Difference between revisions of "Lyndon B. Johnson"

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Lyndon B. Johnson
36th President of the United States From: November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
Vice President	Hubert Humphrey
Predecessor	John F. Kennedy
Successor	Richard Nixon
37th Vice President of the United States From: January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
President	John F. Kennedy
Predecessor	Richard Nixon
Successor	Hubert Humphrey
U.S. Senator from Texas From: January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1961
Predecessor	W. Lee O'Daniel
Successor	William Blakley
Former U.S. Representative from Texas's 10th Congressional District From: April 10, 1937 – January 3, 1949
Predecessor	James P. Buchanan
Successor	Homer Thornberry
Information
Party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lady Bird Johnson
Religion	Disciple of Christ

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States of America (1963–1969). After serving in the House and Senate since 1937, Johnson was elected Vice President in 1960, and in November, 1963, he succeeded to the presidency following President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Johnson began his career as a liberal New Dealer, later when he became a senator he initially aligned himself with the Southern Democrats, although by the time he ascended to Senate Leadership he espoused moderate politics in an attempt to bridge both wings of the fractious Democratic Party. However, as President he seized the leadership of liberalism citing Franklin D. Roosevelt as his role model. Johnson moved the Democratic Party to the left, and pushed through Congress the Great Society, comprising liberal economic policy including Medicare (free health care for the elderly), Medicaid (free health care for the poor), aid to education, and a major "War on Poverty". As part of his jobs program he greatly escalated the American troop strength in Vietnam through conscription, from 16,000 in 1963 to 23,000 by the end of 1964 and finally to 550,000 by early 1968. Unemployment consequently, remained in check.

Johnson won reelection in a landslide in 1964 over conservative leader Barry Goldwater, and in 1965 succeeded in obtaining new civil rights legislation with GOP senators, in particular the Voting Rights Act of 1965, over a Democratic Filibuster. Johnson's popularity steadily declined after 1966 and his reelection bid in 1968 collapsed as a result of turmoil in his Democratic party over conscription, race, Vietnam and widespread crime and rioting. He withdrew from the race to concentrate on peacemaking. Johnson was renowned for his domineering personality and arm twisting of powerful politicians.

Early years

Johnson was maternally descended from a pioneer Baptist clergyman, George Washington Baines, who pastored numerous small rural churches in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Baines was also the president of Baylor University during the American Civil War. George Baines was the grandfather of Johnson's mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson.

Johnson was born in Stonewall, Texas, in a small farmhouse in a poor farming area along the Pedernales River. His parents, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. and the former Rebekah Baines, had three girls and two boys. The nearby village of Johnson City, Texas, was named after a relative who came from Georgia. In school, Johnson was an awkward, talkative youth and was elected president of his eleventh-grade class.^[1] He graduated from Johnson City High School in 1924.^[2]

In 1926, Johnson enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers' College (now called Texas State University-San Marcos). He worked his way through school, participated in debate and campus politics, edited the school newspaper, and graduated in 1931. Biographer Robert Caro asserts he was known as "the biggest liar on campus." ^[3] The college years refined his remarkable skills of persuasion and political organization. One year Johnson taught mostly Mexican American children at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas. When he returned to San Marcos in 1965, after having signed the Higher Education Act, Johnson looked back:

"I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this Nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American."^[4]

Early political career

After graduation, Johnson briefly taught public speaking at Genesee Community College and debate in a Houston high school, then entered politics. Johnson's father had served five terms in the Texas legislature and was a close friend to one of Texas's rising political figures, Congressman Sam Rayburn. In 1930, Johnson campaigned for Texas state Senator Welly Hopkins in his run for Congress. Hopkins recommended him to Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, who appointed Johnson as Kleberg's legislative secretary. LBJ was elected speaker of the "Little Congress," a group of Congressional aides, where he cultivated Congressmen, newspapermen and lobbyists. Johnson's friends soon included aides to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as fellow Texans such as Vice President John Nance Garner. He became a surrogate son to Sam Rayburn.

Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor (already nicknamed "Lady Bird") of Karnack, Texas on November 17, 1934 after she had attended Georgetown University Law School for several months. They had two daughters, Lynda Bird Johnson, born in 1944, and Luci Baines Johnson, born in 1947. Johnson enjoyed giving people and animals his own LBJ initials; his daughters' given names are examples, as was his dog Little Beagle Johnson.

In 1935, he was appointed head of the Texas National Youth Administration (NYA), which enabled him to use the government to create educational and job opportunities for young people. He resigned two years later to run for Congress. Johnson was a notoriously tough boss throughout his career, often demanding long workdays and work on weekends; he worked as hard as any of them.^[5]

House years

Johnson resigned from his NYA job in 1937 to run successfully in a special election for a seat in the House of Representatives representing Austin and the surrounding Hill Country. He ran on a New Deal platform and was effectively aided by his wife, Lady Bird Johnson.

President Roosevelt found Johnson to be a welcome ally and conduit for information, particularly with regards to issues concerning internal politics in Texas (informally dubbed "Operation Texas") and the machinations of Vice President Garner and House Speaker Sam Rayburn. Johnson was immediately appointed to the powerful Naval Affairs Committee. He worked for rural electrification and other improvements for his district. Johnson steered the projects towards contractors which he personally knew, such as the Brown Brothers, Herman and George, who would finance much of Johnson's future career.^[6] In 1941, he ran for the U.S. Senate (while not giving up his House seat) in a special election against the sitting governor, radio personality W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. Johnson was not expected to win against the popular governor, but he ran a strong race and was declared the winner in unofficial returns. He ultimately was defeated by controversial official returns in an election marked by massive fraud on the part of both campaigns.

Senate years

In 1948, Johnson ran in another controversial Senate race, this time against former governor Coke Stevenson. After no candidate won a majority of the votes in the election, Johnson defeated Stevenson in a run-off election. The result of this election was highly controversial, most historians, even those sympathetic to Johnson consider Johnson's 87 vote victory over Stevenson to be fraudulent.^[7] After joining the Senate, Johnson established relationships with several senior senators, including Richard Russell. Johnson was appointed to the powerful Armed Services Committee in 1950, and became chairman of the Preparedness Subcommittee which brought him into the public spotlight much like Harry Truman used the "Truman Committee" during the Second World War. He was named minority whip in 1951 under Democratic leader Bob McFarland, and he became the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate in 1953. His first major policy, with the support of Russell, was to bypass the Seniority rule in committee assignments, which meant that Senators became reliant on his favour in order to obtain positions on important committees. This move, in combination with his strong personality gave him power of senators that had not been seen before (or since) in Senate History. He is often referred to as the "Master of the Senate". Surprisingly, after he bacame majority leader in 1955 he supported many of Eisenhower's proposals despite the partisan resistance of the liberal wing of the Democratic party. This allowed him to bask in the reflected glow of Eisenhower's immense popularity and gain a reputation for working across the aisle and getting things done.

Although publicly posing as a Civil Rights hero, in private Johnson was—like most southern Democrats of the 1960s—a racist: When his sometime chauffeur, Robert Parker, told LBJ he’d prefer to be called by his name rather than "boy," "nigger" or "chief," Johnson replied, "As long as you are black, and you're gonna be black till the day you die, no one's gonna call you by your goddamn name. So no matter what you are called, nigger, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you’ll make it. Just pretend you’re a goddamn piece of furniture."^[8]

In his capacity as Majority Leader of the Senate, Johnson joined with Strom Thurmond to kill the Civil Rights Act of 1957. But when Senate Republicans re-introduced the bill, LBJ said, "I'm going to have to bring up the nigger bill again," according to LBJ's White House Special Counsel Harry McPherson.^[9] "Let's face it. Our ass is in a crack. We're gonna have to let this nigger bill pass," he told Senator John Stennis (D-MS), according to a Pulitzer Prize winning^[10] biography.^[11] According to Bancroft Prize winning^[12] biographer Robert Dallek, he asked Senator Sam Rayburn (D-TX), "Sam, why don't you all let this nigger bill pass?"^[13] According to former Harvard historian and Johnson staffer Doris Kearns Goodwin, LBJ explained his position to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) thus:

