THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF LYNDON JOHNSON (REVISED AND UPDATED )

From Lyndon Johnson’s closest domestic adviser during the White House years, Joseph Califano, comes a presidential portrait that is “readable, forthcoming, and shrewd” (New York Review of Books) and reveals the singular personality of our 36th president and the rough grain of American politics at the height of the turbulent sixties—now reissued with a new Introduction on the fiftieth anniversary of some of LBJ’s greatest legislative accomplishments.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Lyndon Johnson's closest domestic adviser during the White House years, provides his firsthand testimony on the man and president as he knew him: brave and brutal, compassionate and cruel, with a shrewd and uncanny instinct for his adversaries' weak points. More than other biographers, scholars, or reporters, Califano shows us who Johnson really was and re-creates life in the White House during the Johnson presidency. Califano pulls no punches when describing Johnson and his world. He takes us into the Oval Office as the decisions that changed the United States irrevocably were being stitched together to serve Johnson's purposes, both altruistic and political. He shows us Johnson's commitment to economic and social revolution, and his willingness to do whatever it took to achieve his goals. We see a president so set on establishing a place in history alongside his hero FDR that he viewed the freedom of the press, corporations, and even the balance of governmental powers as obstacles which needed to bend to his interpretation of the greater interest of the nation.

Lyndon Johnson was bigger than life--and no one who worked for him ever forgot it. The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson is an intimate portrait of a President whose towering ambition for his country and himself ultimately led to his decision to surrender the arena in which he fought so hard. Califano has added uniquely to our understanding of LBJ, whose historical significance continues to be felt today--and whose achievements and mistakes mirror his own complex and contradictory nature.

NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR: The reissue of The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson will have a new 5,000-word introduction by Califano, detailing Johnson’s legacy and the way in which his presidency has shaped the America in which we live today. This new material from Califano, a celebrated and well-respected biographer of Johnson, will add a new dimension to this classic presidential biography.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., served as Lyndon Johnson's top White House domestic policy aide and as US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He is Founder of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). He has written several books. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.