Book Report: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Title: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Author: Robert A Caro
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
ISBN: 978--0-307-96046-7
Pages: 604 (of biography; many more pages of notes, etc.)

I read the e-Book version. It can be found on Amazon

A fantastic, gripping biography of Lyndon Johnson from the time he was leader of the senate through his Vice Presidency and his becoming president after JFK's assassination. 

LBJ was a master at moving legislation through the Senate. JFK picked him for VP to get the Texas and southern votes during the 1060 election but then gave him nothing to do as VP.  This was really tough on LBJ. LBJs biggest achievement in these years was getting the Civil Rights bill enacted into law. He recommended that JFK not send the bill to the Hill when he did knowing the logistics the southern democrats would use to stall and defeat the measure. Within 8 months of becoming president, LBJ used his skills to get a budget, a tax reform measure, and the Civil Rights act enacted.

Four takeaways from this book

1. I was a kid during this phase of history and of course the assassination of JFK. It was fascinating to read about the people whose names I heard as a child.
2. Congress was just as bollixed up then as today; legislation did not move through the Senate because of holdups by a minority of senators who blocked the majority view of the country.
3. Robert and Kennedy and Johnson had an epic feud which was kicked into high gear during the negotiations to have LBJ become the Vice President nominee. RFK tried to get LBJ to take back his agreement to be VP; whether or not it was with JFK's knowledge has been subject of debate for years. Caro takes the side that Bobby was not working with John's knowledge. LBJ's downhome, corny ways were at odds with the urbane, sophisticated Kennedy administration. These two men HATED one another, and not just a little bit. As Bobby and John's father said "Bobby hates like me; once he hates someone they stay hated" (paraphrase). When John was president Bobby snubbed Lyndon at every possible occasion; Lyndon returned the favor when he became president.
4. Lyndon Johnson was probably the best 1-on-1 campaigner/salesman whoever went to Washington DC. He was a master at identifying the fears and needs of his allies and opponents. He used these skills to move through JFK's programs after Kennedy's murder.

And then there was Vietnam... This will be the topic of the last volume of the biography; I'm looking forward to reading it. The war completely overwhelmed all the good he accomplished in the early years.

This book reads more like fiction than biography. 

This is volume 4 of a 5 volume biography. I'll definitely read the last in the series but probably not the first 3.

(Semi-) Retirement

My last day of full time work was Friday March 15. I had a week off at home, then Carla and I headed off on a 2 week road trip. I'm back home this week and will return to work half-time next week.

Now that I'm back, I've been struck by what a project-oriented person I am. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise given that I've worked in a project-driven IT world the past 30 or more years. It's a realization that shouldn't have been such a surprise I suppose.  Even as I was headed home from a fantastic road trip I was creating a list of the things I need to accomplish during my week home before returning to work.

• Clean the car
• Hair cut
• Make chicken stock
• Replace burned out bathroom lights
• Take care of taxes
• Load pictures from the trip
• Blog about the trip
• and so on

I've gone to the trouble of writing all these tasks in my to-do list organizer (todoist.com)  

It's a good news / bad news kind of deal. On the one hand I like the direction of having the list and the sense of accomplishment as I check things off. On the other hand, I can feel the pressure of "how can I get all this stuff done in 1 week?"  

I was talking with my old college friend Dudley about retirement and he related some words of wisdom he received when he semi-retired a few years ago; the ones that resonate are:

• Have something you have to get out to do 2 days a week
• Get sweaty 2 days a week
• Get 30 minutes of exercise a day
• Have friends 10 years older than you
• Have friends 10 years younger than you

That's a great list (aha, another list) which I have pretty much planned to do anyway; so I like the validation.

I'm thinking that one of the biggest adjustments I will have in my semi-retirement is the transition from being driven by things that have to be accomplished in a given day or week to a .... a ...  um not sure. But I think it will be a balance of having only projects to having projects but without due dates. I don't have to get it all done today.

We'll see. Now, I'm off to accomplish part of my list for the week; get the oil changed in the car; finish the taxes, get a haircut and make some  chicken stock.