Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965

In rating a book I feel I am usually rating the author as well. However, in books such as this that is based upon transcripts it is hard to truly rate the author. Mr. Beschloss' contribution was limited to doing research to explain the circumstances of the transcripts, choosing the transcripts to use, and the tedious task of transcribing. Original thought, though, is not part of the book. The actual content was provided by Lyndon Johnson and many of the major government movers and shakers of the mid-1960s.I was a little disappointed and surprised at how "sanitized" the tapes were. I had always thought Johnson's vocabulary was one of the more profane and obscene of all presidents but in both this book and in "Taking Charge" you do not see much evidence of this.As I read the transcripts I gained a new appreciation for the man. Although I inherited a dislike for the Kennedys and LBJ from my parents, I found myself impressed with many aspects of LBJ. Unlike many others then and now, he was not awed by the Kennedys -- he feared them but was not awed by them. I thought the transcripts of his conversations with Jackie Kennedy in the weeks after the assassination (left out of "Taking Charge" at the request of the Kennedy family) were interesting and even flirtatious as he tried to woo her and keep her friendly while Bobby was becoming less friendly.I was impressed with the progression into that nightmare in southeast Asia as the President, his senior staff, and Congressional leaders all saw little good coming out of the Vietnam adventure, yet despite their misgivings could not avoid it. There were too many factors that made the decision to escalate that conflict the right choice in the mid-1960s although the risks were well known and the suspicions about the Joint Chiefs of Staff were apparent. Many are critical of President Johnson for publicly proclaiming the conflict as winnable while privately proclaiming the conflict as unwinnable -- yet sending many brave men there anyway. I still recall how the liberal news media proclaiming men such as Senators Church, McGovern, Fulbright, etc as being courageous for being critical of the administration's decision to escalate, but the decision to escalate was in itself was courageous. I also know that Bobby Kennedy was critical of LBJ and that many of President Kennedy's aides and supporters have proclaimed that if JFK had been allowed to serve two full terms we would have pulled out and avoided the problems that LBJ put us through. However, JFK was a politician too. JFK was going to delay any major withdrawals until after the 1964 elections so as to avoid the specter of losing Vietnam during an election campaign. After winning re-election, though, he may have felt compelled to maintain and escalate our involvement because the public was still supportive and to avoid the specter of losing Vietnam during the 1966 mid-term election campaign. After 1966 he may have felt compelled to maintain and esca

I read this book in one weekend, completely unable to put it down. Of all the books recently published about former presidents, this is the best. Lyndon Johnson's unvarnished tapes coupled with Michael Beschloss's superb comentary give a direct window into one of America's most turbulent eras. Having lived as a young adult through the time covered in this book--1964-1965, I feel that I have lived it again--this time with more complete knowledge of what was really going on. The Lyndon Johnson that I met in this book is truly unforgetable. His angst over the war in Viet Nam takes on the patina of Greek tragedy, especially in his inability to do anything about what he knows is going to happen. I was so taken with this book that I ordered the previous volume 'Taking Charge', and can't wait for the third one to be published.

You don't have to be interested in American history to find this book fascinating. In fact, if you have an aversion to the study of anything of a historical nature, this book may just bring you over to our side. There is no more colorful character in 20th century American political history than Lyndon Johnson. Michael Beschloss does a wonderful job of letting Lyndon tell his own story. His analysis and presentation of our 36th president is perhaps one of the most fair portrayals of a recent president that I have read. I suggest that you purchase both the book and the tapes--the written word and the spoken word can have drastically different interpretations.In the first book, Johnson is presented as a paranoid, uncouth, unwilling country politician who has had the job of president thrust upon him. On more than one occasion he confides in his friends and family that he just isn't up to the job, and doesn't feel that anyone really wants him.But by late 1964, when this book really begins, Johnson steps up to the plate and decides to do his best. The landslide election victory puts the wind back into his sails, and he is ready to take on the world--except Vietnam, which he says on numerous occasions is an unwinnable war.He puts his best foot forward when he gives his speech to Congress requesting passage of the Civil Rights bill of 1965. This was perhaps his brightest moment as Chief Executive. You will also hear the President's candid remarks regarding Alabama Governor George Wallace, who double-crosses Johnson and pays for it, dearly.Johnson also proves to be a visionary, predicting the rapid growth of metropolitan centers, as well as expressing his fear of the effect that high unemployment and lack of education would have on black men.On the tapes, Judith Ivey presents a narration of Lady Bird's journal entries which give a helpful insight to the President's true states of mind. You begin to see this "larger than life" man from the inside and realize his frailties as well as his humanity.I left the first book saying "wow! this guy was an animal!" I left this book with a much different impression of who Lyndon Johnson really was. A man overwhelmed. A man who truly wanted to be loved by people who were suspicious of him simply because of his accent. A man who didn't want any part of the war in Vietnam, but who wasn't strong enough to pull out because he feared giving the impression of weakness more than he feared losing the war.I feel like I know him personally. You will, too.

