Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography with Documents

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history. From the New Deal of the 1930s to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, liberalism was the dominant political philosophy in the America for half a century, believing that active government was the cure for what ailed the nation. During a period when many Americans, in the wake of the Great Depression, believed in the federal government's capacity-indeed, responsibility-to provide prosperity, social justice, relief from economic depression, security in old age, education for their children, homes for their families and safety from foreign menace, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was the architect of its most important legislative achievements. He was also a major agent in its eventual enervation and demise. More than any other politician of the past six decades, Johnson not only embodied the contradictions of political liberalism in post World War II America, he also orchestrated its triumphs, and endured its agonies. Johnson and other liberals believed that government could and should improve the lives of citizens; they had little sense of the limits of political action, and the unintended, self-defeating consequences of some well-intentioned policies. Ironically, Johnson's presidency alerted Americans to those dangers and shook their faith in the capacity of their president and their government to meet the challenges of modem life (pages 1 and 2). A friend and one time protégé, Texas Governor John B. Connally, said "there is no adjective in the dictionary to describe him. He was cruel and kind, generous and greedy, sensitive and insensitive, crafty and, ruthless and thoughtful, simple in many ways yet extremely complex, caring and totally not caring .... As a matter of fact. . .it would take every adjective in the dictionary to describe him" (2). Johnson was born and raised in the Hill Country in and around Johnson City, Texas to a family of modest to desperate means. His mother, Rebekah, was a woman of refinement who hated anything dirty or shabby; his father, Sam, was a six term member of the state legislature whose passion for liberal politics nearly matched his apathy toward farming and the real estate work he pursued to support his family. Young Lyndon absorbed his father's passion for liberal politics, accompanying Sam on the campaign trail, or on his rounds visiting the isolated homesteads of constituents throughout his district, trading gossip, listening to problems, and helping widows and veterans apply for pensions. Persuasion for Sam Johnson frequently involved getting up really close to someone, virtually nose to nose until they were "convinced"(pages 6 and 7). Unfortunately, for Sam Johnson, the Texas legislature was a fulltime job without a full-time salary and he fought cleanly. Texans distrusted government so much, that their state constitution insured that the legislature would seldom meet, quickly transact their business when they did meet, and just as quickl

The writings that Schulman has gathered together in this book take on new piognancy in these years, as the US is bogged down in Iraq. Roaming through the various essays that deal with the Vietnam War, an American reader might be unable to avoid gleaming unsettling parallels from 40 years ago. The alternatives confronting Johnson, of escalating or de-escalating the war, were both unpleasant. Especially as a withdrawl was feared to lead to the fall of other dominoes in south east Asia. Just as some suggest that a withdrawl from Iraq would destabilise its neighbours; an argument put forth most recently in Bush's 2007 State of the Union address. To be sure, not all the documents are about Vietnam. Many pertain to American society, and to the so-called Great Society that Kennedy and Johnson sought to build. There are still pertinant discussions on civil rights, including the Watts riot.

I've had the honor of taking two courses with Professor Schulman at Boston University and, as an American History major, I find him to be one of the most astute commentators of post-World War Two American society. Though Professor Schulman never assigns his own works in his courses, many of his students often read his books at their leisure and are never disappointed. His concise biography of President Johnson is an impressive feat and is my personal favorite of his works. Schulman's critique of Johnson's presidency, and it's role in America liberalism, is pleasantly surprising relative to its moderate length; it is enourmously informative and offers a refreshing perspective on a topic that historians have spilled much ink evaluating. Professor Schulman is a renowned professor, closing out his classes of over four hundred students, and is an equally engaging author. Those who read this book will undoubtably hold similar sentiments.

This is a fine and targeted work on LBJ. For anyone who is looking to find a quick read on LBJ, this one is a winner. Also, for anyone looking for a quick read on LBJ who already has a great deal of knowledge about him, this one is still a winner. The text itself by the author is great. Yet, what really shines are the essays and documents which come later. They provide for a truly non-partisan insight into the career and Presidency of LBJ. They show a flawed man who gave us Medicare, Medicaid, 3 civil rights laws, Head Start, labor law reform, environmental protection and other renewal programs, but also gave us the Vietnam War. What comes out is a great paradox of power and a strange view on political compassion.