JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality Upon Politics

by Tom Wicker

In JFK and LBJ one of our most astute political observers examines two important events of the 1960 why John F. Kennedy, the popular president, failed to push his legislative program through Congress, and why Lyndon B. Johnson, the consummate domestic politician, squandered his great consensus in an unpopular war in Vietnam. Tom Wicker's theme is that personality and circumstance dominate political life–that government consists chiefly of "not measures but men." Mr. Wicker's detailed and absorbing account, much of it going behind the scenes, shows how Kennedy's brilliant campaign of 1960 made all but certain his deadlock with Congress, and how Johnson came to his most fateful decision within forty-eight hours of assuming the presidency.
"It is difficult in short space to do justice to the subtlety, the human and political insight, of this double portrait in presidential frustration.... Wicker has found in these two presidents who longed to acquit themselves well before history embodiments of the limits of the presidency."―Edwin M. Yoder, Book World .
"Steadily persuasive ... wonderfully astute and incomparably lucid."― Newsweek .

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Also wrote under the pseudonym Paul Connolly.

Thomas Grey Wicker’s respected talent as a journalist took him from his origins in Hamlet, North Carolina, to The New York Times. There he served as associate editor, former Washington bureau chief, as well as the author of the famous op-ed column “In the Nation” for thirty years. He was the author of a considerable number of acclaimed fiction and non-fiction books as well. Wicker earned his journalism degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in 1948, and at first wrote for papers in Aberdeen and Lumberton. He wrote for the Winston-Salem Journal for eight years and The Nashville Tennessean for two years before heading up to the Times, where he eventually retired in 1991. Wicker’s famous report on the assassination of President Kennedy, written from the perspective of the motorcade following the president, has been praised as the most accurate firsthand account of the shooting.

Reviews

[Derrick De Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1968 by New York Times columnist Tom Wicker provides a “in real time” analysis of two key political figures during the 1960s (JFK and LBJ) in an attempt to magnify key political decisions in the context of personality. It is a unique insight into immediate takeaways in contrast to our knowledge in hindsight. Yet, it leaves out more robust personality evaluation that I was expecting. It is also a bit uneven and seems to rush the JFK section (focusing mostly on legislative procedure than the man himself) and seems to end more on a broader critique on LBJ’s handling of the Vietnam War. I do think this is a richer LBJ book. Overall, it’s rare to get such a snapshot of the times and I’m glad I found this 1968 book nestled in a local bookstore.

[Ronald Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not a book I would have picked out myself. My daughter got this for me, but I found it to be a very interesting and informative read. The first part of the book deals with the Kennedy years and how Kennedy, having won only a razor thin victory for President and no real national mandate dealt with Congress. At the very beginning it goes into some detail of how Congress functions, how intricate and convoluted parliamentary procedures are employed by its members to stay in power by allowing them to make promises to their constituents that they only intend to keep if it is to their political advantage. They hide behind a system of committees designed to give cover to anyone not wanting to take a stand by seeing to it that bills are not brought up for a vote unless they are accepted by an “inside power structure.” A system that is designed keep members of Congress from going “on the record” on any issue. I found the first part of the book extremely enlightening in view of present day politics.
The second part of this book deals with LBJ. Having won a decisive landslide victory over Goldwater in the ‘64 election, LBJ enters his own Presidency with the mandate Kennedy never had. He has grandiose plans to unite the various facets of America and to put forward his “Great Society” plan which in his mind will heal the domestic wounds of poverty and racism. LBJ is undone by his approach to the Vietnam War. A war which he views through the political prism of compromise and non-committal. This approach has served LBJ well in his long political career but as history dictates was disastrous as a war strategy. In the end LBJ, having won the largest landslide in American history is crushed and defeated by his own personality.
The author continuously refers to a “government of men” throughout the text. I took his meaning to be that any government, no matter how well structured, will only be a good as the people who comprise it.

[Antislice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I *think* this is the book I read, it was a while ago. I remember it being very engrossing and touching on the parts of the Cold War and politics that I find fascinating--namely the why behind many of the events and policies.