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LBJ: From Mastermind to "The Colossus"
Phillip F. Nelson’s new book begins where LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination left off. Now president, Johnson begins to push Congress to enact long-dormant legislation that he had previously impeded, always insisting that the timing wasn't right. Nelson argues that the passage of Johnson’s “Great Society” legislation was designed to take the focus of the nation off the assassination as well as lay the groundwork for building his own legacy.
Nelson also examines Johnson’s plan to redirect US foreign policy within days of becoming president, as he maneuvered to insert the US military into the civil war being fought in Vietnam. This, he thought, would provide another means to achieve his goal of becoming a great wartime president. In addition, Nelson presents evidence to show that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 was arguably directed by Johnson against his own ship and the 294 sailors on board as a way to insert the US military into the Six-Day War. It only failed because the Liberty refused to sink.
Finally, Nelson presents newly discovered documents from the files of Texas Ranger Clint Peoples that prove Johnson was closely involved with Billie Sol Estes and had made millions from Estes’s frauds against taxpayers. These papers show linkages to Johnson’s criminal behavior, the very point that his other biographers ignore.
Nelson also examines Johnson’s plan to redirect US foreign policy within days of becoming president, as he maneuvered to insert the US military into the civil war being fought in Vietnam. This, he thought, would provide another means to achieve his goal of becoming a great wartime president. In addition, Nelson presents evidence to show that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 was arguably directed by Johnson against his own ship and the 294 sailors on board as a way to insert the US military into the Six-Day War. It only failed because the Liberty refused to sink.
Finally, Nelson presents newly discovered documents from the files of Texas Ranger Clint Peoples that prove Johnson was closely involved with Billie Sol Estes and had made millions from Estes’s frauds against taxpayers. These papers show linkages to Johnson’s criminal behavior, the very point that his other biographers ignore.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
16 people want to read
About the author
Phillip F. Nelson
7 books9 followersPhillip Nelson grew up in Indiana and studied at the University of Wisconsin (Whitewater Campus), and served in the Peace Corps in Brazil during 1969-70. He began researching the JFK assassination intensely in 2003, and published his first book, "LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination" in 2010. This was followed by "LBJ: From Mastermind to Colossus" in 2014.
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November 21, 2014
I used to think that Richard Nixon and George W. Bush were the worst US Presidents, but Phillip F. Nelson makes a convincing case that LBJ was the worst. His paranoid, psychopathic and conniving means and way, left a record of corruption and murder and killings that is horrendous. This one despicable person has caused slot of heartache, pain and suffering that will not end for many still alive. It is hard to imagine the crimes and corruption this man caused due to the cover ups that makes his legacy so rosy, when in reality his legacy is comparable to Hitler and Stalin
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