Robert Caro is the author of the multi-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.” The most recent installment is entitled “The Passage of Power.” He sat down with The Takeaway’s John Hockenberry to reflect on the unique obstacles and successes President Johnson faced after his election in 1964.
Are there lessons for President Obama to take from President Johnson’s presidency? Caro notes that the Vietnam War cast a dark shadow on President Johnson’s legacy, obscuring some of his social policy accomplishments. “A president is always on the edge of a precipice,” he says. This is the first of a two-part conversation.
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