Lyndon B. Johnson and Modern America: An Analysis
Fernlund starts off his biography of Johnson by defining the years 1932 to 1968 as the Age of Johnson[footnoteRef:2]—a title not commonly seen for the time period stretching from the internecine wars to the height of the Cold War. From the beginning, therefore, it becomes clear that Fernlund’s purpose in writing the book is not to rehash old material or regurgitate the same old facts about LBJ but to rather to depict the man in a new light—as larger than life, in fact—so that one cannot think of this time period without thinking about how it reflected on him and he reflected on it. This paper will discuss the aim of Fernlund, how well he executes his purpose, whether his treatment of his subject is too narrow, too broad or appropriately detailed, how well the book is organized, and the qualities of the author’s focus. [2: Kevin Fernlund, Lyndon B. Johnson and Modern America (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2012), xii.]
The main purpose of Fernlund in writing this book is to present Johnson in a new and refreshing light—and the first point that Fernlund wishes to make in his biography is that LBJ became the man he was because he came from Texas.[footnoteRef:3] The region had such a profound impact on his mind that without Texas, Johnson would not have been Johnson. He was a product of the Lone Star state more than anything. By emphasizing place, Fernlund attempts to fill a gap in the way history has chosen to remember the 36th president. LBJ is so often associated with two things—the assassination of Kennedy and the Vietnam War—or one thing if wishes to be terse: the Cold War. In either case, these associations are characteristics of high-stakes politics—and what Fernlund does is to take the reader out of that world of espionage and political maneuvering and drop him squarely in the domestic sphere of rural Texas. Fernlund describes Johnson’s pedigree by describing his ancestors and how they were tied to the land, how populism impacted their lives. This is not the typical Johnson biography for that reason: it adopts a familiar, compassionate, domesticated perspective that disconnects the immediate present from the accumulated years of knowledge and information one has gathered about LBJ from various sources. Fernlund wipes the slate clean and begins his story anew as though it were being told for the first time. By tying LBJ and his family to the land and showing how politics...
The only drawback, of course, is that Fernlund’s purpose does not lend itself to minute scrutiny but rather to broad generalizations and a general characterization of Johnson rather than a bare bones expose of the controversial figure. In so far as Fernlund only intends to show how LBJ’s liberal tendencies were there from the beginning, evinced by his joining of the liberal Protestant church as a teen at home in Texas rather than the conservative Protestant church,[footnoteRef:4] and how the larger world stage handcuffed him in terms of putting his liberal values to work in a globally meaningful way. [3: Ibid 3.] [4:...…of the pool. [9: Ibid 72.] [10: Ibid 83.]
The book is organized chronologically and takes the reader all the way from before Johnson was born to his death. It is thus fairly straight-forward in its presentation of history and facts, starting off at the beginning, moving through the middle years, and ending at the end. Other historians have chosen to view the man by leaping right into certain moments of his political life as though there were nothing to explain about the man prior to his taking office. Fernlund does not do that: he is quite efficient in the way in which he approaches his subject and the reader obtains a good sense of the man’s life by the end of the book, even if it is only examined from a sympathetic rather than critical perspective.
Overall, Fernlund’s perspective is on society, events, policies and individuals. He examines the intersectionality of America’s race issues, America’s economic issues, and America’s foreign and domestic policy issues. He looks at how Johnson was shaped by them and how he helped to shape them in turn. Fernlund focuses on issues because issues, he asserts, were what mattered to Johnson—such as the “disproportion of poor blacks to middle class blacks” that was just one of the many problems that Johnson had to face and try to solve.[footnoteRef:11] Ultimately, Fernlund finds the silver lining of Johnson’s career and brings the book to its close by describing LBJ’s role in getting NASA going. It is an accomplishment right in line with Fernlund’s aim to make Johnson look like an inspired leader and visionary from Texas. [11: Ibid 110.]
Bibliography
Fernlund, Kevin. Lyndon…
