred of one another was very deep rooted. RFK first met Johnson while Johnson was Senate Majority Leader and while he was a congressional staffer for Senator Joe McCarthy. From the beginning, RFK and Johnson seemed to hate the sight of one another. Johnson probably incurred Bobby's wrath by calling his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, an "appeasor" of the Naziis. (which was largely correct).

3. Johnson's commitment to civil rights for minorities was genuine and not simply politically motivated. It probably began as a poor kid in the Texas hill country. It was certainly present when he taught poor Mexican kids for a year as a school teacher.

4. Johnson's mistakes in plunging into the Vietnam War were probably largely a product of the fact that he was insecure about his own limited education and knowledge of foreign affairs. Accordingly, he chose to take his advice from people like Dean Rusk, George Bundy, and Robert McNamara. In the beginning, they were all hawks and Johnson unfortunately took their advice.

5. Johnson was VP during the Cuban Missile Crisis and favored a military strike on Cuba. This was one year before JFK's assassination. One thing that frightens me is that if JFK had been assassinated one or two years earlier what this might have lead too.

This book is excellent.