The Historians and the Presidency: An Essay Review
One chapter in Eric F. Goldman's book about Johnson' is a reminder of a sourish remark made by Senator Burton K. Wheeler at a time when he, like some other Progressives, was annoyed by Franklin D. Roosevelt's tendency to ignore their claims in favor of those put forward by Democratic party bosses in their states. "We made the wrong Roosevelt President," he said, referring to Eleanor Roosevelt's more consistent support of Progressive causes. The Goldman book's description of Lady Bird Johnson's activities could be interpreted in the same way. He found hers the kind of good influence her husband could well have paid more attention to. She usually knew when he was going wrong; she saw before he did that his situation had become impossible; and her own modest political ventures were invariably successful. Her own book, A White House Diary,2 a dictated day-by-day