Beschloss is a superior historian, and the interest he developed in Lyndon Johnson has made "Reaching For Glory" an outstanding book. Anybody who grew up in the turbulent 1960s will find this book invaluable in reconciling that difficult period. Lyndon Johnson, warts and all, was the hardest working president in modern history-- and perhaps the most conscientious, too-- and these two factors undoubtedly contributed to his early passing at age 65. Johnson's life changed after his 1956 heart attack, and the early opportunist yielded to the more thoughtful man who would inherit the presidency following the tragedy of JFK's assassination. It is that thoughtful (yet still savvy) figure we see in Beschloss' book.Historian Beschloss, who was fortunate to study with the master of masters, James MacGregor Burns, has carefully organized the dictabelt recordings of LBJ with the cooperation of Harry Middleton, adroit keeper of the Johnson memories. The tapes are unsanitized, a testament to Middleton and the Johnson family. The tapes alone, however, would be uninteresting to many-- and lacking perspective-- without Beschloss' keen awareness and knowledge of the meaning of the many conversations and figures with whom Johnson inexhaustibly communicated, and of the zeitgeist of 1964-65. He provides the necessary perspective in an objective manner. This was an enormous task.James MacGregor Burns warned his pupil many years ago that studying LBJ might be difficult. Burns believed the 36th president to be uninteresting, even boring, a thought the great Burns has undoubtedly recanted over the past 20 years. Johnson was one of the two or three most fascinating presidents of the 20th century.To completely understand Lyndon Johnson, one's bookshelf need include only the better six or seven books about the 36th president: Robert Caro's first two volumes ("Path to Power" and "Means of Ascent"), Joseph Califano's "The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson," Jack Valenti's "A Very Human President, and Beschloss' first two volumes of his trilogy of LBJ tapes books. Throw in Robert Dallek and you have the entire gamut of essential LBJ. From these books alone, one can make a very independent assessment of Johnson. (Parts of David Halberstam's books on the period, "The Powers That Be" and "The Fifties," are terrific in setting the stage, especially concerning LBJ's relationship with Frank Stanton of CBS.)Me, I cannot wait for the third volume of Beschloss. Bravo!

This is truly an astounding, superbly compiled, book. Now, years later, we finally know the truth: Lyndon B. Johnson was not merely a tragic president who stuck to his guns and fought a war he mistakenly believed he could win (with various political restrictions on the military). He was, this book proves beyond a shadow of a doubt in its lively transcripts of his secretly taped phone conversations, a tragic president who stuck to his guns and fought a war he firmly believed would be LOST no matter WHAT. He didn't want to lose, but he didn't want to be the one to pull out, so he got in deeper and deeper, losing sleep and agonizing all the way -- and the consequences to his administration and the country were catastrophic. There are a slew of reasons why you should read (or gift) this amazing book. The main one: true, it does give you perhaps more than you wanted to know about LBJ (but I don't care WHAT some reviewers have said: I LOVE the many sections where he is flirting with and flattering Jackie Kennedy!)...but if you read it you get a clear idea of how a president operated -- and many parts of this book are so dramatic and gripping, they read like a movie script. In fact, I can see the Oliver Stone movie now..... Historian Michael Beschloss makes it seem easy when you read it, but transcribing and annotating (so you know through footnotes what LBJ is referring to when he talks and get some historical context..and know when LBJ is spinning) these conversations taped between 1964 and 1965 could not have been easy. Yet, he gives you the meat and you get to "know" how LBJ thinks and, politically, works. It shows Johnson, warts and all, as a man who could have been one of the top presidents because of his skills, will and sincere desire to serve. But it also shows a highly conflicted, contradictory, at times paranoid and highly depressed man. On the night of his monster landslide 1964 election he is angry and "down," steaming over Bobby Kennedy's influence, lack of political deference and possible future machinations. As he presses and manipulates to get his Great Society legislation passed, he's secretly leaking negative info on election opponent Barry Goldwater, keeping the lid on information regarding his number one aide's role in a sex scandal. He talks of victory in Vietnam, but repeatedly tells politicos and his wife that there is absolutely no way the U.S. can ever win, and he is tormented by his terrible choice and unwanted role. He wants to help the poor and the blacks, but will talk a little more "southern" if he has to while talking to someone who doesn't quite agree with him to make them think he's on their wavelength. The famous Gulf of Tonkin resolution? Even Johnson believed it may not have happened. But he took the resolution in Congress and ran with it -- using it to justify the war he knew he the U.S. could not win. In Feb. 1965 he told a Senator "a man can fight if he can see daylight down the road somewh