Product Details
Simon & Schuster, October 1997
Hardcover, 592 pages
ISBN-10: 0684804077
ISBN-13: 9780684804071
Description
Taking Charge brings you into the room with an American political legend, still hated and revered a quarter century after his death. We hear Lyndon Johnson as he schemes and blusters, rewards and punishes, and reveals a bedrock core of unshakable political beliefs.
The only President to record his private conversations from his first day in office, LBJ ordered these tapes locked in a vault until at least the year 2023. But now they have been unsealed, providing a close-up look at a President taking power such as we have never had before -- from John F. Kennedy's murder in November 1963 to Johnson's campaign for a landslide victory.
Taking Charge is filled with revelations about the full-blooded Texan behind the public image. You will hear LBJ:
* Revealing his self-doubts and personal anguish over the responsibilities of the presidency
* Receiving the frank criticism of his wife, Lady Bird Johnson
* Staking his presidency on a revolutionaly civil rights bill
* Scuttling Robert Kennedy's drive to be his Vice President
* Using the Tonkin Gulf attack to expand the American beachhead in Southeast Asia
* Unveiling his private, tortured early doubts that we could ever win a war in Vietnam
Taking Charge gives us an unprecedented look into a crucial presidency that continues to shape our lives today. In LBJ's own words, it is history "with the bark off."
Alan BrinkleyThe New York Times Book Review[Taking Charge] gives us an incomparable picture of the character and style of one of the most remarkable personalities ever to inhabit the Presidency.
Albert R. HuntThe Wall Street JournalWhen it comes to sheer marvelous history, Taking Charge is unbeatable. Anybody who cares about presidential elections or about American history -- or who simply wants to have fun
-- should read these Johnson tapes.
Michiko KakutaniThe New York TimesCompelling...as expertly selected, edited, and footnoted by Beschloss, the conversations form a fascinating record of the first nine months of Johnson's administration, providing new insights into his character and a revealing look at the day-to-day workings of his presidency and the crucial decisions he would make on Vietnam and civil rights.
Richard BarnetThe Washington Post Book WorldA fascinating portrait of an imposing, manipulative, driven, conflicted, and surprisingly vulnerable character whose political ambitions had suddenly been achieved under frightening circumstances.
Steve Neal Chicago Sun TimesAn extraordinary study of one of the more extraordinary characters in American history. Johnson the man is brought vividly to life in Taking Charge.
Hugh Brogan The SpectatorNo one seriously or frivolously interested in American history and politics should leave this book unread....A stupendous, unstudied self-portrait....If [later volumes of The Johnson White House Tapes] are the equals of this one for insight into the very heart of high politics, then a classic is in the making.
Michael R. Beschloss's Books
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