Description

Easton Press leather edition of Doris Kearns's "Lyndon Johnson & the American Dream," a COLLECTOR'S edition, one of the LIBRARY OF THE PRESIDENTS series, published in 1987. Bound in a hunter green leather, the book has decorative paper end leaves, acid-free paper, a satin book marker, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition---except for a 'blank' attached bookplate on inside fly leaf. COLLECTOR'S NOTE is included. Lyndon Baines Johnson, who lived from 1908-1973, was the 36th President of the U.S., 1963-1969. A Dominant figure in the U.S. Senate during the 1950s, he was, in Hubert Humphrey's words, "a genius in the art of the legislative process." Born in a small town near Stonewall, Texas, LBJ graduated from Southwest Texas State College, a small regional institution with seven hundred students, primarily from the German settlements near San Marcos. Johnson's first job at the college was picking up papers, rocks, and trash. However, the world of San Marcos accommodated his gifts. Johnson was 6 ft. 3" tall with a massive bone structure, and long, powerful limbs, dark brown hair, and a thick hairy chest. Although he had a long nose, enormous fleshly ears, and a leathery skin, he was very vain about his appearance and very proud of his manhood. He insisted that no likeness really did him justice. One one famous occasion, the painter Peter Hurd had spent weeks preparing a portrait of Johnson, only to hear the President declare, "That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen." When the world-famous sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, prepared his likeness, Johnson observed, "Looks like I've been dead three weeks, and maybe I ought to be." Johnson loved southern cooking, and could consume large quantities of fried chicken, steak, or barbeque. Johnson like to relax every day with Cutty Sark scotch, and before his heart attack, he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, but then gave up the habit under doctors' orders. Johnson's energy and stamina were phenomenal, and he always drove himself to the limit. In the White House, he began every day with a bedroom conference at 6:30 A.M. and then worked through until 2:00 in the afternoon. Johnson tried playing golf but the game bored him. As a young man, LBJ fell in love with CAROL DAVIS, but her wealthy father said that he would not allow his daughter to "marry into that no-account Johnson family." He later married CLAUDIA TAYLOR, known as Ladybird, and they were parents to two daughters. Johnson was a U.S. Representative and Senator, and was chosen as John F. Kennedy's Vice President in 1960. President Johnson became involved in the VIETNAM war and following great social unrest in the U.S., announced that he would not run for a second term. His GREAT SOCIETY program revolutionized the U.S. with his "war on poverty." When LBJ retired from the Presidency, he and Lady Bird moved back to the ranch at Stonewall, Texas, where they enjoyed the slower pace of life and the Texas "hill country." Dr. Doris Kearns earned her Ph.D. in government at HARVARD and was a White House Fellow during the Johnson Administration. 432 pages, including an Epilogue, Notes and an Index. I offer Combined shipping.