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American history, biographies, book reviews, LBJ, Lyndon B Johnson, presidential biographies, Presidents, Robert Dallek
“Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President” is Robert Dallek’s 2004 abridgment of his two-volume series on LBJ which was published between 1991 and 1998. Dallek is a retired professor of history and the author of nearly two-dozen books including a bestselling biography of JFK (which I recently read) and a more recent dual-biography of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.
For many readers, the brevity of “Portrait of a President” (with just 377 pages) will make it a tempting alternative to Dallek’s full series which clocks in at more than 1,200 pages. Other than the missing notes and bibliography, this single-volume abridgment is extremely faithful to the underlying series, packing nearly all the punch of the two volumes but in just one-third the space.
Like the series, “Portrait of a President” is more a political than personal biography. Readers learn almost nothing of LBJ’s family life and relatively little of his youth. The book’s first ten pages cover Johnson’s first two decades and Dallek spends virtually no time in this biography exploring Johnson’s relationship with his wife and daughters. And anyopne unaware of LBJ’s penchant for promiscuity will not be meaningfully enlightened here.
Although readers will finish this book with an excellent understanding of LBJ’s inherent contradictions and complexity – and a keen appreciation for his larger-than-life persona – missing will be any sense of actually knowing or understanding the man. Dallek does a nice job keeping Johnson at the center of the action, but the reader never sees the world through his eyes or feels any personal connection with him.
Like the series from which it was distilled, this biography reveals the writing style of a historian and not a storyteller. Facts appear in abundance…but an engaging, colorful narrative is nowhere to be found. Only when Dallek introduces new characters (such as LBJ’s White House aides and his Cabinet members) is the reader drawn into the story-line. Otherwise the book reads more like an articulate but sterile FBI profile of Johnson.
“Portrait of a President” is at its best when describing his twelve years in the Senate. This is where his political skills were honed and then successfully deployed and Dallek captures this period adroitly. LBJ’s Vice Presidency – a miserable time in his life by any standard – is also quite well-documented although the series captures these years with even more success.
This single-volume abridgment (along with the two-volume series) also proves surprisingly well-balanced. Although the reader eventually deduces the author is a fan of LBJ, Dallek seems earnest in his effort to maintain appropriate distance from his subject. He occasionally seems like an apologist for his subject – often seeking the silver lining around each dark cloud – but is nearly always critical (if not quite censorious) when Johnson errs.
Overall, Robert Dallek’s “Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President” proves both an excellent abridgment and a mediocre biography. Readers lacking the time or tenacity to navigate Dallek’s two-volume series will find this book contains significant “bang for the buck.” But while the public LBJ (the power-hungry and pugnacious politician) is on full display, the private LBJ (the husband, the father of two daughters and the man from modest means always looking over his shoulder) remains largely inaccessible.
Overall rating: 3½ stars
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
I like this review because I was wondering whether abridgements are better reads than mutli-volumes. While I think Caro’s multi-volume is probably overkill, I doubt an abridgement of his LBJ series would be interesting at all. Two volumes are about right as there is the first half of a person’s life then the second half. I read only the first two books of TR from the Edmund Morris triolgy and it got quite long-winded after while.
I’m about 300 pages into Caro’s first volume and I’m really enjoying it. But much of the magic is how well he sets and describes scenes – he puts the reader at the place and in the time every event occurred. And there’s really just no way to “abridge” that. So I agree that an abridgment of his series is difficult to imagine.
I do wish Dallek’s treatment of LBJ was as interesting for me as his coverage of JFK but in the end his LBJ bios lacked the vitality and energy I would expect based on LBJ’s enormous personality. Dallek’s single-volume study is “fine” and the two-volume series is somewhat better, but neither proved ideal (for my purposes, anyway).
Reblogged this on Practically Historical.
I want to start this comment by expressing my thanks, and admiration, to Steve. It is mind-boggling to see him read so many biographies on the same POTUS, and then provide individual reviews. I personally am only looking for the one good bio for each POTUS, and am generally satisfied by my choice from his reviews. However, with LBJ I took a different course. Since Caro hadn’t (and may never) finished all of LBJ’s biography, I decided to read – in order:
“The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson Vol 1 by Robert Caro [4 1/2 stars]
then
“Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson Vol 3 by Robert Caro [4 1/2 stars]
then
“Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President” by Robert Dallek [3 1/2 stars, “an excellent abridgment and a mediocre biography.”]
Only 24 pages into Dallek’s abridgment I was so disappointed I almost just stopped and put it away. This was so thin and unnourishing compared to Caro that I would have rated it 1 star (Caro deserves 5 stars). Which brings up the point – how can Steve read all these other biographies (to completion) after reading the best. I give him credit for this service. To paraphrase Lincoln – I and Steve’s fans take increased devotion to that cause for which he gave the full measure of devotion.
Having Caro’s book as reference, I could note all Dallek’s omissions and commissions where the books overlapped. However, the large sections on LBJ’s presidency could not as easily be verified for accuracy or bias. Yet they were undoubtedly there.
Example, LBJ’s speech to Congress urging passage of the Voting Rights Act (March 15, 1965). Dallek writes
—————
It was Johnson’s greatest speech and one of the most moving and memorable
presidential addresses in the country’s history.
And, Johnson declared, measuring every word,
“what happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and
State of America… Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes,
but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”
Johnson paused, raising his arms for emphasis, “We shall overcome.”
A moment of stunned silence followed, as the audience absorbed the
fact that the President had embraced the anthem of black protest.
And then almost the entire chamber rose in unison, “applauding, shouting, some stamping their feet.”
Tears rolled down the cheeks of senators, congressmen, and observers in the gallery,
moved by joy, elation, a sense that the victor, for a change, was human decency,
the highest standards by which the nation was supposed to live.
—————
Dallek has the words right, but not the stage. LBJ did not raise his arms, Congress, which had been giving applause throughout the speech (well 2/3 of them, the Democrats), did not pause to absorb this revelation, did not stand and shout and stamp their feet. After a brief applause, LBJ continued his oration.
This can be verified at the LBJ Library website
Watch either a 5 minute section with this very scene at https://youtu.be/VNjlwwf2K9g
or see the entire hour speech which was broadcast live on TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NvPhiuGZ6I
(go to 25:09 for the “We shall overcome.”)
Another example, Dallek describes LBJ’s 1966 State of the Union Address on 1/12/66.
——————
In an emotional appeal that brought the largely liberal congressmen and
senators to their feet, Johnson asked “the representatives of the richest
Nation on earth, you, the elected servants of a people who live in abundance
unmatched on this globe, . . . [to] bring the most urgent decencies
of life to all of your fellow Americans.”
—————–
But again, what is his source, a newspaper account in the Washington Post?
In watching the TV recording the applause is average and no one came to their feet.
(this part of LBJ’s oratory comes between the 10 and 11 min mark).
Ultimately I did finish this abridged bio, and it did complete LBJ’s life. Between the three books, I got enough to understand LBJ and his times, which is the purpose of my journey through the Presidents.