Reviews for Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973

The average rating for Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-09-28 00:00:00 Ryan Townsend Published in 1998, "Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-1973" is the concluding volume in Robert Dallek's two-volume series on LBJ. Dallek is a retired professor of history and the author of nearly two dozen books including a bestselling biography of JFK (which I enjoyed) and a more recent dual-biography of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. This final volume in Dallek's series covers the last twelve years of Johnson's life beginning with his unhappy service as Vice President. Following a brief discussion of JFK's assassination, the balance of its 628 pages march rigidly (but not always chronologically) through LBJ's five-year presidency and his four-year retirement in Texas up through his death. Although Dallek used the first volume in this series to rehabilitate LBJ's image (which he believed was unfairly tarnished by previous biographers), this volume wastes no time worrying about third-party perspectives. But much like the previous volume, Dallek's assessment of his subject in "Flawed Giant" is impressively and almost ruthlessly well-balanced. While he takes time to point out the silver lining around most clouds, he rarely withholds blistering criticism of LBJ where it is warranted. More than 80% of this biography is focused on Johnson's presidency, and because Vietnam consumed so much of the Johnson administration's time and energy it is not surprising that Vietnam pervades this book. Unfortunately, readers familiar with the war - but not its politics - will find little familiar ground here. And readers who know little about the decade-long morass will learn virtually nothing of the war itself…but will be fully exposed to the political challenges it created. Johnson's "Great Society" receives significant attention, particularly in early chapters, but individual pieces of legislation are rarely examined or evaluated in an illuminating manner. Instead, discussions relating to LBJ's domestic agenda tend to be sterile and "matter-of-fact." Similarly, the review of his 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater (which I expected to be lively and engaging) was informative but extremely clinical. Like the first volume in this series, "Flawed Giant" is far more a political biography than a personal one. I cannot recall his children being mentioned more than once, and Lady Bird appears only sporadically. Reference is made to LBJ's penchant for philandering but because it apparently had no impact on his political career (or, apparently, his marriage) the topic is never pursued for more than a sentence or two. While much about this book is "fine," Dallek does an excellent job introducing LBJ's White House aides (his long-time deputies as well as JFK "hold-overs") and provides an interesting review of the 1968 presidential campaign which Johnson chose to sit out. The ambivalence LBJ demonstrated relating to a potential re-election bid and his difficulty selecting a "favorite" to support in his stead are quite well-described. Finally, Dallek does an admirable job creating a comprehensive portrait of an extremely complex and contradictory personality who, it seems, is impossible to fully observe, evaluate, interpret and explain. Overall, "Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-1973" (as well as its predecessor volume) proves far more satisfying as a record of Johnson's political career than as a narrative of his life. While it is a solid (if not excellent) historical document and reference, it is not a particularly lively, colorful or tantalizing biography. Overall rating: 3½ stars

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-28 00:00:00 Murilo Correa [3.5 stars] The legacy of Lyndon Johnson gets murkier in Flawed Giant, Dallek's concluding second book of his biography of LBJ. It begins with Johnson in the shadow of John F. Kennedy, and quickly assuming command after tragedy in Dallas. Johnson's domestic whirlwind draws comparison to the visionary efforts of FDR and Woodrow Wilson, with ambitions to cure the nation of its most serious ills and injustices. But Vietnam takes over the volume, as it did Johnson's presidency, with a detailed review of the battles in Washington and within Johnson himself. It feels extraordinarily redundant after two hundred pages, as the strategy resembles a wash sequence: NVN is faithless - SVN is useless in its own cause - US bombs the North - US sends more troops - negotiations attempted - rinse - repeat. Johnson comes off as a Jekyll and Hyde of politics, fighting a heroic battle for civil rights and education, while being a bastard to the people closest to him, and unable to escape his ego in the face of a conflict thousands of miles away. As the costs of undeclared war buried his ambitious programs at home, Dallek demonstrates the toll it took on Johnson, and shaped his decision not to run for reelection in 1968, even as he struggled with the choice until the very last minute. Johnson's short post-presidency is presented swiftly, and a brief afterword recaps Johnson's legacy at the time of publication and into today. Ultimately the reader is left with the image of a bull-headed man who propelled himself to history's peak, and then was consumed by a story'and a war'that belonged to someone else. The life of LBJ'a man who craved the spotlight he believed he earned'is summarized by his attendance at the launch of Apollo XI: An mere observer of someone else's vision, someone else's success, on someone else's watch.