Q&A: Robert Caro - Part 1

Pulitzer prize winning author and historian Robert Caro discusses his newly released biography of Lyndon Johnson entitled "The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power." This is his fourth book in the Johnson biographical series and Caro promises a fifth and final book in the future. The period covered in the book is from 1958 until early 1964.

[@bzfgt1]

If Caro wrote every history book I'd be an expert.

[@tommyrauk8205]

Caro's LBJ bio rivals and maybe exceeds William Manchester's Churchill.

[@vernpascal1531]

@@tommyrauk8205 -There's a lot of really bad stuff on LBJ that he doesn't touch.

[@baberRuth]

@@vernpascal1531 Ike really pushed LBJ into ramping up on Nam & sticking to it. LBJ was always consulting him.

[@MAR1962]

I love all of the books, but Means of Ascent holds the most surprises, because the 1948 Texas Senate election had kind of receded into obscurity. Even knowing who won, the story was suspenseful. Caro is the master.

[@corcaighrebel]

First came across Robert Caro in a documentary on New York, excellent speaker, very insightful.

[@christinabrault]

Which one please?

[@veritas6335]

Superb researcher and writer. We are in his debt for his dedication to the pursuit of truth and the study of power.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

This man is brilliant, Robert Caro.

[@ctrlaltdelmeir184]

Definitely one of the most detailed collections of books ever read.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

And seemingly biased with information interpretation.

[@dannyhughes4889]

A very VERY special individual...many more like him are needed in the service of truth.

[@pmagnier11]

Definitely a New Yoik accent. This series of books is as good as biography gets. The first two are my favourites.

[@williamwoody7607]

I can’t remember Brian Lamb ever speaking as laterally equal to any other author. He clearly offers Caro more freedom to expose his points. He clearly holds Caro in tremendous esteem.

[@lindastone6039]

I like this man Robert Caro and his methodology he sees both sides of this man.

[@ashleycolvinable]

And THAT is extremely helpful.

[@pototo1]

Thank you for putting this on KZbin. Please add more similar programs.

[@paulbrasier372]

What a great Author to be trusted with incredible moment in time.

[@vanjomendiola3213]

9 I

[@richardkoenigsberg4271]

Great author, great interviewer. Serious television. So informative.

[@allend2749]

exactly how i feel. and no stupid sexy dolled up females doing the interviewing!

[@danielrobinson9270]

Great interview. Always found LBJ and the Kennedy's relationship and stories very interesting. Having not been born until the mid 70"s ...the Kennedy and LBJ era in comparison to today's politics are very different and appears more authentic in terms of the workings of government. Great book!

[@nujac321]

Agreed. I hope he lives to finish the final volume.

[@clareomarfran]

Robert Caro is a national treasure.

[@robertpolityka8464]

Excellent biography.

[@jamesm.3967]

Brian Lamb brought us CSPAN. So good, bland but effective. Caro is excellent as well.

[@paulblack8887]

So considerate in the interview, insightful and weaves such great narratives in print and speech.

[@paulsummers2640]

What a wonderful man.

[@luisvaldes1568]

Reading Mr. Caro's first LBJ book off and on in 2022. Amazing. I have been fascinated by LBJ and Presidential history since I was a little kid.

[@MAR1962]

The Years of Lyndon Johnson is as big an epic as anything written by Homer. Reading "Passage to Power" now and its a worthy successor to the first three volumes.

[@SK-cb9yu]

I like Robert Caro and tremendously respect his work as a researcher and writer (not that he could give a rat's butt what I think), but Bobby Kennedy wasn't born in 1929--he was born in 1925.

[@jameshenshall4232]

Happy Birthday, Mr Caro.

[@ImranSahir1]

I must be thankful to Burns brothers; it is due to their documentaries that I came to know about Robert Caro and Shelby Foote. Two of the greatest storytellers I've known.

[@ctrlaltdelmeir184]

Salaam, bro. Do you think Pakistan will ever have their own LBJ?

[@stevenwolfe7101]

I was surprised to see that no one referred to Caro's first book, a biography of Robert Moses, a very powerful man in NYC politics and the man who was responsible for many of the highways in and around New York and its environs. It is "The Power Broker". LBJ had his own way of getting things done. My jury on him is still out because: (1) on the one hand he was a motive force behind ending segregation in the South, something only a Southerner could do. Well, at least the civil rights legislation was put in place. But (2) he persisted in having the war in Vietnam go on and lying about it to keep it going. Perhaps this was the price he had to pay to get his friends to go along with his civil rights program.

[@ronnestman4696]

Bob Caro is an excellent interview. I’m very impressed with all his work. Great video

[@gsilcoful]

Thank you.

[@michaelplummer395]

where is the last book?? i want to know more about Walter Jenkins i believe if he had stayed on he may have kept Johnson out of Vietnam. I also want to hear all about Cousin Oreal Hugh Sidey has best first hand account of personal friendship with LBJ

[@Frip36]

Caro wants to see if interviewer has thoughts and opinions. Or if he just asks random questions. 36:40

[@lauraberendson4032]

I like Brian Lamb but I hate when he interrupts the person he's interviewing because it completely breaks the flow and I as a listener and losing track and the speaker completely loses traction.

[@warrenpeece1726]

I love all the books, except the last. He did not reference Malcom Wallace.

