Just finished chapter 11, White Stars and Black Stars. My notes thus far:
LBJ grew up poor in the Hill Country, TX west of Austin - a very poor, left-behind area of the country. He was close to his mother his entire life; he didn't get along with his father because of how his father's business dealings and ambitions had ultimately failed to pan out. He was the laughingstock of the town, always in debt.
LBJ's childhood formed him permanently. He watched what his parents did, what they said, how they failed, and pursued his own path.
LBJ was a big talker, a bullshitter, always looking to debate (and win). He acted out to spite his parents, including refusing to go to college, but he realized that was the only way he'd escape the H...
Just finished chapter 11, White Stars and Black Stars. My notes thus far:
LBJ grew up poor in the Hill Country, TX west of Austin - a very poor, left-behind area of the country. He was close to his mother his entire life; he didn't get along with his father because of how his father's business dealings and ambitions had ultimately failed to pan out. He was the laughingstock of the town, always in debt.
LBJ's childhood formed him permanently. He watched what his parents did, what they said, how they failed, and pursued his own path.
LBJ was a big talker, a bullshitter, always looking to debate (and win). He acted out to spite his parents, including refusing to go to college, but he realized that was the only way he'd escape the Hill Country.
College was LBJ's first masterclass in politics. Caro says he brought politics to his college campus, i.e. he invented it where it didn't previously exist.
Things LBJ did during his college years:
- identified who had power and got close to them (President Evans, the faculty, athletes)
- organized his own institution and power structure to topple the existing ones (White Stars to take down )
- doled out favors to his friends and crushed his enemies (gave his friends high paying campus jobs, threatened a student council candidate via blackmail to get her to drop out)
- didn't outwardly discuss or take credit for any of his politicking. He let others believe they were in command (He wasn't president of the White Stars, and he was just the "assistant" to the college President)
- lacked a guiding principle or a code (possessed a kind of amorality). Never wanted to be boxed into a particular position. He was aggressive, dominating, had a desperate need to bend others to his will (he made even his friends ask him for favors, he never gave them proactively).
- According to Caro, LBJ came to San Marcos "a fully formed man." Even throughout his political career, LBJ would use the same approaches to possess and wield power. Despite the change in eras, location, people, and stakes, "nothing could change him."
Note: even at a young age, LBJ told people straight up that he would be President of the United States one day. Plenty of young men say that and never become President, but it's noteworthy that he had his ambitions set to the limit even then.
My reactions:
The same tactics that worked for a poor college campus without any political bent at all worked on the biggest stage of all, in Washington D.C. politics? Or is this just "the researcher" (as Caro refers to himself) spinning it this way?
If LBJ is just an amoral power-obsessed man, what made him push for things so monumental like The Great Society and civil rights legislation in the 60s?