| The Passage of Power - The Passage Of Power
(2012)
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| Front Cover |
Book Details |
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| Genre |
Biography; Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973; Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963; United States - Politics And Government - 1963-1969; United States - Politics And Government - 1961-1963 |
| Publication Date |
2012 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.4
mm)
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| Publisher |
Alfred A. Knopf |
| Language |
English (US) |
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| Description |
From dust jacket:
THE PASSAGE OF POWER follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career--1958 to 1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him. Yet it was, as well, the time in which the presidency, the goal he had always pursed, would be thrust upon him in the moment it took an assassin's bullet to reach its mark.
By 1958, as Johnson began to maneuver for the presidency, he was known as one of the most brilliant politicians of his time, the greatest Senate Leader in our history. But the 1960 nomination would go to the young senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Caro gives us an unparalleled account of the machinations behind both the nomination and Kennedy's decision to offer Johnson the vice presidency, revealing the extent of Robert Kennedy's efforts to force Johnson off the ticket. With the consummate skill of a master storyteller, he exposes the savage animonsity between Johnson and Kennedy's younger brother, portraying one of America's great political feuds. Yet Robert Kennedy's overt contempt for Johnson was only part of the burden of humiliation and isolation he bore as Vice President. With a singular understanding of Johnson's heart and mind, Caro describes what it was like for this mighty politician to find himself altogether powerless in a world in which power is the crucial commodity.
For the first time, in Caro's breathtakingly vivid narrative, we see the Kennedy assassination through Lyndon Johnson's eyes. We watch Jonhson step into the presidency, inheriting a staff fiercely loyal to his slain predecessor; a Congress determined to retain its power over the executive branch; and a nation in shock and mourning. We see how within weeks--grasping the reins of the presidency with supreme mastery--he propels through Congress essential legisliation that at the time of Kennedy's death seemed hopelessly logjammed and seizes on a dormant Kennedy program to create the revolutionary War on Poverty. Caro makes clear how the political genius with which Johnson had ruled the Senate now enabled him to make the presidency wholly his own. This was without doubt Johnson's finest hour. before his aspirations and accomplishments were overshadowed and eroded by the trap of Vietnam. |
| Personal Details |
| Store |
AbeBooks |
| Purchase Price |
$6.74 |
| Acquire Date |
3/6/2020 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
E846 .C37 2012 |
| Dewey |
973.923092 |
| ISBN |
9780679405078 |
| Series |
The Years of Lyndon Johnson |
| Cover Price |
$35.00 |
| No. of Pages |
712 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
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| Notes/Review |
This volume of Caro's impressive biography of LBJ covers the period from the 1960 election to about 7 weeks after JFK's assassination.
The main events here are the negotiations in the hotel during the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Johnson's emasculation at the hands of the Kennedy people, his relationship with Bobby Kennedy, the assassination, and the transfer of power. We also see how the lessons LBJ learned in the Senate allowed him to pass the most important legislation of his time in the first weeks of his presidency. (Often, historians talk about the first 100 days of various presidencies. LBJ accomplished more in the first 50 than many did in their entire terms.)
Working my way through whole-life biographies of the presidents, I've read many that were multi-volume works that gave the authors the time and space to make deep dives into their subjects. I have little doubt that most of these men were complex characters - human and flawed - in contrast to how popular history may portray them. None of them come close to the complexity of LBJ's character as shown by Caro. LBJ seems to be in a class of his own. The LBJ we see as Vice President is hardly the same man who was Senate Majority Leader. And the LBJ who took the reins after those awful hours in Dallas was transformed again.
I eagerly await the next (final?) volume in the series. |
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