Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson
(August 27, 1908 -
January 22, 1973),
often referred to as  Order:           36th President
LBJ, was the 36th     Term of Office:  November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1969
(1963-1969) President
of the United States. Followed:        John F. Kennedy
He took office after  Succeeded by:    Richard Nixon
the assassination of
President John F.     Date of Birth    Thursday, August 27, 1908
Kennedy. He brought   Place of Birth:  Gillespie County, Texas
to the office         Date of Death:   Monday, January 22, 1973
enormous political
skills and high       Place of Death:  Johnson City, Texas
ideals but was        First Lady:      Claudia Alta Taylor ("Lady Bird")
brought down by a few Profession:      teacher
glaring flaws.
                      Political Party: Democrat
Johnson was           Vice President:  Hubert H. Humphrey
Congressman for the
10th Texas district from 1937 to 1948, a Texas Senator from 1948-1960,
Senate Minority leader from 1952-1955, and Senate Majority Leader from
1955-1960. In 1960 he ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He was
defeated by JFK, but won the vice presidency on Kennedy's ticket.

Johnson had huge ambition and mostly high ideals, combined with a more
thorough knowledge of how to get legislation through the U.S. Congress than
any president has ever had. He had no hobbies, and other than his own
immediate family, few interests outside politics, with the possible
exception of overseeing his large Texas ranch, the "LBJ Ranch". He named or
nicknamed most people and things close to him with his own initials, from
his wife, "Lady Bird" Johnson, to his dog, "Little Beagle Johnson".

Although LBJ was unusually progressive for a Texas politician, he had a
close relationship with the petroleum industry and other Texas businesses,
such as the construction firm Brown and Root. His connections and political
career also earned him enormous wealth, including a radio and television
network which was held and managed by his wife. After having lost a Senate
primary to ballot-stuffing in 1941, Johnson employed the same tactics in his
succesful 1948 nomination campaign.

After Kennedy's assassination, Johnson served out the remainder of the term
in manner he felt was consistent with Kennedy's agenda. He convinced
Kennedy's cabinet to serve out the rest of the term, including Robert
Kennedy (despite the acrimonious relationship between Johnson and Kennedy).
He also used his considerable political savvy to ensure passage the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. These actions allowed Johnson to easily win the 1964
presidential election.

The beginning of his first full term of his presidency were noteworthy for
social reforms packaged as the Great Society, notably the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.

He had a distaste for the American war effort in Vietnam, which he had
inherited from John Kennedy. But Johnson believed that America could not
afford to look weak in the eyes of the world, and so he escalated the war
effort continuously from 1965-1968, which resulted in thousands of American
deaths and perhaps ten times the number of deaths in Vietnam. At the same
time, Johnson was afraid that too much focus on Vietnam would distract
attention from his Great Society programs, so the levels of military
escalation, while significant, were never significant enough to make any
real headway in the war. This approach was very unpopular with both The
Pentagon and America's South Vietnam allies. Against his wishes, Johnson's
presidency was soon dominated by the Vietnam War. As more and more American
soldiers died in Vietnam, Johnson's popularity declined, particularly in the
face of student protests ("Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed
today?").

As a result, in March of 1968, LBJ announced he would not seek re-election,
and he retired from public life at the end of his term. Depressed and alone,
he died four years later.

Johnson is the subject of an extensive multi-volume biography: The Years of
Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro. So far three volumes have appeared:

       1. The Path to Power (1982),
       2. Means of Ascent (1990),
       3. Master of the Senate (2002).

Supreme Court appointments

   * Abe Fortas - 1965
   * Thurgood Marshall - 1967

Related articles

   * U.S. presidential election, 1960
   * U.S. presidential election, 1964
   * U.S. presidential election, 1968

      Preceded by:       Presidents of the United        Succeeded by:
    John F. Kennedy               States                 Richard Nixon

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