Reaching for Glory

Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-65

By: Michael Beschloss

Narrated by: Lyndon Johnson, Michael Beschloss

Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

As Reaching for Glory opens, LBJ is campaigning for the greatest presidential landslide in history. To win, he hands embarrassing secrets about Barry Goldwater to friendly reporters. When Johnson's closest aide is arrested in a sex scandal, he tries to keep it from exploding before the election.

This audiobook reveals the secret history of how Lyndon Johnson took us step by step, often by stealth, into Vietnam. While publicly boasting that there will be victory in Vietnam, he privately worries that the war can never be won and that it will crush his presidency. He foresees the backlash against the war, civil rights, and the Great Society that will bring Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to power.

Reaching for Glory lets us hear LBJ's private telephone conversations with Jacqueline Kennedy just after her husband's assassination. It allows us to live at Lyndon Johnson's side, day by day, through the dramatic, triumphant, catastrophic, and pivotal year of a turbulent presidency that continues to affect all of our lives.

Hear more recordings of presidential phone calls with the American RadioWorks documentary, White House Tapes: The President Calling.

©2001 Michael R. Beschloss, Alll Rights Reserved (P)2001 Simon & Schuster Inc., AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Reversed my view of President Johnson

Prior to listening to this documentary I had a generally negative impression of President Johnson. These telephone recordings put that notion to rest. I had thought that I would be listening to the rantings of an unpolished and manipulative politician. Instead, I discovered a president who was a persuasive, intelligent, and benevolent statesman.

Very Worthwhile

This is an incredibly intimate look into the life and mind of a U.S. president whose accomplishements are largly overshadowed by the difficult circumstances of the times. Never giving up his dream of the Great Society and striving mightily to acheive it, we see how the heavily the quagmire of Vietnam and civil unrest weighed on him. This audiobook provides a very worthwhile and easily missed perspective on the 60's.

More behind the scenes of LBJ at work.

Where does Reaching for Glory rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

NOt in my top tne, but not bad over all.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ldy Bird mostly. The poor woman had to go through a lot as First Lady.

Have you listened to any of Lyndon Johnson and Michael Beschloss ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Just as good as the last one. Hope for another volume on the LBJ tapes in the future.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

lBJ would often pretend ot be on the sides of people he didn't agree with.

An intimate glimpse into history

What an amazing audio experience. Having the opportunity to listen to President Lyndon Johnson's conversations with some of the most powerful figures in the world at that time has inspired a new love for me of history and brings about a new light to the Civil Rights movements in the 60's and the Vietnam War. Getting to actually listen to Martin Luther King Jr., J. Edgar Hoover, Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis, etc. seemed almost surreal to me and I had to double check that these were actual recordings. They are and I pity anyone that actually read the book instead of listening to the actual audio itself. I only wish I could listen to more of these type of recordings.

Remarkable

This is the second in Bescholoss' books on Lyndon Johnson. It covers the political successes in passing social legislation and the painful episodes issuing from the War in 1964-1965. Here Beschloss aptly pieces together the audio tapes of the President and the diary of Lady Bird to tell the story. The result is a remarkable tour of the White House during these months.

Beschloss provides insight and background for every word the President says on tape. The tapes are wonderfully edited and hold the listener in rapt attention. The diary entries of the First Lady are read to illustrate.

Included are some absolutely delightful tapes including Mrs. Kennedy. Hearing her voice and getting an insight into who she was is worth the price of the book.

If you are interested in LBJ, politics, or leadership give this book a try. If you have no interest in any of those, just listen in on history. You'll be well rewarded.

Interesting, to a point

It is really great to be reminded that our presidents are human, that they have human feelings & that they do human things. This set of recorded conversations does that in an excellent way. But it does drag too, especially if you are fairly familiar with the Johnson presidency & with the historiography of the man. If you want to know about Johnson, really, this is not the right path, not the right primary path. It does provide some useful spice to standard biographies & histories of his period however.