| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

LBJ's Texas White House: 'Our Heart's Home.' By Hal K. Rothman. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. xii, 300 pp. $24.95, ISBN 1-58544-141-4.)

Of all the recent vacation White Houses, Lyndon B. Johnson's little ole ranch in the hill country of Texas appears to have been the most important historically and politically. That is the case made by Hal K. Rothman in his interesting history of the estate and its role in the making and, to some degree, unmaking of LBJ as a national political figure. At least, that is the implicit justification for making an entire book out of the project that was initially sponsored by the National Park Service, which operates the ranch as part of the Lyndon B. Johnson Historical Park. 1

Rothman views the ranch as a key ' symbol' for Johnson. After he bought it in 1951, the ambitious senator became more of a progressive westerner than a conservative southerner and reminded Americans of their 'mythic roots.' The ranch also helped the 'insecure' Johnson feel that he had arrived, since 'he could become what he owned and could make what he owned into what he wanted to be.' . . .

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