Lyndon Johnson and Europe : In the Shadow of Vietnam
Editorial Reviews
Review
Randall Woods, University of Arkansas : An excellent revisionist account of Lyndon Johnson's European policy. Schwartz argues convincingly that LBJ was not the cornpone provincial who neither understood nor cared about other societies. He learned on the job and after concentrating on the domestic successes of 1965, paid careful attention to Europe. This work is the first of several that will begin to place Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam in their proper historical contexts. Clearly and concisely written, this is diplomatic history at its best.
Marc Trachtenberg, UCLA : This is a perceptive and intelligent study of an important topic: American policy toward Europe during the Johnson period. The subject has been largely ignored in the literature, but European questions were of absolutely central political importance during the Cold War period. Schwartz is reacting against the prevailing negative view of Johnson's foreign policy, and makes a case based on a very serious, highly professional, and exceptionally honest analysis of the evidence. He has an eye for telling details, knows how to integrate them, and he writes very well indeed.
Ernest R. May, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University : Lyndon Johnson and Europe turns on its head the conventional picture of an LBJ who was master of domestic policy but out of his depth in foreign affairs. In fascinating detail, Schwartz shows LBJ personally managing relations with Western Europe and the Soviet Union with skill and insight unmatched by either Kennedy or Nixon and Kissinger. A blockbuster reinterpretation!
Bill Moyers : Thomas Alan Schwartz gets it right. Even as Lyndon Johnson fought what he thought to be a necessary war in Vietnam, he knew America had other interests, the world had other imperatives, and Europe remained, potentially, the most dangerous place of all. In this important and well-researched book, Schwartz admirably begins the task of seeing Johnson--and his times--whole.
Lloyd C. Gardner, Rutgers University : Stereotypes fall by the wayside as Schwartz shows us a president with imagination and tact dealing with the tangled issues of German aspirations, Gaullist pretensions, nuclear proliferation, and the developing woes of the dollar crisis. Superbly researched and deftly written, this book will persuade readers to assess LBJ's achievements outside the shadow of Vietnam.
Michael Beschloss, author of The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's German : A superb historian has brought us a fascinating, groundbreaking and deeply researched work that explains important facets of Lyndon Johnson's presidency that have heretofore gone largely unexplored. With Schwartz's surefooted guidance, we can now fully understand how crucial LBJ's approach to Europe turned out to be. This excellent book will change the way that scholars write about Johnson, his foreign policy, and his performance as diplomat-in-chief.
Book Description
Traditionally seen as a master of domestic politics, Lyndon Johnson is frequently portrayed as inept in foreign relations, consumed by the war in Vietnam, and unable to provide vision or leadership for the Western alliance. In this persuasive revisionist history, Thomas Alan Schwartz takes issue with many of the popular and scholarly assumptions about the president seen as the classic "ugly American."
In the first comprehensive study of Johnson's policy toward Europe--the most important theater of the Cold War--Schwartz shows a president who guided the United States with a policy that balanced the solidarity of the Western alliance with the need to stabilize the Cold War and reduce the nuclear danger. He faced the dilemmas of maintaining the cohesion of the alliance, especially with the French withdrawal from NATO, while trying to reduce tensions between eastern and western Europe, managing bitter conflicts over international monetary and trade policies, and prosecuting an escalating war in Southeast Asia.
Impressively researched and engagingly written, Lyndon Johnson and Europe shows a fascinating new side to this giant of twentieth-century American history and demonstrates that Johnson's diplomacy toward Europe deserves recognition as one of the most important achievements of his presidency.
Lyndon Johnson and Europe : In the Shadow of Vietnam
Lyndon Johnson and Europe: In the Shadow of Vietnam,Thomas Alan Schwartz,Harvard University Press,0674010744,(Lyndon Baines),,1908-1973,1963-1969,Diplomatic history,Foreign relations,History,History: American,International Relations - General,Johnson, Lyndon B,Johnson, Lyndon B.,Military - General,Politics / Current Events,United States,United States - 20th Century,Vietnam War, 1961-1975,American history: Vietnam War,Biography: historical,Europe,European history: postwar, from c 1945 -,History / United States / 20th Century,International relations,Political leaders & leadership,USA,Views on foreign relations
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