LBJ

Robert Dallek -- Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960

One thing that amazes me is how much different LBJ was from JFK.  Johnson worked compulsively, pushed those around him to work just as hard as him, and was continually driven to more and more success.  This was, apparently, his personality going back to his days in college.  Kennedy was almost the opposite.  Sure, he was driven to succeed, but his drive really exerted itself after he came home from WWII and stepped into his older brother's shoes.  Kennedy was boyish looking, charming, often laid back, hopeful.  Johnson often appeared (he was only 9 years older than Kennedy), had an overwhelming personality, was incredibly intense, and seemed to worry obsessively .  Johnson was a much, much more successful legislator than Kennedy, but I don't know that he was a better leader.

It's also amazing how different their backgrounds were.  LBJ didn't grow up poor, but his family hit hard financial times, and he lived in a small town in central Texas far away from civilization.  Kennedy grew up with tremendous wealth in a prestigious family living in Boston and New York.  Johnson had to do odd jobs to pay his way through school, and Kennedy went to prep school and then Harvard. 

LBJ was entirely self directed.  He forged his own path in politics and, while he adopted a number of mentors, really called his own shots.  JFK's political goals and strategies were shaped in larger part by his father and his campaigns became family affairs. 

When I put down An Unfinished Life, talking about the legacy of the Kennedys, and immediately pick up Lone Star Rising, and read about dirt farmers without electricity or indoor plumbing, the contrast could not be more stark.