4 ms·

Ah. So do you think I’m wrong about his assessment as a cold blooded operative who only supported Civil Rights because it was good political strategy that woul

Ah. So do you think I’m wrong about his assessment as a cold blooded operative who only supported Civil Rights because it was good political strategy that would give him more power?

travmatt 9y ago
Partially. Like all other politicians, I think his personal ambitions dovetailed with his ideology and the direction of his era. I think his detractors often confuse his attitudes towards class with those towards race, and his character. He grew up brutally poor and struggled in his professional class closely with issues of class, especially given his position as the ‘dumb’ southerner in Kennedy’s pedigreed cabinet. He was a voracious advocate of the poor Mexican children he taught, pushed them to succeed relentlessly, and tutored the school janitor in English for free because he was convinced his inability to speak English was hindering him. I think his entire career often struggled with issues of class and inequality, and his personal instinct to the lesser was typically compassionate and generous. He was known to have a temper and a flare for knowing how to touch people’s insecurities and nerves, and also for his ability to find and build emotional coherence in those positions he found politically advantageous. He also loved jokes, and didn’t care much about who they were at the expense of. But ultimately he could have found a more natural path to power in racial demagoguery that was so rampant in the south, and the political cohesion behind the southern democrats at that time gave him a natural base of power to launch a presidential bid. But he chose the more arduous work of breaking down the south’s racial hierarchy at great cost to his professional relationships. I think Caro said it best, that power ultimately doesn’t corrupt, but rather reveal someone’s true nature - and LBJ used his shot at power to write compassion and mercy into the federal statutes. He fought ferociously to give the civil rights and voting acts real power, and handed minorities the greatest legislative weapon they had since Thaddeus Russell outlawed slavery.

Ah. So do you think I’m wrong about his assessment as a cold blooded operative who only supported Civil Rights because it was good political strategy that would give him more power?

travmatt 9y ago

Partially. Like all other politicians, I think his personal ambitions dovetailed with his ideology and the direction of his era. I think his detractors often confuse his attitudes towards class with those towards race, and his character. He grew up brutally poor and struggled in his professional class closely with issues of class, especially given his position as the ‘dumb’ southerner in Kennedy’s pedigreed cabinet. He was a voracious advocate of the poor Mexican children he taught, pushed them to succeed relentlessly, and tutored the school janitor in English for free because he was convinced his inability to speak English was hindering him. I think his entire career often struggled with issues of class and inequality, and his personal instinct to the lesser was typically compassionate and generous. He was known to have a temper and a flare for knowing how to touch people’s insecurities and nerves, and also for his ability to find and build emotional coherence in those positions he found politically advantageous. He also loved jokes, and didn’t care much about who they were at the expense of. But ultimately he could have found a more natural path to power in racial demagoguery that was so rampant in the south, and the political cohesion behind the southern democrats at that time gave him a natural base of power to launch a presidential bid. But he chose the more arduous work of breaking down the south’s racial hierarchy at great cost to his professional relationships. I think Caro said it best, that power ultimately doesn’t corrupt, but rather reveal someone’s true nature - and LBJ used his shot at power to write compassion and mercy into the federal statutes. He fought ferociously to give the civil rights and voting acts real power, and handed minorities the greatest legislative weapon they had since Thaddeus Russell outlawed slavery.