LBJ and Mexican Americans: The Paradox of Power

by Julie Leininger Pycior

T. R. Fehrenbach Award, 1997

As he worked to build his Great Society, Lyndon Johnson often harkened back to his teaching days in the segregated "Mexican" school at Cotulla, Texas. Recalling the poverty and prejudice that blighted his students' lives, Johnson declared, "It never occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292765789
• ISBN13: 9780292765788
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Unsung Heroes

Ms. Pycior not only covers a piece of history often overlooked by others, but also brings out many of the unsung heroes of the GI generation that fought along side LBJ for civil rights, voting rights and other issues that opened so many doors for the rest of us.The author provides great insight and historical perspective into how LBJ's rise to power coincided with the growing civil rights movement in Texas, but reminds readers that despite LBJ's political motives, his legislative agenda -- even in the White House -- came from his own frame of reference -- the poor Mexican-American students he taught in Cotulla, Texas.Attending the funeral of the late Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez (December 2000), reminded me of another legendary figure of that era. Hooray for Ms. Pycior for helping teach the next generation of students the importance of those giants who opened our doors, our minds and our hearts!