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Title: Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964 by Lyndon B. Johnson, Michael R. Beschloss ISBN: 0-684-80407-7 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Book's a knockout; tape's even better.
Comment: I imagine folks' response to this book/tape will be dependent on their age, how well they remember the days depicted. I remember them well, found both the book and the less
comprehensive tape to be excellent. This is
The Good Lyndon at his best - when the
'threat' of the impending 1964 election kept
him (relatively) honest. No taking it away from
the man, he was one awesome character, one
who *filled* the space he occupied.
Vietnam moments in these conversations -
esp. those in the tape version, which gives the
feel of being a wiretapper on the president's
private line - are heart-rending. It all mightn't
have happened. Johnson foresaw the
consequnces of escalating the war, and yet
he proceeded. We'll have to await Beschloss's
*next* book/tape to understand why.
A great read and an even better listen. Pick up
the tape version for drive-time.
Rating: 2
Summary: The Uncritical Presidency
Comment: Michael Beschloss's *Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes 1963-64* generated some excitement upon its release, but the material contained in this volume merits more attention today than that reception delivered. Compiled from Oval Office tapes made by LBJ for documentary purposes, we are provided with a few choice cuts regarding the Kennedy assassination (a conversation between LBJ and Jacqueline Kennedy, giving some of the flavor of Johnson's legendary parliamentary tactics) but also a great deal of material pertaining to the "initial conditions" for Johnson's presidency: namely, his loss of political co-ordination with southern Democrats strongly opposed to the brewing conflict in Vietnam and Johnson's growing closeness with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
The period of time covered by these tapes included great legislative victories for LBJ, including the passage of the Civil Rights Act (one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation ever enacted by Congress), but for those still concerned with the less-than-salutary effects of the "Best And The Brightest" scenario upon the American polity this will be a revelatory document indeed. At the start of the "Great Society", one of US politics' famed control freaks demonstrates practically no "steering" ability with respect to the direction of discourse concerning matters of federal moment: suggesting that this period was not quite as told on all levels, like many other administrations studied more intensively in terms of their ramifications for ordinary life. Currently the first of two volumes devoted to such material, and a must for any serious student of political power.
Rating: 5
Summary: This one you need to hear, not read
Comment: The story is told that when Nixon took office, LBJ showed him around the White House and revealed a hidden taping system. He made the argument that everything a president said or did should be taped for posterity.
Johnson has fared a little better than Nixon viz. the results of such executive record keeping. In the case of excerpts chosen by Michael Beschluss for these tapes (and as the review title suggests, do by the audio version), there is no criminal activity uncovered. Instead, we hear things as diverse as conversations with Martin Luther King about the Civil Rights Act, arm-twisting of Southern Democrats to get that and other progressive laws passed, chilly exchanges between the President and Attorney General Robert Kennedy after President Kennedy's death, and a hilarious exchange with a flabbergasted New York tailor as Johnson asks the tailor to make trousers for him, describing exactly how they should fit around the Presidential....er, anatomy. Of course, there are heartfelt conversations with both Jacqueline and Rose Kennedy immediately after President Kennedy's death. In one very sweet exchange, Jackie refers to media criticism of his calling her "honey" as they flew with the president's body from Dallas to Washington. Kennedy insisted she felt positive about the term of endearment."Honey is loving word, a wonderful word," she tells him.
The 35th President comes across with a multifaceted personality: the dogged politician who won't take no for an answer (and won't forget a favor given); the Texas rancher who doesn't believe in coddling his dogs; the old fashioned Southern gentleman who addressed female officials with charm and not a little flirtation. Throughout the tapes, Johnson is shown trying to get his head around the little "police action" in Southeast Asia he inherited....what would be the downfall of an otherwise successful presidency. That won't happen until a further volume, however; this set of tapes covers only 1963 and 1964. Beschluss's comments (he reads his writing himself) tie the excerpts together chronologically and provide a little editorializing, but solid opinions based on knowledge of the time.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these tapes; I felt as though I was hearing history. In addition, I learned more about one of the most colorful politicians of the twentieth century.
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Title: Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's White House Tapes, 1964-1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson, Michael Beschloss ISBN: 0743508416 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
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Title: The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0679729453 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 February, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0394528360 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 23 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) by ROBERT A. CARO ISBN: 067973371X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 06 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945 by Michael Beschloss ISBN: B0000CAR62 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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