Chapter 5: LBJ
This chapter describes the leadership of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Hargrove begins the chapter with a broad description of a typical leader which applied to F.D.R. but says that, "Lyndon Johnson was different" (109). Roosevelt's childhood was pleasant whereas LBJ grew up with an overbearing mother and a rough politician as a father, who LBJ was expected to live up to. He began with politics simply to please his mother; he showed political skills while attending college and despite his lack of popularity, he got the position of assistant to the president of the school. LBJ continued to blossom his political skills after college through various positions such as a congressional aide and director of the National Youth Administration. He was also a member of the House of Representatives for 11 years where he became known as a man willing to work until his own staff dropped. Richard Russel, Senator of Georgia, later helped LBJ become the minority, and later majority, Democratic leader of the Senate. In the Senate, LBJ wanted to lead everyone and became excellent at "knowing the personalities and goals of every senator" (111) which led to him being obsessed with gaining consensus and avoiding confrontation. This obsession continued throughout his life.
Johnson, wanting to lead even more people, accepted President Kennedy's offer to be the vice-presidential nominee. After Kennedy was shot, LBJ became president and assumed that his new job was to continue the plans that Kennedy had started. In his first address to Congress as president, the theme was, "let us continue" (113). He continued to work toward passing the main items of the Kennedy program and was largely successful, partly due to his legislative skill and partly due to a new sense of national unity since Kennedy's death. LBJ always strived toward consensus among votes, which was especially difficult while trying to pass the civil-rights bill. He won the election of 1964 fairly easily and still continued carrying out Kennedy's plans while attempting to gain consensus. He even tried to do so during his speech after passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Toward the end of his presidency, however, things began to fall apart: George Wallace led a white populist revolt, riots by blacks in 1966 and 1967, and economic problems that resulted from him counting on an economic growth and needing to change financial policies and make up for necessary funds. He went against the advice of the Congress, refusing to increase taxes. He grew more and more unpopular and issues in Vietnam grew; he needed to decide if the U.S. should continue a non-violent role which, if it failed, would result in more problems. Continuing the role they had did not succeed, nor did stepping in later as a fighting force. Eventually, the American troops left.
We agree with Hargrove that LBJ's biggest failure as a leader was his focus on consensus; he could only control and not deliberate. To us, he was afraid of failing so always tried to please everyone. In the end, he did.
This chapter describes the leadership of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Hargrove begins the chapter with a broad description of a typical leader which applied to F.D.R. but says that, "Lyndon Johnson was different" (109). Roosevelt's childhood was pleasant whereas LBJ grew up with an overbearing mother and a rough politician as a father, who LBJ was expected to live up to. He began with politics simply to please his mother; he showed political skills while attending college and despite his lack of popularity, he got the position of assistant to the president of the school. LBJ continued to blossom his political skills after college through various positions such as a congressional aide and director of the National Youth Administration. He was also a member of the House of Representatives for 11 years where he became known as a man willing to work until his own staff dropped. Richard Russel, Senator of Georgia, later helped LBJ become the minority, and later majority, Democratic leader of the Senate. In the Senate, LBJ wanted to lead everyone and became excellent at "knowing the personalities and goals of every senator" (111) which led to him being obsessed with gaining consensus and avoiding confrontation. This obsession continued throughout his life.
Johnson, wanting to lead even more people, accepted President Kennedy's offer to be the vice-presidential nominee. After Kennedy was shot, LBJ became president and assumed that his new job was to continue the plans that Kennedy had started. In his first address to Congress as president, the theme was, "let us continue" (113). He continued to work toward passing the main items of the Kennedy program and was largely successful, partly due to his legislative skill and partly due to a new sense of national unity since Kennedy's death. LBJ always strived toward consensus among votes, which was especially difficult while trying to pass the civil-rights bill. He won the election of 1964 fairly easily and still continued carrying out Kennedy's plans while attempting to gain consensus. He even tried to do so during his speech after passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Toward the end of his presidency, however, things began to fall apart: George Wallace led a white populist revolt, riots by blacks in 1966 and 1967, and economic problems that resulted from him counting on an economic growth and needing to change financial policies and make up for necessary funds. He went against the advice of the Congress, refusing to increase taxes. He grew more and more unpopular and issues in Vietnam grew; he needed to decide if the U.S. should continue a non-violent role which, if it failed, would result in more problems. Continuing the role they had did not succeed, nor did stepping in later as a fighting force. Eventually, the American troops left.
We agree with Hargrove that LBJ's biggest failure as a leader was his focus on consensus; he could only control and not deliberate. To us, he was afraid of failing so always tried to please everyone. In the end, he did.
posted by SarahMolly at 9:37 AM
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