LBJ "100 Days" Post-Mortem

TW: I was thumbing through Theodore H. White's "Making Of the President 1964" as I recalled White's glowing praise for LBJ in the book and wanted to use it as a metaphor for LBJ's "100 Days" critique. Unfortunately the narrative does not fit into a sufficiently concise summary to get into here, but there was this one sentence:

"There is no less word than superb to describe the performance of LBJ as he became POTUS...his calm, his command-presence, his doings, his unlimited energies- endow him with superlative grace.

TW: Understanding White's "Making Of the President" series used a more hagiographic style than more contemporary (e.g. post Watergate) chroniclers. And White was certainly a huge JFK fan, but if one reads the 1968 or 1972 books, one would find Nixon being described in glowing terms as well, even if the 1972 book (written in mid-1973) started to reflect concerns about the then just emerging Watergate scandal.

Nevertheless, the above sentiment is somewhat stunning given the atmosphere by the end of LBJ's second term. On the other hand, the sentiments regarding LBJ's personality were largely accurate much like how Sidey's impressions of Reagan and Time's impressions of Carter were more or less borne out by their later actions. LBJ was a bundle of energy and strong-willed unfortunately those traits only exacerbated his path towards quagmire in Vietnam, the issue which clouds beyond any recognition LBJ's legacy.

Yes, LBJ's Great Society has been criticized ex post facto but at the time it was very popular and those critiques were representative of a secular shift in American politics not a personal critique of LBJ. Are all of the "100 day" critiques of any use? Perhaps only in providing an initial definition of the POTUS' style and overall approach to the role. Ultimately that style and approach will have to fit either snugly or not into the various and highly unpredictable circumstances which confront a POTUS, those circumstances combined with the POTUS's skills will define the final legacy.