Johnson saw to it that once the bill reached the Senate judiciary committee it was weakened enough to ensure passage, the first passed since Reconstruction. Johnson then took credit. He was a master at balancing the powerful southern wing of the Democratic party with the liberal northern and eastern wing. He would employ very effective tactics of persuasion with senators; including intimidation, flattery, threats and promises. Johnson sought the Democratic nomination for president prior to the 1960 election, but accepted the nomination for vice-president following Kennedy's nomination.

Presidency

See also: Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into the Office of the President just hours after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The Oath of Office took place aboard Air Force One just prior to the flight to Washington DC from Dallas. It was administered by Sarah T. Hughes (one of the first justices to hear and write the decision for Roe v. Wade in favor of abortion).^[15] Also, since no Bible could be found aboard Air Force One, Johnson recited the oath with his hand on a Roman Catholic missal which had been in Kennedy's desk.^[16]

As President, Johnson greatly expanded the federal government with his Great Society programs. He played a key role in helping the civil rights movement win legislative victories, pushing for the adoption of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which outlawed segregation, and the Voting Rights Act (1965), which guaranteed African-Americans' right to vote. President Johnson's support for civil rights was purely partisan. Discussing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with two southern governors on Air Force One, LBJ stated, “I’ll have them niggers voting Democratic for two hundred years,” according to Air Force One steward Robert M. MacMillan. “That was the reason he was pushing the bill," added MacMillan, an African American, "not because he wanted equality for everyone. It was strictly a political ploy for the Democratic Party. He was phony from the word go.”^[17]

Johnson also appointed NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall the first African American Supreme Court Justice. When a young White House attorney recommended Federal Judge William Henry Hastie—who had been Marshall's professor at Harvard Law School—as a more qualified African American candidate, LBJ rejected the light-skinned Hastie, explaining, "Son, when I appoint a nigger to the court, I want everyone to know he's a nigger."^[18]

During the 1964 Presidential campaign, Johnson ran "the most negative political ad in American history," a campaign ad titled "Daisy," smearing Republican challenger Barry Goldwater as a warmonger who threatened nuclear devastation. Thus "the negative political ad was born, initiating the clever use of image and sound to paint an opponent in negative or scary terms."

Johnson won the 1964 presidential election in a landslide over Goldwater but, ironically, greatly expanded American involvement in Vietnam (see Vietnam War). His popularity plunged as the death toll from the conflict in Vietnam steadily increased. In early 1968, faced with plummeting poll numbers and mounting public opposition to his foreign policy, Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept his party's nomination for the presidency in 1968. This decision may have been brought about by his supprisingly narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary over Eugene McCarthy, a liberal anti-war Democrat. It is widely thought that had he run, he would have been trounced in the primaries or in the subsequent general election—eventually won by Republican Richard M. Nixon.

Bibliography

Biographies

• Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson (3 volumes as of 2006): The Path to Power (1982); Means of Ascent (1990); Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (2002). The most detailed biography, extends to 1960; generally hostile to LBJ; See Dallek and Woods for balanced biographies; vol 1 excerpt and online search from Amazon.com; vol 2 excerpt and online search from Amazon.com; vol 3 excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
• Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960 (1991), online edition vol 1; Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973 (1998) online edition vol 2; also: Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President (2004). A 400-page abridged version of his 2 volume scholarly biography, online edition of short version.
• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Lyndon Johnson & the American Dream (1977). A character study.
• Schulman, Bruce J. Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography with Documents (1995)
• Woods, Randall. LBJ: Architect of American Ambition (2006). A highly detailed scholarly biography (1000 pages). excerpt and online search from Amazon.com

