Robert Dallek - Lone Star Rising: Vol. 1: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960

Lone Star Rising

Lyndon Johnson and His Times 19081960

ROBERT DALLEK

Oxford University Press

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Copyright 1991 by Robert Dallek

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data Dallek, Robert.

Lone Star Rising :
Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 19081960/
Robert Dallek.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780195079043

1. Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 19081973.

2. PresidentsUnited StatesBiography.

3. United StatesPolitics and government19331945.

4. United StatesPolitics and government1945

I. Title. E847.D25 1991

973.923092dc20 [B] 9039830

Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

For Matthew and Rebecca

THE reputations of most Presidents after they leave the White House suffer an eclipse. In time, however, they make something of a come-back. Passions over controversial questions subside and achievements are balanced against shortcomings.

So far, Lyndon Johnson is a case apart. His public standing since 1969 has plummeted, and an upturn seems nowhere in sight. Lyndon Johnson was clearly a monster of ambition, greed, and cruelty, one historian wrote in 1990. Whats not to loathe? In the view of one journalist, No... politician ever did more than he to destroy the country. There are reasons enough to dislike Lyndon Johnson: certain aspects of his private behavior offended any one with the least sense of propriety, and his public actions violated legal and democratic standards on which the American system of government is supposed to rest. But there exists a hatred of Johnson that passes the bounds of common sense and contributes nothing to historical understanding.

We now need a balanced biography that draws on the massive documentary record and focuses less on Johnson the man and more on his larger impact. Johnsons importance in twentieth-century history is too great for us to dismiss him as little more than a contemptible character whose principal distinguishing feature was the advancement of Lyndon Johnson. He was a man of consuming ambition, but he was also a politician with considerable vision that he carried to fruition during a long career. From his earliest days in Congress he was a liberal nationalist, an advocate of Federal programs that had a redefining influence on American life. His efforts to promote the national well-being by helping the least affluent help themselves and to end racial segregation as a prelude to southern economic advance and expanded political power were acts of genuine statesmanship. They had their beginnings in Johnsons pre-presidential years reconstructed in this volume. Johnson was also a representative figure. His election campaigns, accumulation of wealth, and manipulation of power speak volumes about the way American politics and business worked in the four decades after 1930.

The work for this book has taken over seven years. It rests upon research in over a hundred manuscript collections around the country, hundreds of oral histories, and numerous interviews. Additional years of study will precede the publication of a second volume. I hope the combined work will stand as the scholarly biography of Johnson for the foreseeable future. At the very least, I believe it represents a significant advance on where we have been in understanding the man and his times.

This is not to suggest, however, that arguments about Johnson and his historical significance will end. Quite the contrary, the materials for studying his life are so vast and his actions so controversial that we will be debating his role in national and international affairs for a long time to come. Rather than close the discussion about Johnson, then, I hope my biography will enlarge interest and become the starting point for sustained consideration of one of the most important historical figures of our time.

Los Angeles
December 1990

R.D.

ALTHOUGH books about recent American political leaders customarily ascribe authorship to one person, an army of people is needed to make such studies possible.

How far would I have gotten without the work of others who organized and opened the mass of papers housed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library? I am indebted to Harry Middleton, the Librarys Director, who is devoted to making the record of Lyndon Johnsons life and career available as quickly and fully as possible. I have also been the beneficiary of Harry Middletons efforts to encourage Lyndon Johnsons closest associates to grant me interviews. The Librarys staff was unstinting in its help: Molly Chesney, Charles Corkran, Kathy Frankum, Theodore Gittinger, Regina Greenwell, Linda Hanson, Tina Houston, David Humphrey, Lawrence Reed, E. Philip Scott, Robert Tissing, Shellynne Wucher, and Gary Yarrington. Three people have been especially kind and helpful. Claudia Anderson put her masterful command of the LBJ pre-presidential papers at my disposal. Her help was indispensable. The same was true of Michael Gillette, head of the oral history division, whose knowledge of the Johnson years is incomparable. Nancy Smith, who now works in the Office of Presidential Libraries, National Archives, Washington, D.C., helped guide my research in the crucial opening stages of the book. The Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation aided my research with two timely grants.

A number of other people and institutions helped advance my work in a variety of ways. Norman D. Brown, Robert A. Divine, and Clarence G. Lasby of the University of Texas and Louis S. Gomolak of Southwest Texas State University shared materials and insights with me. Christie Bourgeois, J. Kaaz Doyle, Craig H. Roell, and Stacy Rozek, graduate students at the University of Texas, performed a variety of tasks for which I am grateful. Larry Temple, an Austin attorney and former member of President Johnsons staff, and George Christian, LBJs press secretary, helped arrange an interview with former Governor John B. Connally and showed me other kindnesses. No two people made my visits to Austin more satisfying than Elspeth and Walt W. Rostow. They have given new meaning to the term southern hospitality.

In Los Angeles, Ruth Behling, an undergraduate at UCLA, and Brian VanDeMark, a former graduate student at UCLA and now assistant professor of history at the U.S. Naval Academy, saved me precious time by their cheerful performance of research chores. Ruth Behling, Christie Bourgeois, and Kenneth Kurz, a graduate student at UCLA, helped by reading proof, as did Lorris Gosman. John and Sandra Brice generously shared materials they had gathered for a docudrama on LBJ. The UCLA Academic Senate and International and Overeas Programs supported my work with generous research grants. James and Geralyn Goodman have provided me with a marvelous collection of LBJ memorabilia.