Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream: The Most Revealing Portrait of a President and Presidential Power Ever Written

Doris Kearns’ biography of Lyndon Johnson is probably one of the most intimate and empathetic story of an American president ever written. One can deeply understand the inner forces and conflicts that drove his long public service career as well as the true and honest convictions that he fought endlessly for the better good of American society. Yet it also highlights without any attenuating circumstances ( Johnson’s own verbatim) the narrowness of his often abusive character and his inexorable descent into a retrenched and almost paranoid behavior. Too humanly flawed to become a great man, Lyndon Johnson’s end of life resembles the trajectory of a Shakespearian disavowed and bitter king whose last realm was made of hens and cows.Any biography is always a biased reading of its subject, and one may regret the absence of many important events and decisions during Johnson’s presidency. Or the total lack of attention to his personal life besides the courting of Lady Bird. But this is probably also why this biography is so damned good. Because it chooses to focus on what matters and tells us a story that resonates profoundly about the strengths and shortcomings of a man’s extraordinary and forceful trajectory.

La autora ha conocido personalmente a Lyndon Johnson durante muchos años, empezando en la Casa Blanca y hasta su muerte en 1973. El libro te ayuda a conocer más a LBJ como persona. Muy interesante.

Well written book about an underestimated and misunderstood man.

Doris K. Godwin draws an interesting and detailed picture of Lyndon B. Johnson, his quirks and hang-ups, his political skills, victories and failures. The author motivates the choices he makes by an analysis of his early reactions to his mother and father. These reactions presumably formed his character and were constant. His ambitions and political skills are brilliantly exposed, but the author leaves the reader hungry for more details of his private life. Did he have one or did politics devour all his energies? The relationship with his wife seemed to be an affectionate one, all the same.A more sympathetic image of LBJ is drawn as we better understand his negative attitudes towards the Kennedys and the whole Eastern Establishment. His vulgarities in speech and manner were often deliberately used to humiliate the more "refined" Ivy League graduates who had to work with him. In particular, he hated Bobby Kennedy who, he felt, was his main competitor.The American Dream of the title refers to the President's dream to create the Great Society, a society of a more just America with the eradication of poverty and inequalities. This American Dream turned into the American Nightmare with the war in Vietnam which destroyed both the dream and the President and forced him to withdraw his candidacy for a final term as President. This was the tragic end of a man with his ambitions and brilliant political skills.

A great biography of one of the greatest Presidents of the twentieth century. Lyndon Johnson, whether people like it or not, has left an indelible mark on American society with his programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, his tough and admirable stance on civil rights, and, in a very different way - his war in Vietnam.Doris Kearns Goodwin, who first met Johnson while a student at Harvard, and became close to him in his later life, has written a book that is much a memoir of her times with the man as it is a general overview of his life. Other reviewers have complained that her study of Johnson is too psychological, and places too much importance on linking his childhood experiences to his later life. I strongly disagree. Too many biographies of important people seem to gloss over their childhood, but understanding a person's childhood is paramount in understanding how it shaped their outlook on life. Another common complaint of this book is that Goodwin is not critical enough of Johnson, but again, anyone who has read this book properly will know this is simply not true. Goodwin time and time again highlights Johnson's flaws - his tendency to withdraw from competition if he felt there was the slightest chance of him losing, his childlike love of power, and his inability to admit where he went wrong. If anything, I believe the author does not praise Johnson high enough.Vietnam of course was a mistake, no one in their right mind would claim otherwise, but domestically, Johnson was an undeniably outstanding President. People have time and time again claimed that Vietnam was the main factor that undermined Johnson's Presidency, which I agree with, but I also think the other big mistake Johnson made was becoming President after Kennedy. Lacking his predecessor's good looks, charm and charisma, Johnson was never going to win over the American people in the way that Kennedy did. But his ingenious negotiating skills, his concern for the country's poor, and his stance on civil rights that saw him do more for African Americans than any other President in history barring Lincoln, means that Johnson was more than a worthy successor. His Great Society programs, while not as successful as he would have hoped, still helped in the fight against poverty. Even with Vietnam, many contemporary historians contend he had fewer options than was believed at the time, and the way Nixon initially handled the war before pulling out shows that Johnson should not be judged so harshly on the subject as he has been.A beautifully written tribute to a great President and an equally fascinating character.