Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964.

• Author: McPherson, Harry

Lyndon Johnson's Presidency is among the more controversial in American history -- in part because of the man himself, in part because of the chaotic period in which he served. But about one aspect of his time in office there is, or ought to be, unanimity: Between November 22, 1963, and his nomination in August, 1964, Johnson performed a tremendous service for the nation, providing firm and resourceful leadership at a time when millions of Americans despaired of their civic order.

Taking Charge covers this period, and the effect of reading it is to recall Johnson with a vividness not captured by any other book with which I am familiar. It is to appreciate once again that this firm, resourceful leader was also a wheeling, dealing operator, and a provincial to boot -- not of Texas alone, but of the province of politics. Almost every conversation picked up by Johnson's White House recording devices (without the knowledge of the other party, for the most part) had as its purpose, on LBJ's side, the attainment of some political end -- not stamp collecting, golf, tennis, poker, religion, sailing, or any of the other hobbies and interests with which presidents have entertained themselves, but politics. His was an utterly focused, almost hermetic world in which most things had value in proportion to their contribution to his political goals -- which, during this period, ranged from passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the "War on Poverty" program, to the avoidance of spattering by petty scandals, to the containment of his most feared and despised opponent, Bobby Kennedy.

What comes through these dialogues, superbly edited by Michael Beschloss, is johnson's relentless, unashamed pressure on the various parties who appear on the tapes -- pressure intended to make the person involved feel that if he (there were few she's in that era) failed to help, he would be letting down the nation, or some worthy part of it, or -- at least as important -- the beleaguered Lyndon johnson himself.

Even when the purpose of the talk was to make peace, the pressure could surface. Nine days into Johnson's presidency I attended church with him on Capitol Hill. On the way back to the White House, johnson, who had seemed painfully shaken a week before, was ebullient. He had just persuaded Earl Warren to chair the commission investigating Kennedy's assassination...