[@luizverdecanna8023]

LBJ´s hit buddy, Caro also forgot to mention that LBJ was the main articulater of JFK assassination. Malcom Wallace pink finger digital print was in a box at 6th floor at TSBD then asked FBI to identify, took 18 months and finally they said it was not his finger. Caro of course won´t talk about that.

[@S_Edward_Burns_ArtsEditor]

My thanks.

[@t44e6]

What about the Civil Rights Act Of 1957?

[@guydean1224]

Landslide Linden!

[@0907oliv]

Actually, what I heard is that while RFK was on the Senate Rackets Committee, when LBJ would speak to him, LBJ would call him Sonny Boy.

[@michaelplummer395]

and rfk joked about johnson behind his back calling him rufus cornpone and kennedy was shocked in 64 that HE wasn’t selected for VP

[@lukesmith1818]

Reedy sounds like principal skinner

[@pfflyer3381]

36:10 master politician.., master salesman/ bully, more like it.

[@ricdavid7476]

what point in this do they talk about when Johnson had Kennedy killed?

[@skybart]

Is that a typical New York accent-- Caro's?

[@tommyodonovan3883]

skybart It's an upper middle class Jewish intellectual N.Y. accent.

[@SOXLUVER777]

It sounds like Queens.

[@LazlosPlane]

@@tommyodonovan3883 Not at all Upper middle class, but yes, lots of "Jewish" influences. His is more a mix. He has worked hard, it would seem, to rid himself of his original accent.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

@@LazlosPlane I'm a Newfy from Bay Vert ('65-'70), when I got off the Island even the Herr'n Chockers (NB) couldn't understand a word I said. I'm 55yro the Canucks have near kicked the Newfy Accent out of me. *But... twas all in good fun!*

[@zhouystr]

took me a while to realize the background is fake LOL

[@denniscassley9992]

QUICK QUESTION: Do any of Caro's books deal with LBJ's corruption?

[@jonshay]

highly recommend these books. They basically deal with all things LBJ, including the unsavory aspects.

[@denniscassley9992]

jonshay Is it true that none mentions Billy Sol Estes, Malcolm Wallace, or Kinser?

[@jonshay]

+Dennis Cassley Don't recall.

[@JohnPaulBrandt57]

Of course not. I'll do it eventually but of course it will never be published in this free country.

[@TexasMan77]

Yes, means of ascent, the second of 4 books. It's exclusively about his stealing of the 1948 senatorial race from former Texas governor and legend Coke Stevenson.

[@0907oliv]

It is widely believed that only Johnson would have done a War on Poverty. But in fact, JFK, having in 1963 read Michael Harrington's book, The Other America; as well as influenced by an earlier campaign trip's through Appalachia, JFK was planning what was called an "anti-poverty program."

[@andthe2881]

0907oliv jfk couldn't get legislation through. That was jfk whole problem he ignored lbj's advice.

[@silvergalaxie]

all the research and yet wrong about alot.

[@huntingthekaiser6490]

Hmmmm. I remember Lyndon Johnson. As I remember, the biggest reason that he didn't run for president was that few people wanted him. He was irritating, and his overblown Texan image full of b.s. There were others in the field more interesting. Mr. Caro says it was because he was afraid to fail. Yeah. The country as a whole didn't want him. Ruefully, it took the assassination to overcome negative feelings towards him. That from someone who was around at the time.

[@jimmyconway3844]

This Lyndon Johnson he was a real jerk

[@The4preston]

I liked Caro's earlier books, but The Passage of Power is very disappointing. The book is very repetitive, poorly organized and full of factual errors. For example, on page 281, Caro claims that Bobby Baker had his last meeting with Lyndon Johnson in October 1973, ten months after LBJ passed away. Plus almost a third of the book is about the Kennedys rather than LBJ - not new information, just drudging up old details from previous Kennedy bios. Like a lot of people, I'd been looking forward to the fifth and final book. But if it's as bad as this one I can live without it.

[@virgildoc]

which lbj book is best

[@bangbangfan2184]

@@virgildoc Master of The Senate. By a long distance. Truly an amazing book.

[@ctrlaltdelmeir184]

I am not sure about the other errors but on page 281 the meeting between Johnson and Baker happens in October 1972,

[@The4preston]

@@ctrlaltdelmeir184 That would make sense. Page 281 of the book places the meeting a year later, and messes up the date twice: "Baker visited him for a day at his ranch in October, 1973......When, in 1973, Walter Jenkins telephoned to invite him and his wife, Dorothy, to the ranch....."

[@ctrlaltdelmeir184]

@@The4preston We must have different copies ha, ha, mine says "Baker visited him for a day at his ranch in October, 1972, “We spoke not a word and communicated only through intermediaries...." I have a digital copy that I think was created in 2010.

[@ACHPKP]

............Spock.

[@bernardotorres4659]

What an absolutely unsmiling , dry , unsympathetic interviewer , Mr Lamb is .

[@LightoftheMoon]

Yes, exactly. Mr. Brian Lamb is a great example of the art of the impartial interviewer with excellent, probing questions. How much better the country would be if this skill was still taught across the land ~

[@jeffreylc]

I think Lamb is great!

[@LazlosPlane]

Pure fluff. Caro, for all his knowledge lies by omission.

[@veritas6335]

Wrong.