Presidents Tend To Be Evaluated In the Context of Other Presidents

I’m honestly not sure who Michael Kazin is arguing with here. I don’t know who thinks that LBJ should be given a pass for Vietnam, and Kazin doesn’t cite anybody who thinks this either. He does cite some public officials giving speeches at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act emphasizing his good points, which is obviously not a context where one expects to see a full evaluation of his record. I’m also not at all persuaded that Vietnam was the key reason that the Democratic coalition foundered during this era. Vietnam was horribly wrong because it was horribly wrong, but in terms of keeping the New Deal coalition together he really had no good options.