Analysis of Two Presidents and a Memoir – 4 stars
The decade of the 1960s was one of hope, crisis, and major changes for the United States. Godfrey Hodgson was a reporter assigned to cover the White House during these years and was in position to observe closely the two presidents who were in office during most of that decade. It is the author’s contention that although both men should be counted as great presidents, since the assassination of President Kennedy, JFK’s actions and initiatives while in office have been overrated while Lyndon Johnson’s have been overlooked or marginalized as being mere extensions of JFK’s intentions. And it is also LBJ who has been unfairly given the personal blame for the escalation of the Vietnam war contrary to what JFK would have done had he lived.
The book studies areas of both presidential administrations’ legislation agendas and their handling of the situation in Vietnam as well as comparing and contrasting the two men’s personalities and governing methods. It also tries to answer the historical puzzle of whether Kennedy would have escalated the war in Vietnam if he had avoided assassination and had been able to remain in office for his full term.
The analysis of legislation agendas concentrated upon those dealing with civil rights, health care, immigration reform, and poverty. Economic reforms that were planned by the JFK administration such as the printing of Treasury notes are not mentioned. The author points out that while Kennedy was interested in the domestic issues, his main concerns were with foreign policy, the Cold War, and communism; he had made the decision that most of the domestic issues on his agenda could wait until he had won a second term in office. LBJ on the other hand, had a deeper interest and concern with those domestic issues, made them priorities, and expanded upon them once he moved into the Oval Office.
When comparing the amount and types of legislation passed by the JFK and LBJ administrations, the book compares only the scope of each area of legislation, not the results that were produced or the effectiveness of that legislation. For example, Johnson’s passage of the elements of his Great Society program was lauded by Hodgson as going far beyond Kennedy’s plans for a War on Poverty, yet does not address the ultimate failures of many pieces of Johnson’s program to do what they had been intended to do.
The strained relationship between the Kennedy camp and Johnson was discussed, along with the confusing story of how LBJ became Kennedy’s running mate in the 1960 election. The extreme contrasts in the personalities, background, and style of JFK and LBJ made them an unlikely pairing. One area that was not explored which would have been interesting is the “what if” of if the Kennedys had made use of Johnson’s influence with Congress, especially the members of the Senate, to have aided the administration in pushing through favored legislation instead of using LBJ as a roving ambassador and fact-finder mostly to get him out from under foot. It seems like an opportunity missed by Kennedy and a potential resource mis-used that has yet to be explored and would have fit in with the rest of the book nicely.
The section where Hodgson makes his case about the Vietnam escalation is the high point of this book. He presents very strong arguments for his case that JFK indeed would have found himself in the same situation with Vietnam, with the same flawed intelligence reports, the same problems with the Saigon government, and most importantly surrounded with the same group of advisors who had surrounded LBJ. While I personally think that JFK would have been more cautious and taken action more slowly, I found myself convinced by the author’s evidence that the end result probably would have been very similar to LBJ’s decisions.
The one long chapter of the book that seemed out of place was the insertion of a personal memoir of the author’s early assignment to Washington, D.C. and the White House. It did little to move along his stated purpose of the book, that is to show that JFK and LBJ were both great presidents of the 20th century and why, other than to present some credentials as his having been closely acquainted with many members of the “knights of the Camelot round table.”
Overall the book is a good review of the historical events and strong personalities that were in charge of the United States at an important time that saw a major shift in the country’s outlook and social order, much of it reflected in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and similar legislation. While I’m still not convinced of LBJ’s greatness, this book allowed me to gain a better understanding of the reasoning behind his actions while in office even though I did not usually agree with them at the time.
Recommended for those who are interested in the history of presidents of the United State and the history of the 20th century in general.
A free copy of this ebook was provided by the publisher for review purposes.