1cyderry
Means of Ascent
carlym
garp83
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
ktleyed
Lyndon An Oral Biography
gmillar
The Path to Power
garp83
Master of the Senate
garp83
Mutual Contempt
garp83
Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes
garp83
Reaching For Glory
garp83
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition by Radall B. Woods
Bill_Masom
Election Johnson (486 electoral votes) vs. Barry Goldwater (52)
Johnson was the only president to swear the Oath of Office on an airplane from a woman.
The Johnson family saved tons of money on monogramming items. Almost every family member's name was initialed LBJ- Lyndon Baines, Lady Bird, Lynda Bird, and Luci Baines.
Lyndon B. Johnson was the youngest senate majority leader.
Johnson loved the soda Fresca so much that he had a fountain installed in the Oval Office that would dispense the soda at the push of a button!
Lyndon Johnson died one mile from the house he was born in.
He had two pet beagles named "Him" and "Her." Him's paw prints are imprinted in cement on the walkway leading to the White House press room. J. Edgar Hoover gave him another beagle named "Edgar."
Johnson and his wife, "Lady Byrd", were married with a $2.50 wedding ring bought at Sears.
He rejected his official portrait painting, saying it was "the ugliest thing I ever saw."
carlym
garp83
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
ktleyed
Lyndon An Oral Biography
gmillar
The Path to Power
garp83
Master of the Senate
garp83
Mutual Contempt
garp83
Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes
garp83
Reaching For Glory
garp83
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition by Radall B. Woods
Bill_Masom
Election Johnson (486 electoral votes) vs. Barry Goldwater (52)
Johnson was the only president to swear the Oath of Office on an airplane from a woman.
The Johnson family saved tons of money on monogramming items. Almost every family member's name was initialed LBJ- Lyndon Baines, Lady Bird, Lynda Bird, and Luci Baines.
Lyndon B. Johnson was the youngest senate majority leader.
Johnson loved the soda Fresca so much that he had a fountain installed in the Oval Office that would dispense the soda at the push of a button!
Lyndon Johnson died one mile from the house he was born in.
He had two pet beagles named "Him" and "Her." Him's paw prints are imprinted in cement on the walkway leading to the White House press room. J. Edgar Hoover gave him another beagle named "Edgar."
Johnson and his wife, "Lady Byrd", were married with a $2.50 wedding ring bought at Sears.
He rejected his official portrait painting, saying it was "the ugliest thing I ever saw."
2diganwhiskey
Cheli,
I have a book I bought at a Salvation Army store, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. It caught my eye because the author was Doris Kearns (no Goodwin). I think I must read it now since I had to buy my own wedding ring at the Navy Exchange. That would be the connection between LBJ and my former husband! Off the subject, I had once thought of trying to read a book about each of the English monarchs.
Deborah
I have a book I bought at a Salvation Army store, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. It caught my eye because the author was Doris Kearns (no Goodwin). I think I must read it now since I had to buy my own wedding ring at the Navy Exchange. That would be the connection between LBJ and my former husband! Off the subject, I had once thought of trying to read a book about each of the English monarchs.
Deborah
3cyderry
I had thought about that too (the Kings & Queens of England) but I took up the presidents first.
4carlym
A long time ago, I read one of Robert Caro's trilogy of books about LBJ--Means of Ascent. I highly recommend it.
5ktleyed
I've read Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, it's very good, as is anything written by Doris Kearns (it was before she was using the name Goodwin). She worked for Johnson at one point, so she had a particularly good pov about him. I highly recommend this book!
6TheOneandOnly
If you like the reading about the Civil Rights Movement as well, Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick Kotz is well worth picking up.
7gmillar
I finished Lyndon. An Oral Biography by Merle Miller last night. I liked it more than I expected to. I began to like Mr. Johnson more than I expected to as well.
First, the President: I didn't trust that he actually believed in anything of substance until the very end. His "Farewell Speech" in December 1972 at his Library in Austin changed all that. It's impossible to read your way through that part of the book and not be impressed by the man's obvious care and concern for human equality.
Second, the book: I think this oral biography style is a way to get an accurate view of a person. Admittedly, the author chooses the quotes he wishes to include but he does not choose how things are said about the subject person. A reader gets a really good feel for the man this way. You get the bouquets and the brickbats, the smiles and the grimaces, the certainty and the confusion, the love and the anger, the warts and all.
Recommended.
