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A review by withanhauser
The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I by Robert A. Caro
4.0
I started The Path to Power not expecting to finish the series. The book is the first in what will be, if completed, a five-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. So far, in four volumes, its author, Robert Caro, has devoted over three decades of his life to research, and written over 3,000 pages.
I’m not sure that Lyndon Johnson was the most complex person. In this first volume, Caro presents him as a ruthless, cowardly pragmatist, concerned only with obtaining political power. Though Johnson was certainly exceptional in both the degree of this trait, and the extent of his success because of it, ideological conviction and confidence are arguably rare and detrimental among politicians. What is more interesting is where these traits got Johnson in life: the House of Representatives during the New Deal, the Senate during the boom years, and the White House during the 1960s. His successes—and the time period they spanned—suffice to make Johnson an interesting and tormented figure.
At the same time, there are some interesting contrasts in Johnson’s life that Caro unveils in this—albeit lengthy—first volume alone. First, though both an imposing figure physically and politically, Johnson was a coward in his personal life. He lied compulsively (I found this to be the most interesting thing about LBJ in the book), puffing himself up with such abrasiveness that his peers either dismissed him as a fool, or despised him as a brat. He fled fights, and cowered when physically challenged. Second, though viewed as a purportedly liberal icon today, Johnson’s politicking produced some of the most salient features of conservatism today. During his political rise, he supported big oil, and it supported him (though this is perhaps true of all Texas politicians). In his 1941 US Senate run, he effectively created the modern political campaign, with its immense amount of corporate influence and spending. While history may remember Johnson as a liberal figurehead ultimately brought down by the Vietnam War, Caro immediately reminds us that such a view is grossly simplistic.
The Path to Power has many of the features that defined Caro’s biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker. It’s unnecessarily long. Caro frequently repeats facts; and, he also often both explicitly states what he believes to be his theme and then reiterates that theme throughout the book (in The Power Broker, the theme was that Robert Moses got things done; here, the theme is that Lyndon Johnson did everything he could do as long as it moved him forward). At the same time though, it’s a biography that—like all good non-fiction—goes beyond its subject. Caro devotes large portions of the book to the history of Texas (particularly the Foothills), the New Deal, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, the corruptness of elections in Texas, and many other areas and individuals. These detours are almost always interesting, and—though sometimes unrelated and distracting—certainly worthwhile.
Additionally, as in The Power Broker, I felt like there was a noticeable tilt against his subject—as though Caro expressly wrote The Path to Power as a critical exposé. While this might be fair for both Moses and Johnson (there seems to be a consensus that both were not great guys), there are many facts of Johnson’s early life that I think Caro presents to the reader in an unnecessarily negative and dismissive light. Even so, whether Caro’s presentation is accurate or not, the result is certainly entertaining. I’ll probably end up starting the next volume, Means of Ascent, sometime in the future.
I’m not sure that Lyndon Johnson was the most complex person. In this first volume, Caro presents him as a ruthless, cowardly pragmatist, concerned only with obtaining political power. Though Johnson was certainly exceptional in both the degree of this trait, and the extent of his success because of it, ideological conviction and confidence are arguably rare and detrimental among politicians. What is more interesting is where these traits got Johnson in life: the House of Representatives during the New Deal, the Senate during the boom years, and the White House during the 1960s. His successes—and the time period they spanned—suffice to make Johnson an interesting and tormented figure.
At the same time, there are some interesting contrasts in Johnson’s life that Caro unveils in this—albeit lengthy—first volume alone. First, though both an imposing figure physically and politically, Johnson was a coward in his personal life. He lied compulsively (I found this to be the most interesting thing about LBJ in the book), puffing himself up with such abrasiveness that his peers either dismissed him as a fool, or despised him as a brat. He fled fights, and cowered when physically challenged. Second, though viewed as a purportedly liberal icon today, Johnson’s politicking produced some of the most salient features of conservatism today. During his political rise, he supported big oil, and it supported him (though this is perhaps true of all Texas politicians). In his 1941 US Senate run, he effectively created the modern political campaign, with its immense amount of corporate influence and spending. While history may remember Johnson as a liberal figurehead ultimately brought down by the Vietnam War, Caro immediately reminds us that such a view is grossly simplistic.
The Path to Power has many of the features that defined Caro’s biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker. It’s unnecessarily long. Caro frequently repeats facts; and, he also often both explicitly states what he believes to be his theme and then reiterates that theme throughout the book (in The Power Broker, the theme was that Robert Moses got things done; here, the theme is that Lyndon Johnson did everything he could do as long as it moved him forward). At the same time though, it’s a biography that—like all good non-fiction—goes beyond its subject. Caro devotes large portions of the book to the history of Texas (particularly the Foothills), the New Deal, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, the corruptness of elections in Texas, and many other areas and individuals. These detours are almost always interesting, and—though sometimes unrelated and distracting—certainly worthwhile.
Additionally, as in The Power Broker, I felt like there was a noticeable tilt against his subject—as though Caro expressly wrote The Path to Power as a critical exposé. While this might be fair for both Moses and Johnson (there seems to be a consensus that both were not great guys), there are many facts of Johnson’s early life that I think Caro presents to the reader in an unnecessarily negative and dismissive light. Even so, whether Caro’s presentation is accurate or not, the result is certainly entertaining. I’ll probably end up starting the next volume, Means of Ascent, sometime in the future.