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#2023Books
The worst person in the world goes to the worst place in the world, and does something good. Maybe.
The climax of this book is the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1957. They say all biographers fall in love a little with their subjects, and I think Caro gives Johnson too much credit here.
#Caro #LBJ
As Caro points out many, many times, Johnson would tell his audience exactly what they wanted to hear. He refused to take public stands on controversial issues, preferring to work in private where he could convince liberals and segregationists that he was really on their side. He rewrote history freely. Everything was secondary to his pursuit of the presidency.
There's just no reason to believe that Johnson's work on the 1957 act was motivated by compassion. The political calculus was obvious, and had been spelled out to him. The idea that this was where "ambition and compassion coincided" is exactly the line he'd spin to a liberal audience.
Making the Civil Rights Act the centrepiece of the book also implicitly supports an argument that Johnson frequently made - that it didn't matter what was in the Act, the important thing was to pass *something*. But the 1957 Act that eventually passed had been gutted, with all of the anti-segregation measures removed. The voting rights elements that were left were completely ineffective.
Johnson argued that this was the strongest Bill that could pass, which was probably true. But only because Johnson protected the Senate rules that gave the south a veto on legislation. There was a chance to change those rules, and allow a simple majority to pass much stronger legislation, but Johnson blocked it.
Caro is fond of saying that power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. What it reveals about Johnson in his personal behaviour is not flattering. About his politics... given his ambition, you kind of have to wait and see what he does when there are no more elections to run for. And that book is still being written.
These are minor complaints though. This is an amazing work, incredibly detailed while also immensely readable. There's nothing like it.
(Incidentally, there's an interesting alternate history in here - in 1957, the Democratic coalition was almost falling apart, because it was segregationist Democratic Senators who were blocking all civil rights legislation. The 1957 Bill was introduced by Republicans, seeing the chance to be "the party of Lincoln" again and win over black voters. What would have happened if they had succeeded?)