Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin #book #review

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream 
by Doris Kearns Goodwin 
(1976, 1991 St. martin’s Press)

What makes you who you are? Have you ever thought about that question?

President Lyndon Johnson played an important part in my life. Doubtlessly, something to do with who and what I am. Why, you ask? Because I served in Vietnam. In a war that ultimately crashed the legacy and self-respect of LBJ.

This excellent biography by one of the top historians of our generation explores those questions about President Johnson. I had never thought of reading his biography until a Japanese friend wanted to visit the Johnson Library in Austin. My friend makes a hobby of visiting these American institutions. 

As I walked around the LBJ Library with him, I was surprise to see so little about Vietnam. So I bought the book. Now I understand.

I went to Vietnam in 1964, which means LBJ had been President for almost a year at the time. The war did not really commence in earnest until January 1966.

Doris Kearns Goodwin puts it all into perspective. LBJ was the product of an inner world of turmoil, undependable love, and a need. He turned for satisfaction and fulfillment to an external world in which he needed constant reaffirmation. The more he achieved, the more he needed, and so on.

And achieve he did. LBJ was an immense success at every step of the government ladder. As Majority Leader in the Senate he had more power than anyone in Washington, an immense ability to get things done in that inner sanctum. He failed as a Presidential candidate, only to be selected as Vice President by John F. Kennedy. Upon the latter’s assassination, LBJ became President.

His social achievements are appropriately legendary. Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Great Society and so on. He won election on his own in 1964 by the largest majority in history. He withdrew from re-election, not exactly resigning, in disgrace in 1968. Why? Because he lied to the American people about the extent of our involvement in Vietnam and lost the very reaffirmation that he so desperately needed. LBJ then faded into insignificance on his ranch raising cattle. He declared to Ms. Goodwin that he had been always  been very lonely. Indeed! What an amazing thing for someone with the skill and power of LBJ to have to admit in his fading years. 

If you have ever thought of those questions at the beginning of this review, you might want to think about reading Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. It certainly helped me think through those very questions.

Warms, Cym

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