Presidential years

• Altschuler, Bruce E.; LBJ and the Polls (1990) online edition
• Andrew, John A. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (1999) 224 pp. excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
• Bernstein, Irving. Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson 1994.
• Bornet, Vaughn Davis. The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. 1983
• Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (1989) excerpt and text search
• Branch, Taylor. Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65 (1999) excerpt and text search
• Branch, Taylor. At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (2007)
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 1: Foreign Policy, the Great Society and the White House. 1981; essays by scholars
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 2: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science. 1987; essays by scholars
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 3: LBJ at Home and Abroad. 1994; essays by scholars excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
• Firestone, Bernard J., and Robert C. Vogt, eds. Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Uses of Power. (1988); essays by scholars online edition
• Graham, Hugh Davis. The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972 (1990)
• Gould, Lewis L. Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment. 1988.
• Lichtenstein, Nelson, ed. Political Profiles: The Johnson Years. 1976. short biographies of 400+ key politicians
• Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights. 1996.
• Milkis, Sidney M. and Jerome M. Mileur, eds. The Great Society And The High Tide Of Liberalism (2005) 490pp of essays by scholars; excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
• Redford, Emmette S., and Marlan Blissett. Organizing the Executive Branch: The Johnson Presidency. 1981.
• Shesol, Jeff. Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud That Shaped a Decade 1997.
• White, Theodore H. The Making of the President, 1964 1965. online at ACLS e-books
• Zarefsky, David. President Johnson's War on Poverty 1986.

Vietnam

• Barrett, David Marshall. Advice and Dissent: An Organizational Analysis of the Evolution of Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam Advisory System, 1965–1968. (University of Notre Dame, 1990)
• Berman, Larry. Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam (1991)
• Brands, H. W. The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (1997)
• Casey, Francis Michael. The Vietnam Policy of President Lyndon Baines Johnson in Response to the Theory of the Protracted Conflict as Applied in the Politics of Indochina: A Case Study of Threat Perception and Assessment in the Crisis Management Process of a Pluralistic Society. (Claremont Graduate School, 1976)
• Cherwitz, Richard Arnold. The Rhetoric of the Gulf of Tonkin: A Study of the Crisis Speaking of President Lyndon B. Johnson. (University of Iowa, 1978)
• Goodnight, Lisa Jo. The Conservative Voice of a Liberal President: An Analysis of Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam Rhetoric. (Purdue University, 1993)
• Kaiser, David E. American tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the origins of the Vietnam War. (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000) ISBN 0-674-00225-3
• Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam, A History. (Penguin, 1991), balanced assessment
• Logevall, Fredrik Bengt Johan. Fear to Negotiate: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War, 1963–1965. (Yale University, 1993)
• Turner, Kathleen Jane. The Effect of Presidential-Press Interaction on Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam War Rhetoric. (Purdue University, 1978)
• Vandiver, Frank E. Shadows of Vietnam: Lyndon Johnson's Wars (1997) online edition
• Woods, Randall B. "The Politics of Idealism: Lyndon Johnson, Civil Rights, and Vietnam," Diplomatic History (2007) 31 (1), 1–18. online at Blackwell-Synergy

Primary sources

• Barrett David M. ed. "Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam Papers: A Documentary Collection" (1997). Documents from LBJ Library and other archives.
• Beschloss Michael R. ed. Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963–1964 (1997). Transcribed recordings of LBJ's phone calls.
• Beschloss, Michael R. ed. Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965 (2002) excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
• Califano Joseph A., Jr. The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (1991). By a cabinet member.
• Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report of the President (annual 1947- ), complete series online; important analysis of current trends and policies, plus statistcial tables
• Gallup, George H. ed. The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971, volume 3: 1959–1971 (1972). Summary of poll data.
• Johnson Lyndon B. The Vantage Point: Perspectives on the Presidency, 1963–1969 (1971). LBJ's memoirs.
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson (10 volumes, GPO, 1965–70). All speeches and official statements.
• Reedy, George Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir (1982), ISBN 0-8362-6610-2. A memoir by the press secretary.

References

External links

• Works by Lyndon B. Johnson - text and free audio - LibriVox