A Political Education: A Washington Memoir - Softcover

"... one of the best books on life in Washington to have been published in this century." "One of the most illuminating political memoirs of our time." "There is in the book the poise and quiet passion of a man who sees the absurdities of politics and politicians and who still believes this nation can be governed for good ends." "A first-rate book ... as 'literary' in the best sense as it is political." "If you will imagine a compound of Rousseau, Henry Adams, and East Texas, you will have some sense of the dimensions and the pleasures of this extraordinary book." A native Texan, Harry McPherson went to Washington in 1956 as an assistant to Senate Majority Leader Johnson, serving subsequently in key posts under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He is now a senior partner of a Washington law firm.

This insider's view of Washington in the 1950s and 1960s, of the tumultuous presidency of Lyndon Johnson, and of the conflicts and factions of the president's staff has become a political classic since its original publication in 1972. In this reissue, Harry McPherson adds a new preface in which he reflects on changes in Washington since the Johnson era and on the lessons Bill Clinton could learn from the presidency of Lyndon Johnson.