Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Doris Kearns GoodwinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-06-15
ISBN: 0312060270
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Book Reviews of Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
Book Review: The Rise and Fall of LBJ
Summary: 5 Stars
This book deals with three exceedingly complex themes: first, there is LBJ's life, his friends, family, relationships, job experiences, political positions, and bits and pieces of his personal thoughts and philosophy on morals, ethics, human behavior, etc. Secondly, there is LBJ's Great Society program, his dream for America. It will expand on FDR's New Deal. It will identify and resolve all serious problems in America. It will provide help and assistance for those suffering or needy: the poor, students, farmers, consumers, the unemployed, the aged and retired, businessmen, conservatives, minorities, etc. There will be construction programs of all kinds, and educational and training programs, and health programs, and civil rights programs - literally, something for everyone. Just as the Great Society gains momentum, however, something happens that halts it - namely, the Vietnam War - the third complicated theme in this book.
LBJ's position is this: South Vietnam is a small, independent country that's being invaded by its neighbor North Vietnam - that is receiving aid and support from the Soviet Union and Red China. This is another effort by the 'monolithic' communist world to grab up another piece of non-communist territory. The U.S. duty and obligation (per its Truman Doctrine, its 'containment policy,' and its international treaties) is to protect the weak from communist aggression, like it had done previously in Greece, Turkey, W. Berlin, and S. Korea. The U.S. has never lost a war; LBJ is not going to lose a war. Ergo, the U.S. will stay the course, do what has to be done - until a negotiated peace can be attained - like in Korea. Aggression will not be rewarded! Period!
The anti-war movement began to grow as LBJ escalated the war. The U.S. presence in Vietnam climbed - from 23,000 (1964) to 500,000 (1967), casualties and deaths rose accordingly (2500 in 1965 to 80,000 in 1967), and the opposition mounted. The anti-war `Peaceniks' who'd initially enjoyed little support anywhere, began winning supporters with their new 1960's-style tactics - many already successfully employed by civil-rights promoters: parades, sit-ins, demonstrations, bombings, draft-card and flag
burnings, rallies, military desertions, etc. These events, plus bloody scenes filmed in Vietnam (bombing, combat carnage) began increasingly to fill the TV news that Americans and their families viewed in their homes at suppertime (this was an era when TV anchors were heroes, when there were actual families who dined together at home, when there was an interest in the daily news). This was a civil war, the `Peaceniks' maintained, that had nothing to do with any `monolithic' communist movement, or world strategy, or `domino theory.' History counts for little, they said, but the bombing raids were killing innocent people and the war was getting thousands of young Americans killed, wounded, and maimed. Furthermore, the war was illegal (never officially declared) and it was immoral. Eventually, the `Peacenik's' gyrations and the lack of U.S. success in the war brought LBJ down.
When LBJ saw the `Peaceniks' gaining momentum, the media and the people turning against his Vietnam policy, and his Great Society programs dying, he opted to bow out of politics. LBJ was an honorable, humane, decent, compassionate, individual with great leadership and legislative skills, but he could not lead Americans where they didn't want to go. So he retired and in 1968 Richard Nixon assumed power. Nixon, of course, dismantled the Great Society programs and he negotiated with the North Vietnamese his version of `peace with honor.' Honor and civility reached new lows in America.
Summary of Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
Doris Kearns Goodwin's classic life of Lyndon Johnson, who presided over the Great Society, the Vietnam War, and other defining moments the tumultuous 1960s, is a monument in political biography. From the moment the author, then a young woman from Harvard, first encountered President Johnson at a White House dance in the spring of 1967, she became fascinated by the man?his character, his enormous energy and drive, and his manner of wielding these gifts in an endless pursuit of power. As a member of his White House staff, she soon became his personal confidante, and in the years before his death he revealed himself to her as he did to no other.
Widely praised and enormously popular, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is a work of biography like few others. With uncanny insight and a richly engrossing style, the author renders LBJ in all his vibrant, conflicted humanity.
Widely praised and enormously popular, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is a work of biography like few others. With uncanny insight and a richly engrossing style, the author renders LBJ in all his vibrant, conflicted humanity.
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