A firsthand observer weighs the achievements-and failures-of two fabled American presidents. As a young White House correspondent during the Kennedy and Johnson years in Washington, D.C., Hodgson had a ringside seat covering the last two great presidents of the United States, Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, two men who could not have been more different. He offers us a fresh, dispassionate contrast of these two great men by stripping away the myths to assess their achievements, ultimately asking whether Johnson has been misjudged. He suggests that LBJ be given his due by history, arguing that he was as great a president as, perhaps even greater than, JFK. Hodgson asks key questions: If Kennedy had lived, would he have matched Johnson’s ambitious Great Society achievements? Would he have avoided Johnson’s disastrous commitment in Vietnam? Would Nixon have been elected his successor, and if not, how would American politics and parties look today? "No one has written of the JFK/LBJ relationship with more penetration and sensitivity. Gripping portraits, lucid analysis unfettered by the conventional cant, and keen historical judgments make this a compelling book.” -The Publisher A deeply detailed, fascinating characterization of two men, a country, and an era. Sometimes it takes a non-American to see what we all missed." -Kirkus Reviews