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George North
HIST 4991
November 7, 1994
Evans, Rowland and Robert Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of
Power, First edition. The New American Library, Inc., 1966. 598pp.
The contemporary view of Lyndon Johnson remains clouded by America's involvement
in Vietnam. Evans and Novak avoided this by writing their book before Vietnam
became a great issue in American politics. Their book ends with the second
year of Johnson's first elected term as president, his fourth year as president.
Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power is a political biography.
It examines one of America's most powerful politicians, Landslide Lyndon.
In preparing and writing this book, Evans and Novak relied on their intensive
experience as Washington reporters and their own personal observations.
They also conducted more than two hundred special interviews with political
figures and government officials who either participated in or observed
the events described. Evans and Novak conducted interviews from January,
1965 to April, 1966. The majority of these sources are called "our
anonymous collaborators." Published in the middle of an active President's
term in office, few of these "anonymous collaborators" could be
expected to speak on the record. There is a very extensive index, making
this a good reference source.
Rowland Evans attended Yale University until joining the Marines at the
outbreak of World War II. His career in journalism included covering politics
and Congress for Associated Press, New York Herald Tribune
, and others. He traveled extensively in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union
and the Far East, writing for Herald Tribune and various magazines.
Other published books (all with Robert Novak) include: Nixon in the
White House: The Frustration of Power , Random House, 1971; and The
Reagan Revolution , Dutton, 1981.
Robert Novak graduated from the University of Illinois. Starting in 1948,
he worked as a correspondent for newspapers in Illinois, Nebraska, Indiana,
and Washington D.C. From 1954 to 1963, he was Washington correspondent for
Associated Press and then the Wall Street Journal . In 1963
he started writing a nationally syndicated column, "Inside Report,"
with Rowland Evans. In addition to the books with Rowland Evans, he wrote:
The Agony of the GOP , Macmillian, 1964 and Mass Media
and Modern Democracy , Rand McNally, 1974.
The Exercise of Power relates Lyndon Johnson's political career,
his election to congress, his failed campaign for the Senate, then his election
to the Senate in 1948 at the age of 40. He lost then won Senate elections
by less then 100 votes, earning him his nickname, Landslide Lyndon. These
elections are shown to affect Johnson's politics the rest of his life. Every
move that Johnson made in the Senate was in some degree governed by political
considerations back home. Johnson's ability to establish relationships (the
Johnson Network), collect favors, and make deals soon became famous (the
Johnson Treatment). After being in the Senate for only three years, he was
elected assistant Democratic leader in 1951. Two years later he became Senate
Majority Leader. Johnson completely revamped the role of majority leader
to suit his own style, and before finishing his first term he became the
most important, most powerful member in the Senate.
Johnson sought power and enjoyed the exercise of power. By age 45, he collected
more political power and the skills to use that power than anyone before
him. Early in his career, he developed a deep distrust for high military
leaders. But he was an ardent supporter of military and defense projects
and was way out in front of contemporaries in support of satellite and space
projects. Lingering doubts about his voter support led to anxious efforts
to find out if voters really loved him.
With a great sense of duty, Johnson never shrank from his responsibilities
or a call to duty. He worked hard and expected his assistants to place his
business before their own. This became widely known, and often led to Johnson's
inability to convince his first choice to accept an appointment.
As president, Johnson succeeded where no one else could. His passage of
major civil rights legislation over objections of the solid South proved
nothing short of miraculous. His "Great Society" program had the
potential to correct many problems that still burden America today. But
Vietnam stymied Lyndon Johnson. He lacked ways to manipulate the forces
involved, leaving him unable to exercise his immense political power. Evans
and Novak demonstrate that, despite contrary views, Johnson prosecuted the
war with restraint, compassion, and an unswerving determination to secure
an honorable settlement. It was a war he had not started and could not end,
a war that broke his consensus, alienated the liberal wing of his party,
and threatened to undermine his higher purposes. A war fought without major
allies, without front lines, and without the comfortable and easy goal of
total victory that glorified other wars. While they are sympathetic to Jonhson's
Vietnam policies, Evans and Novak explain persuasively why the way he did
it estranged so many people, not just in his party and the country but through
the world.
Donald Young wrote a favorable review published in Saturday Review
, October 22, 1966. Another favorable review is found in New York
Review of Books by Alfred Kazin. Other less extensive, but also favorable
reviews are: A. M. Schlesinger, Jr. in Book Week , October
16, 1966; L.L. King in New Republic , November 12, 1966. The
book is included in "Suggestions for Further Reading", Rise
to Globalism by Stephen E. Ambrose.
The Exercise of Power presents a view of Lyndon Johnson before
the grief of his last two years as president, two years that broke his will.
Evans and Novak provide us with a good book. It preserves a picture of Johnson
before Vietnam clouded the view of America's greatest power'tician.