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Lyndon Johnson

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In Larry L. King’s, Trapped: Lyndon Johnson and the Nightmare of Vietnam, Larry King makes his assessment of Lyndon Johnson. King states, “His personal history simply permitted him no retreats or failure in testing.” (Portrait of America page 313) What King is trying to say about Lyndon Johnson in this statement is that his past does not allow him to retreat or to fail. King describes Lyndon Johnson’s history by saying, “LBJ’s mother, who smothered him with affection and praise should he perform her pleasure and expectations, refused to acknowledge his presence should displease or disappoint her. His father accused him of being a sleepy head, a slow starter and sometimes said in town had a two hour head start on him.” (Portraits of America …show more content…

As with much else, they would stay with him to the shadow of the grave. His nightmares were of being paralyzed and unable to act, of being chained inside a cage or to his desk. These deep-rooted insecurities prompted Lyndon Johnson always to assert himself, to abuse staff members simply to prove that he held the upper hand. To test his power in small or man ways. In Trapped: Lyndon Johnson and the Nightmare of Vietnam by Larry King, he states “Sometimes in sending Vice President Humphrey off on missions or errands with exhortations to get going he literally kicked him in the shins. Hard, Humphrey later recalled, pulling up his trouser leg to exhibit the scars to columnist Robert Allen. Especially when drinking did he swagger and strut. Riding high as Senate Majority Leader, Johnson one night after a Texas State Society function, in the National Press Club in Washington, in the spring of 1958 repaired to a nearby bar with Texas Congressmen Homer Thornberry and Jack Brooks. (Portrait of America page 314)” I do not think that Lyndon Johnson was correct in assuming that the Eisenhower and Kennedy administration committed him to go into the Vietnam War. Personally, I believe that everyone makes their own decisions, regardless of what has happened previously. Obviously the decisions that were made in the past could affect the present decisions being made but at the end of the day, Lyndon Johnson committed himself to the War in Vietnam. Lyndon

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