Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965 FROM OUR EDITORS
Presidential historian extraordinaire Michael Beschloss takes us inside the complex and controversial administration of Lyndon Johnson, via LBJ's secretly recorded White House conversations. What did President Johnson have to say about Vietnam, civil rights, Congress, and his predecessor, JFK? Beschloss clues us in.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Transcribing, editing, and explaining the most powerful moments from hundreds of hours of newly released LBJ tapes, Michael Beschloss has added another lasting treasure to the American historical record. Reaching for Glory exposes the inner workings of the Johnson presidency from the summer of 1964 through the summer of 1965.
FROM THE CRITICS
George Stephanopoulos - New York Times
Reaching for Glory provides an incomparable portrait of a president at work, and the workings of a president's mind.
Library Journal
Many of the most important events of President Johnson's administration e.g., passage of the Voting Rights Act and Great Society legislation and the decision to escalate the war in Vietnam took place in 1964-65. As he did in Taking Charge, the first volume of this planned trilogy, Beschloss splendidly edits and annotates Johnson's secret telephone recordings. Much of the book describes Johnson's decision to expand the Vietnam War, but it also includes lengthy sections on the Dominican Republic crisis and the civil rights battle in Alabama, vignettes of his ongoing fight with Senator Robert Kennedy, and examples of his distrust of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, "just a big damn fool." Also included are examples of Johnson's deteriorating mental state because of Vietnam and of his wheeler-dealer badgering of Martin Luther King Jr. Frequent entries from Lady Bird Johnson's tape-recorded diary provide a welcome sense of decorum not usually associated with the "Johnson treatment." Beschloss provides an engrossing personal portrayal of Johnson that breathes life into Robert Dallek's Flawed Giant, an important investigation of LBJ's administration. Highly recommended for academic and most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/01.] Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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