Johnson by Caro

Subject: Johnson by Caro Tue 06 Nov 2007, 2:02 am

Hello, everyone ...

Years ago, shortly after it was published, I read Means of Ascent, the second volume in Robert A. Caro's biographical series, The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Though Caro is not generous to the former President and I can't help but be an admirer (while recognizing President Johnson's grave mistakes and shortsightedness), I recall being overtaken by the author's command of the life which he was reshaping and extending to me, the reader. Where I might have forgiven and Caro remained lucid and critical, I had few doubts that the Johnson he presented was likely very close to the man who lived and breathed. In addition, I recall appreciating the interplay of the world with Johnson and Johnson's odd ability to affect its restructuring with such seeming ease .... in the details which Robert Caro dispensed as the Johnson's life progressed chapter to chapter.

I skipped the first volume of the series, and never made it to the last. But now a mended and evidently, much-read copy of The Path to Power is in my hands, and I aim to read it. Might anyone have perspective on this serial biography of our thirty-sixth President?

As a teenager, I read 'A Texan Looks at Lyndon,' remember little of it beyond the cover, so Caro's is the only treatment of LBJ which I really know.

Thank you for any insight.

Holly
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Johnson by Caro Tue 06 Nov 2007, 9:00 pm

M C,

Lyndon Johnson is the first President whom I'm able to remember. Being such, I probably still view him through a little girl's eyes, though I'm familiar with his errors in judgement .... especially concerning the war in Vietnam and his Great Society program, which seems to have been viewed through a small lens rather than with a concern for its potential aftereffects down the road.

I am just a little familiar with the late June Welch and his work, knowing of his position at the University of Dallas and of his ties to Cooke County. I believe that he broadcast a radio program for a time, the theme of which was Texas history .... did he not? I didn't realize that he'd been an aide to LBJ. And it's wonderful that you hold his papers.

If I remember correctly -- and it is without details -- Robert Caro was not generous toward Lyndon Johnson's military career; his naval service being protrayed as less-than-energetic. Unfortunately, I do not recall if this was the period when Johnson first began to experience health problems. I really need to read through Caro's second volume again, as it has been so long since I last took it up. Something interesting to me was the 'radio empire' that LBJ and Lady Bird built up, which Caro does cover.

I had thought that President Johnson passed away while at his ranch. Dr. Welch's pointing out that he rather was somewhere above his beloved Hill County is quite touching. And that he took his Oath while on a plane and "slipped the surly bounds of earth" (to use the words of another President) when aboard another brings completion and perhaps, resolution, to his pilgrimage here.

Holly
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves