Skip to main content

Lyndon Baines Johnson “For millions of Americans I was still illegitimate, a naked man with no presidential covering, a pretender to the throne, an illegal usurper”

  • Chapter
  • 63 Accesses

Part of the book series: The Evolving American Presidency Series ((EAP))

Abstract

In terms of dux, Lyndon Baines Johnson’s position was closer to Arthur’s than Truman’s. Both took office after the assassination of younger men who had captured the imagination of the public. As vice presidents both were added to the ticket despite objections. Both were implicated with the death of their predecessor in the public’s mind.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Lyndon B. Johnson, The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963–1969. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), p. 19.

    Google Scholar 

  2. See, for example, Irving Bernstein, Guns for Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Oxford University Pres, 1995); Brian VanDeMark, Into the Quagmire: Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Doris Kearns, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), pp. 252–53.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ibid., p. 172.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Robert Dallek, Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Robert A. Caro extensively reviews Johnson’s homage strategies in the Senate. Master of the Senate (New York: Knopf, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  7. For Johnson’s wartime shift, see Robert Dallek, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1908–1960 (New York: Oxford University Press,1991), pp. 253–54.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Randall B. Woods, LBJ: Architect of American Ambition (New York: Free Press, 2006), p. 326.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Paul R. Henggeler, In His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1991), p. 29.

    Google Scholar 

  11. On JFK’s disdain for the local politician in his state, see Kenneth P. O’Donnell, “Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye”: Memories of John F. Kennedy (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), pp. 59–60.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral Biography (New York: Putnam, 1980), p. 256.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978), p. 48.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Ralph G. Martin, Henry and Clare (New York: Putnam, 1991), p. 362.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral Biography (New York; Putnam’s, 1960), p. 273.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 704.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ben Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy (New York: Norton, 1975), p. 226.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Eric Goldman, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Knopf, 1969), p. 93.

    Google Scholar 

  20. George Reedy, Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir (New York: Andrews and McMeel, 1982), p. 55.

    Google Scholar 

  21. O’Brien Oral History; O’Donnell OH, LBJ Library. Also see, Patrick Anderson, The PresidentsMen (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968), p. 299.

    Google Scholar 

  22. William E. Leuchtenburg, In the Shadow of FDR (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983), p. 63.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Max Holland, The Kennedy Assassination Tapes (New York: Knopf, 2004), pp. 2987–98.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Richard Reeves, President Kennedy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Goodwin makes this point. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, p. 293.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ibid., p. 333.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ibid., p. 343.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Henggeler, In His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique, p. 209.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Horace Busby, The Thirty-First of March (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), pp. 194, 196.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Vaughn Davis Bornet, The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1983), p. 303. Also see Dallek, Flawed Giant, p. 528. Dallek suggests that LBJ anticipated a draft at the convention (p. 572).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Kenneth O’Reilly, Nixons Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from

    Google Scholar 

  32. Washington to Clinton (New York: Free Press, 1995), p. 256.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Copyright information

© 2008 Philip Abbott

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Abbott, P. (2008). Lyndon Baines Johnson “For millions of Americans I was still illegitimate, a naked man with no presidential covering, a pretender to the throne, an illegal usurper”. In: Accidental Presidents. The Evolving American Presidency Series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230613034_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics