Clear look at the shadow LBJ cast over '60s politics

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THE 1950s and 1960s were heady times for America. Its black population moved ahead beyond anything they had known before.

The country's military will and diplomatic resolve were tested in two Asian wars, the latter of which ended in its first defeat. The Supreme Court delivered itself of a whole series of rulings that fundamentally changed the texture and culture of American society.

And a host of players contributed to these developments: two unrelated McCarthys, a passel of Kennedys, a Nixon, a Rockefeller, a Humphrey, a Wallace and a Thurmond. Casting a giant shadow over the '60s, however, was Lyndon Bains Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, who is the subject of this comprehensive biography.

The author, Robert A. Caro, is one of the elite members among the American historian class, and he has written extensively on Johnson in the past. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, an American Book Award and many other prestigious awards. He writes with clarity, and has been praised for his astute personal analyses. In a sense, he owns Johnson.

This volume covers the period between late 1958, following the off-year elections, and early 1964, after Johnson had become president.

In 1958 Johnson was Senate majority leader, the youngest there had ever been, and, many say, the best.

The sundry topics include the fight for the 1960 Democratic nomination against then-Senator John F. Kennedy, which is useful as a means of exploring presidential selection politics in the last years before the primary election became the most cool for the selection of candidates.

The selection of Johnson as running mate was highly divisive in the party, and many have maintained that it was opposed by Kennedy's brother and chief counsellor Robert, later attorney general. This feud was regarded as a constant in the relationship between the two camps.

Nonetheless, the JFK-LBJ ticket won, thanks to its victories in the South. But Johnson received little credit and was virtually ignored. This prompted media to coin such phrases as "Whatever became of LBJ?" and to speculate about Johnson being dropped from the ticket in 1964.

Then came the ghastly events of Nov. 22, 1963. President Johnson made the White House available to Jacqueline Kennedy and patiently endured her reluctance to move out of the presidential residence, with snide remarks from the Kennedy entourage.

LBJ might have been heartened had he known that President Dwight Eisenhower had also been made fun of by Kennedy devotees in 1960-61.

This is an excellent book; clear, concise and to the point. However, the subject matter is a little familiar, and we are inclined to think that it is not quite up of the standard of Caro's previous work.

In 1982, a panel of historians headed by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. rated all 38 presidents.

Kennedy came 14th, a rather modest finish. But LBJ came 12th. Civil rights had changed perceptions of him, even though he had failed to deal with opposition to the war in Vietnam.

Finally, a story illustrates well the ambiguity of Johnson's appeal. It is said that a southern senator was visiting the Oval Office and was receiving the full mano a mano Johnson treatment.

Asked if he loved his president, the visitor responded: "Sure, I loves ya, Lyndon. I just ain't no damn fool about ya."

Geoffrey Lambert is retired from the political studies department at the University of Manitoba.

The Passage of Power

The Years of Lyndon Johnson

By Robert A. Caro

Knopf, 714 pages, $41

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 16, 2012 J7