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- Paperback: 592 pages ; Dimensions (in
inches): 1.47 x 9.21 x 6.13
- Publisher: Touchstone Books; ISBN: 0684847922;
(September 1998)
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By the time he suddenly succeeded to the presidency in November 1963,
following John Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon Johnson had been secretly
recording his private conversations for years--first by having an eavesdropping
aide take shorthand notes on telephone calls, and then, as recording technology
advanced, by committing conversations to tape.
Even on his first night as president, he remembered
to make sure that the tape recorder was working. His motives were apparently
practical--a kind of hands-free note-taking, and a way to document the
commitments he and others had made.
Whatever his reasons (and despite Johnson's desire that the documentation
remain sealed until at least 2023), the tapes are a boon to students of
politics and history. Masterfully edited and annotated by presidential
historian Michael Beschloss, they reveal a quintessential political animal
at work.
It's fascinating to listen in as Johnson works the levers--cajoling,
trading favors, calling in chits, twisting arms, and occasionally playing
rough--often in a pungent, earthy Texas patois.
The book covers the period from November 1963 through the Democratic
convention in August 1964, when Johnson was nominated for reelection.
Its biggest single revelation is that Johnson believed Fidel Castro was
behind Kennedy's assassination; another, less sensational, is that his
reservations about the deepening war in Vietnam were greater than previously
known. Most importantly, though, these tapes provide an invaluable, uncensored
look into a complex presidency--and president.
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