My quest to read (at least) one biography per President continues with Lyndon B. Johnson, the thirty-sixth President of the United States. I ended up checking out my selection process (reading reviews online and utilizing and this website- My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies) and ultimately reading several biographies of Johnson to try to get a more complete picture.
Here, I’ll offer my thoughts on those biographies, and proceed to present my official ranking for the DEFINITIVE RANKING OF PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!! The full list of the rankings with all the Presidents as well as comments on their careers, updated as I read through this list, may be found here.
Lyndon B. Johnson, #36
I found Lyndon B. Johnson to be a truly fascinating person and President. I ended up reading 8 books either about him personally or aspects of his Presidency. The cover I chose as the featured photo for this discussion is from the book Prisoners of Hope, which focuses primarily on the massive scope and purpose of Johnson’s vision and partial delivery of The Great Society. Another excellent read was Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President by Robert Dallek. That work summarized his multi-volume biography of Johnson and did so in an admirable, readable way.
Johnson started in relative poverty in Texas. His drive was exhibited at an early age and he went from being a teacher to an aide before winning a seat in the House before he was even 30. When a Senator seat opened up, he ran a relentless campaign, winning the primary, then the election. He became a big player in the Democratic Senate, including as Majority Leader. Throughout, his personal values were in some conflict with conservative Southern elites, especially around issues of Civil Rights. Johnson, in these earlier stages of his political career, was somewhat inconsistent on his voting record, but seemed to be angling for political power in a way that was prudent to concerns of those who might vote for him.
He lost the primary to run for President to JFK, but was surprisingly selected to be his running mate. Johnson had a dim view of Kennedy’s abilities, though this seemed to grow in at least grudging admiration through JFK’s Presidency. When Kennedy was assassinated, LBJ took the reins with vigor and tirelessly, relentlessly worked to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and later, 68), along with the Voting Rights Act. These he sold at least partially by campaigning for them as things JFK held dear, knowing the national sting of the assassination and popularity of Kennedy would make it difficult to oppose anything with the former President’s name on it.
Johnson had wider visions on the domestic front, though, and envisioned a Great Society which would successfully wage war on poverty. He realized that Civil Rights alone wasn’t enough, but that safety nets and expansion of opportunity would help all Americans across the board. To this end, he expanded Social Security, including Medicare and Medicaid. He had even more expansive efforts, which were somewhat successful (such as the Economic Opportunity Act).
One thing I find interesting when reading about Johnson is how reflections on his involvement changed depending on when the biographer was writing. Dallek’s work, mentioned above, was published in 2004 and the author explicitly links Johnson’s Vietnam policy to implications of combating global terrorism and threats. Dallek argued that Vietnam had become more historical curiosity than point of criticism by that point because people might be sympathetic even of a losing fight against communism against the will of the people given emergence of global threat through terrorism. That take, looking back from 20 years later, seems entirely mistaken. Another biography, written closer to Vietnam, had a much dimmer view. Vietnam, contra Dallek, seems to be the distinctive failure of Johnson’s Presidency. Not only did it lead to so much needless death, foreign policy disaster, and more, but it also made it much more difficult for Johnson on the home front to focus on his true vision of the Great Society.
Despite Vietnam, and despite the other sprinkling of problems with his Presidency, Johnson accomplished much. Did he do enough? No, but could anyone have? I don’t know. That’s just one of the problems with trying to evaluate the impact of these Presidents after the fact. Johnson was in many ways one of the best Presidents we’ve had, at times. He worked for voters’ rights, tirelessly pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, and built upon FDR’s foundation to expand the opportunities of all Americans. Warts and all, I found him one of the most interesting of our Presidents, and in some ways, among our best.
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Lyndon B. Johnson’s Original Ranking in THE DEFINITIVE RANKING OF PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES (Full and Updated List Here)
(36th President – Original Ranking #13)- Vietnam looms over Johnson’s Presidency, threatening to make people overlook everything he accomplished. Indeed, the War itself threatened Johnson during his Presidency, making it difficult to accomplish many aspects of his forward thinking Great Society. Despite this, he managed to pass the Civil Rights Act and solidify many baseline aspects of our society. So much of the good in American society stemmed from things Johnson put into place or wanted to put into place. Yet his failures on Vietnam and early waffling on Civil Rights are often all he’s remembered for. We should work to remedy that and realize that LBJ’s legacy is perhaps greater than realized.
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