First, the President: I didn't trust that he actually believed in anything of substance until the very end. His "Farewell Speech" in December 1972 at his Library in Austin changed all that. It's impossible to read your way through that part of the book and not be impressed by the man's obvious care and concern for human equality.
Second, the book: I think this oral biography style is a way to get an accurate view of a person. Admittedly, the author chooses the quotes he wishes to include but he does not choose how things are said about the subject person. A reader gets a really good feel for the man this way. You get the bouquets and the brickbats, the smiles and the grimaces, the certainty and the confusion, the love and the anger, the warts and all.
Recommended.
8Garp83
I have read thus far:
The Path to Power -- Caro
Means of Ascent -- Caro
Master of the Senate -- Caro
Mutual Contempt -- Shesol
Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes -- Beschloss
Reaching For Glory -- Beschloss
Not done yet. Fascinating villain!
The Path to Power -- Caro
Means of Ascent -- Caro
Master of the Senate -- Caro
Mutual Contempt -- Shesol
Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes -- Beschloss
Reaching For Glory -- Beschloss
Not done yet. Fascinating villain!
9Garp83
Not sure which President I should post this in so I will post in all three threads:
One of the books I got for Christmas was 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon by David Pietrusza, focused upon the 1960 election. I started it almost immediately and basically shunted aside most of the rest of the books I have in play to focus upon it, finishing it this morning.
Let me say that Pietrusza demonstrates that a writer of history – in the tradition of Tom Holland, for example -- CAN write an exciting, very readable book for ALL audiences that contains copious (70+ pages) footnotes. I would suggest that anyone who has interest in this election, those three giants who would dominate American politics in the 1960's, or simply the American political/electoral system shortly after mid-century should read this book. More than 400 pages long, yet never for a moment tedious or dull, Pietrusza brings to life a realistic and not-too-flattering portrait of the candidates and their respective entourages in this pivotal election that was to be (with the critical addition of television debates) the dawn of modern campaigning. More than that, however, the author introduces and fleshes out the larger cast of characters – from Eisenhower to Symington to Lodge to Stevenson to Rockefeller – who dominated American politics in the fifties, and capably brings you up to speed on American politics in what was very much a transitional era.
Whether you are already widely familiar, as I am, with the intimate personalities of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, or whether you are completely new to their bios, “1960” will suck you in and not let you go, page-by-page, from the first stirrings of the campaign to election night and beyond. Highly recommended!
One of the books I got for Christmas was 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon by David Pietrusza, focused upon the 1960 election. I started it almost immediately and basically shunted aside most of the rest of the books I have in play to focus upon it, finishing it this morning.
Let me say that Pietrusza demonstrates that a writer of history – in the tradition of Tom Holland, for example -- CAN write an exciting, very readable book for ALL audiences that contains copious (70+ pages) footnotes. I would suggest that anyone who has interest in this election, those three giants who would dominate American politics in the 1960's, or simply the American political/electoral system shortly after mid-century should read this book. More than 400 pages long, yet never for a moment tedious or dull, Pietrusza brings to life a realistic and not-too-flattering portrait of the candidates and their respective entourages in this pivotal election that was to be (with the critical addition of television debates) the dawn of modern campaigning. More than that, however, the author introduces and fleshes out the larger cast of characters – from Eisenhower to Symington to Lodge to Stevenson to Rockefeller – who dominated American politics in the fifties, and capably brings you up to speed on American politics in what was very much a transitional era.
Whether you are already widely familiar, as I am, with the intimate personalities of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, or whether you are completely new to their bios, “1960” will suck you in and not let you go, page-by-page, from the first stirrings of the campaign to election night and beyond. Highly recommended!
10Bill_Masom
Finished LBJ: Architect of American Ambition by Radall B. Woods yesterday early morning. (5-6-2010).
It is 884 pages long, and it can be quite the slog. Very well written and researched, it was just a very long book to read about one man.
Of course you can counter that he had a very interesting life, so a long book is warrented. Yeah, your right, but this was just a slog all the way through the book. Glad I read it, glad I am done reading it.
Bill Masom
It is 884 pages long, and it can be quite the slog. Very well written and researched, it was just a very long book to read about one man.
Of course you can counter that he had a very interesting life, so a long book is warrented. Yeah, your right, but this was just a slog all the way through the book. Glad I read it, glad I am done reading it.
