Synopses & Reviews
When Lyndon Johnson succeeded to the presidency amidst national tragedy, he took on not only the burdens of the office but the weight of the Kennedy myth a blend of style, youth, romance, and political charm. Yet Johnson was John Kennedy's very opposite in upbringing, manner, and temperament. Big, boisterous, intimidating, and expressive, he grew up in a land of dirt roads, bare feet, outhouses, and oil lamps while Kennedy was being raised in a sophisticated urban setting of wealth and status. In the White House, Johnson was to be haunted by the myth of Camelot. In this intimate personal and political history based on exhaustive new research, Paul Henggeler chronicles Johnson's frustrating struggle with John and Robert Kennedy. LBJ saw in them both opportunities and threats. Towards John he felt affection and respect, and often drew upon the Kennedy legacy in his conduct of the presidency. But he feared Robert as the living embodiment of that legacy and as a man determined to dethrone him. Drawing upon thousands of fresh documents as well as published sources, Mr. Henggeler has constructed a fascinating and revealing account of personalities and politics which produced dramatic upheaval at the highest levels of government.
Review
"In His Steps is a political biography by a young Bowling Green University historian. Lyndon B. Johnson lived in the shadow of the Kennedys. Johnson was not alone in being compared unfavorably with JFK. Tom Wicker describes the shadow as 'the Ghost of Jack Kennedy.' The Kennedy mystique provided a standard to which some aspired with negative repercussions: Joseph Biden and Gary Hart. In one way or another, it was a factor for George McGovern who selected Sargent Shriver as a running mate, Michael Dukakis, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and even Ronald Reagan. With Johnson the Kennedys became an obsession especially as 'the good Kennedy'—JFK—was supplanted by 'the bad Kennedy'—Robert Kennedy. Johnson's massive insecurities and his memory of an education and political career that sharply contrasted with Kennedy's left an image he could never overcome. The Caro multi-volume biography promises to reinforce the picture. The tragic element is the obscuring of a superior legislative record by a President who could not forget he was not Camelot." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)