LBJ An Irreverent Chronicle Author:Booth Mooney What made LBJ run? At all times he was a Machiavellian man, a brow-beating perfectionist who paradoxically exuded a warmth and charm that disarmed the most seasoned politicians. Vindictive and generous, over= bearing and sentimental, egoistic and yet always eager to listen to the counsel of persons whose judgments he respected; a fierce competit... more »iveness got him to the very height of his political ambitions, and only tragic years later brought about his retirement and the end of his political career.
Through rich and finely woven anecdotes Booth Mooney, speechwriter and long-time assistant to Lyndon Johnson, penetrates the enigma of this intensely human and colorful man who climbed to the pinnacle of power but never forgot the hills of Texas where he was born. Johnson was a professional politician above all else, and over the years Mooney witnessed his metamorphosis from a provincial Texas politician to a national figure. He chronicles LBJ's boyhood days in Texas, his remarkably successful terms as a powerful Senate majority leader. his marriage to Lady Bird Johnson. the scion of a wealthy southern family, his ill-conceived attempt to capture the presidential nomination in 1960, his vice-presidency. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the 1964 campaign, and of course the years of his administration.
The cast of characters includes many politicians-among them friends and foes in the Senate during Johnson's leadership days, Speaker Sam Rayburn, the Kennedys and their Irish mafia-and the individuals who surrounded Johnson, coddled him, quarreled with him, and for the most part were undeviatingly loyal to him: Lady Bird, John Connally, Walter Jenkins, Bobby Baker, George Reedy, Bill Moyers, and numerous devoted secretaries. Booth Mooney knew them all and his story is at once humorous and biting, informed and wise.
This volume is also a portrait of the times; LBJ worked with persons and organizations throughout the country and the world-Dallas oilmen, the C.I.A., consumer interest groups, Vietnam veterans, senators, heads of state, ambassadors-and that story is brilliantly interwoven with the very personal and compelling view of what made Lyndon run.
Booth Mooney is presently a Washingtonbased writer and public affairs consultant.« less