Lyndon B. Johnson

July 26, 2010
Part of the admirable American President Series, edited by Peters, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and Sean Wilentz, this concise biography continues the rehabilitation of the man who served as the 36th President of the United States. Peters, a former member of Johnson’s administration, asserts that Johnson, raised in the nasty world of Texas politics, remained ruthlessly dedicated to his own advancement and became a great, if flawed, statesman. Congressman Johnson’s work ethic and fawning charm appealed to FDR in 1930s Washington, but in 1948, power took priority, leading Johnson toward conservatism upon entering the Southern-dominated Senate. Despite his brilliance as majority leader during the ‘50s, few took his presidential ambitions seriously and the 1960 offer to be Kennedy’s running mate was viewed as his only hope. But after Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson transformed himself again, this time into a compassionate reformer. His Medicare and anti-poverty legislation closed out the Roosevelt era, and his civil rights bills (considered hopeless under Kennedy) made him the greatest benefactor of African-Americans since Lincoln. Although Peters details Johnson’s Vietnam debacle with new insight, readers will still take away a vividly positive understanding of this president’s accomplishments.

Starred review from April 1, 2010
A slim but penetrating biography of Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973).

Washington Monthly founder Peters (Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing"We Want Willkie!" Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World, 2005, etc.) paints a mostly unpleasant portrait of a fiercely ambitious climber who lacked any inhibition when it came to lying, cheating, bribing and betrayal. Though he doesn't conceal the 36th president's ugly traits or his role in the fiasco in Vietnam, the author also stresses that, along with Franklin Roosevelt, Johnson produced the greatest reform legislation of the 20th century. The son of a Texas legislator, Johnson grew up fascinated with politics. He learned the ropes in FDR's Washington before winning election to the House in 1937. He lost the 1941 Senate election due to his opponent's cheating, but he learned enough to cheat his way to victory in 1948. Although an enthusiastic New Dealer, he joined the nation's move to the right after World War II and became an equally enthusiastic Southern conservative. Accepting the obscure job of majority leader, Johnson fashioned it into a powerful office that streamlined the Senate's moribund procedures and gave him national fame as a political wizard. Young senator John F. Kennedy rejected his staff's opposition to choose him as running mate in 1960, believing correctly that Southern votes would determine a very close race. As president after Kennedy's assassination, Johnson displayed his genuine concern with poverty and injustice and, unlike later presidents, the political skill to do something about it. Before delivering a painful account of Johnson's disastrous involvement in Vietnam, Peters makes it clear that the 1964–65 civil-rights, voting-rights and Medicare legislation represent dazzling humanitarian achievements.

With the final volume yet to appear, Robert Caro's magnificent biography is the standard-bearer, but Peters delivers a splendid short version.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2010
Peters (founder, "Washington Monthly; Five Days in Philadelphia") served as a Peace Corps administrator during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He draws on his experiences to provide insight as he sketches the life and times of Lyndon Johnson (190873), relying mostly on standard Johnson biographies. Peters describes Johnson's Texas childhood, his years in Congress, his frustrating years as Kennedy's vice president, and the triumphs and failures of his presidency (196368). The author identifies LBJ's successes (civil rights legislation and his Great Society domestic programs) as well as his failures (an abusive temper and escalating the Vietnam War) and concludes that Johnson's mixed legacy will be a subject for ongoing historical interpretation. VERDICT This book is aimed at general readers who want a brief account of this controversial President but don't want to delve into such excellent biographies as Robert Caro's three-volume (and counting) "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" and Robert Dallek's two-volume "Lyndon Johnson and His Times". Its intended audience will not be disappointed with this fast-moving story.Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Township Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
In the only hostile entry thus far in the American Presidents series, Elizabeth Drew questioned Nixons moral fitness to be president. Given Lyndon Johnsons early election-stealing and sycophancy in New Deal Washington, later boorish and cruel treatment of subordinates, constant womanizing, and sense of inferiority that made him unreasonable about Vietnamall of which Peters admits without hesitationmany may ask the same about Nixons immediate predecessor. Not Peters, who cuts Johnson so much slack for being a consummately skilled political maneuvererthe majority leaders majority leader, as it werethat he is wont to think that, but for Vietnam, Johnson would be considered one of the greatest presidents. After all, Peters points out, LBJs domestic legislative achievement is second only to FDRs. And there, for critics, is the rub. They feel that, while LBJs domestic goals were laudable, the laws he bullied through to meet them were deeply flawed and sowed the seeds of entitlement politics. Peters doesnt acknowledge that such a critique exists. He convinces us, however, that the challenges Johnson faced required a great president.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)