Johnson became America's 36th president after JFK's assassination in Dallas, and in the months afterward managed to shepherd through Congress the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - a piece of legislation that had previously been given up for dead.Īlthough the amount of research Caro has done for these books is staggering, it's his immense talent as a writer that has made his biography of Johnson one of America's most amazing literary achievements. Kennedy's running mate, despite an intense hatred of the young senator's brother Robert (the feeling was very mutual). Paralyzed by a lifelong fear of failure, LBJ's bid was over before it began. His campaign, such as it was, proved to be an unmitigated disaster. The Passage of Power begins in 1958, with Johnson contemplating a run for the presidency in the 1960 election. Caro has won virtually every major literary honor for his biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. History and literature buffs aren't complaining, though - with the release of The Passage of Power, the fourth and penultimate volume of the series, Caro has once again shown that he might well be the greatest presidential historian we've ever had.

Caro published the first volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson 30 years ago - and three books and more than 3,000 pages later, he still hasn't finished telling the story of the temperamental Texan and the country he led during its most tumultuous times. It's no surprise, then, that the man can't be explained by just one book. Everything about him - good and bad - was larger than life.

Six-foot-four and physically intimidating, he was the kind of man who 'got bigger as he talked to you.' He had a heart - sometimes - to match: Unlike many white politicians of his era, Johnson was personally infuriated by racism, and signed into law some of the most important civil rights legislation in American history.īut he also had colossal flaws: He regularly let his ambition and hunger for power overshadow his ethics, and he almost certainly stole the 1948 election that sent him to the Senate. The White House has been occupied by some outsize personalities and towering figures, but Lyndon B. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Passage Of Power Subtitle The Years Of Lyndon Johnson Author Robert A.

The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro