Historian Robert Caro&amp;#8217;s eagerly awaited biography of Lyndon B. Johnson is due May 1, and The New Yorker has a long sneak preview. The excerpt recounts the assassination of President John F. Kennedy from LBJ&amp;#8217;s perspective.
One startling scene: Shortly after Kennedy&amp;#8217;s death, Johnson calls the attorney general for a legal opinion on where to take the oath. The only problem: that man was Robert F. Kennedy, who loathed LBJ. Right after &amp;#8220;Robert Kennedy had been told that the brother he loved so deeply was dead&amp;#8230; he found himself talking to a man he hated,&amp;#8221; who was asking him how he could &amp;#8220;without delay, formally assume his brother&amp;#8217;s office,&amp;#8221; Caro writes. Indeed, that bitter call &amp;#8220;became a crucial element in the great blood feud&amp;#8221; between the two men &mdash; &amp;#8220;perhaps the greatest blood feud in American politics in the 20th century.&amp;#8221;
5 revelations from Robert Caro&amp;#8217;s gripping LBJ biography