“The presidents club revisited: Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, and the politics of legacy and bipartisanship”

Abstract

ABSTRACT On the surface, the association between Lyndon Johnson, an erstwhile New Dealer, and Herbert Hoover, FDR’s bête noire, would seem unlikely. Its existence underscores the complex interplay between presidents, challenging sentimental talk of a “Presidents Club” among Oval Office occupants. No rules of behavior among presidents prevail, as Donald J. Trump’s attacks on his immediate predecessors revealed. And undue emphasis on a “Presidents Club” privileges comity and commonality — of customs, manners, activities, and even aims — over intricacy and singularity, that is, how and why a distinct relationship between two presidents forms, evolves, strengthens, or weakens. Johnson and Hoover, for their part, collaborated in a rather formal fashion and out of self-interest, a degree of personal regard, and respect for the institution they both had headed. Personal, political, and institutional factors drew Hoover and Johnson together. Both presidents rose from modest circumstances, entered public service, and sought to help poor people: Hoover through private channels, LBJ via public action. Both had experience working across party lines, and they respected the office they once had held.The Johnson-Hoover interaction, at its core, entwined the politics of legacy and the politics of bipartisanship. Hoover cultivated politicians in both parties in order to regain his relevance and reputation. Johnson courted Hoover and honored his memory in order to present himself as above routine politics and to treat his predecessor with the consideration he longed for. Neither man gained all they sought from this association.