Bill Masom
11TheOneandOnly
Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President by Robert Dallek
Robert Dallek wrote a great two volume biography on LBJ, but this version was his "abridged" version of the biography. I am interested in reading the original 2 volume now. LBJ was a flawed man and president, but he is also one of my favorite presidents who bogged himself down in Vietnam while trying to fix America.
Robert Dallek wrote a great two volume biography on LBJ, but this version was his "abridged" version of the biography. I am interested in reading the original 2 volume now. LBJ was a flawed man and president, but he is also one of my favorite presidents who bogged himself down in Vietnam while trying to fix America.
12Garp83
If you are interested in LBJ read the Caro trilogy or if not, read at least Master of the Senate. Outstanding -- and a much more compelling writer than Dallek.
13Garp83
Newly declassified LBJ tapes reveal that Johnson was seriously considering re-entering the '68 race and that Nixon was committing treason behind the scenes by sabotaging the Paris Peace Talks ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668
15drneutron
I've now finished the four available volumes of Caro's biography. Anybody got any intel on the status of the 5th?
16Garp83
#15 Given Caro's typical research and writing schedule, I can expect his last LBJ book to hopefully arrive some time our lifetime LOL The Caro books truly are masterful, especially volume 3, don't you think?
17swimmergirl1
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
An easy read but I felt it left out a lot of details. Not impressed! Reading Nixon now!
An easy read but I felt it left out a lot of details. Not impressed! Reading Nixon now!
18Vic33
I just finished reading Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I have to agree with swimmergirl1. I would not call this a researched biography using primary resource since it is very light on detail and facts. Very little discussion of his wife and children. Also more psycho babble then I like. It was, however, an easy read. I also have Lyndon. An Oral Biography by Merle Miller on my bookshelf. It was a book sale find. I will probably read it too.
19Hamburgerclan
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition
by Randall Woods
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. --Ecclesiastes 1:9
While reading through this biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, I felt very much like I've been living in a rerun. Or maybe "remake" might be e better metaphor. I mean, we still have a foreign boogey-man (-men?), but these days some Americans fear Muslim terrorists rather than Communist agitators. But rioting and protests over racism are, sadly, back in the news.
I think this initial thought about the book goes to illustrate that Professor Woods did a good job of conveying the zeitgeist of the eras in which Johnson lived and worked. In LBJ, Johnson is portrayed as a forceful, egotistical man, but one with a definite sense of duty to his country and a compassion for all of his citizens. It covers his life from his family history in Texas, through his childhood and initial career as a teacher, to his final calling as a politician. The reader travels along that career as a secretary for Congressman Richard Kleberg, a state Director for the National Youth Administration under the New Deal, through his influential role as a senator, and to his somewhat marginalized role as Vice President. The death of John Kennedy thrust Johnson into the presidency, and the book details how he faced the challenges of carrying on the legacies of Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Society programs, as well as the challenges of the quagmire that was the Vietnam War. Professor Woods is a good storyteller and gave me a definite appreciation of Johnson. (I may have to put this book on my shelf.) It also brought my own life into focus as I read how the president of my early childhood and his contemporaries in government shaped the society which I grew up thinking was "normal".
by Randall Woods
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. --Ecclesiastes 1:9
While reading through this biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, I felt very much like I've been living in a rerun. Or maybe "remake" might be e better metaphor. I mean, we still have a foreign boogey-man (-men?), but these days some Americans fear Muslim terrorists rather than Communist agitators. But rioting and protests over racism are, sadly, back in the news.
I think this initial thought about the book goes to illustrate that Professor Woods did a good job of conveying the zeitgeist of the eras in which Johnson lived and worked. In LBJ, Johnson is portrayed as a forceful, egotistical man, but one with a definite sense of duty to his country and a compassion for all of his citizens. It covers his life from his family history in Texas, through his childhood and initial career as a teacher, to his final calling as a politician. The reader travels along that career as a secretary for Congressman Richard Kleberg, a state Director for the National Youth Administration under the New Deal, through his influential role as a senator, and to his somewhat marginalized role as Vice President. The death of John Kennedy thrust Johnson into the presidency, and the book details how he faced the challenges of carrying on the legacies of Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Society programs, as well as the challenges of the quagmire that was the Vietnam War. Professor Woods is a good storyteller and gave me a definite appreciation of Johnson. (I may have to put this book on my shelf.) It also brought my own life into focus as I read how the president of my early childhood and his contemporaries in government shaped the society which I grew up thinking was "normal".