Lyndon Baines Johnson ( ; August 27, 1908 - January 22, 1973), often called by his initial LBJ , is an American politician who served as 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming office after serving as the 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963. A Democrat from Texas, he also served as United States Representative and as Majority Leader in the Senate United States of America. Johnson is one of only four people who have served in all four elected federal positions.
Born in a farmhouse in Stonewall, Texas, Johnson was a high school teacher and worked as a congressional assistant before winning elections to the House of Representatives in 1937. He won elections to the Senate in 1948, and was appointed as Major Majority Cambuk position in 1951 He became the Senate Minority Leader in 1953 and Senate Majority Leader in 1955. As a Senate Leader, Johnson is known for his dominating personality and "Johnson's treatment," his aggressive coercion against powerful politicians to advance legislation. Johnson ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1960 presidential election. Despite his unsuccessful, he received an invitation from Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts to become his partner. They then won a closed election for Republican tickets Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., and Johnson was sworn in as Vice President on January 20, 1961. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Johnson succeeded Kennedy as president. The following year, Johnson won a landslide victory in 1964, defeating Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.
In domestic policy, Johnson drafted the law of the "Big Society" by extending civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, aid for education, arts, urban and rural development, public services, and "War on Poverty". Assisted in part by economic growth, the War of Poverty helped millions of Americans rise above the poverty line during his rule. The civil rights bill that he signed into law prohibits racial discrimination in public facilities, interstate commerce, workplaces and housing; The Right of Select law prohibits certain requirements in the southern states that are used to annul African American voting. With the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Citizenship Act, the country's immigration system was reformed, pushing for greater emigration from regions other than Europe. The Johnson presidency marks the peak of modern liberalism after the New Deal era.
In foreign policy, Johnson increased US involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1964, Congress passed the Resolution of the Gulf of Tonkin, which gave Johnson the power to use military force in Southeast Asia without having to request an official declaration of war. The number of American military personnel in Vietnam increased dramatically, from 16,000 advisors in non-combat roles in 1963 to 525,000 in 1967, many in combat roles. American casualties soared, and the peace process stalled. The inconvenience that developed with the war prompted a large, angry anti-war movement primarily based on university campuses.
Johnson faced further problems when the summer unrest began in most major cities after 1965, and the crime rate soared, when his opponents filed for a "law and order" policy. While Johnson began his presidency with widespread approval, his support for him declined as the public became angry with both the war and the growing violence at home. In 1968, the Democratic Party, which was focussed as an anti-war element, denounced Johnson; he ended his bid for re-nomination after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire primary. Nixon was chosen to succeed him, as the New Deal coalition that had dominated 36 years of presidential politics collapsed. After he left office in January 1969, Johnson returned to his farm in Texas, where he died of a heart attack at the age of 64 on January 22, 1973.
Johnson is well regarded by many historians for his domestic policies and the passage of many of the major laws affecting civil rights, gun control, wilderness conservation, and Social Security, although he has also drawn substantial criticism for his handling of the Vietnam War.
Video Lyndon B. Johnson
Initial years
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas, in a small farmhouse on the Pedernales River. He is the eldest of five siblings born of Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. and Rebekah Baines. Johnson has one brother, Sam Houston Johnson, and three sisters; Rebekah, Josefa, and Lucia. The closest small town of Johnson City, Texas, is named after LBJ's cousin, James Polk Johnson, whose ancestors moved west from Georgia. Johnson has British, German, and Ulster Scots. Patrilineal descendants traced back to John Johnson, born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland in 1590. He is maternally of Baptist pastor priest George Washington Baines, who pastor eight churches in Texas, as well as others in Arkansas and Louisiana. Baines, the grandfather of Johnson's mother, was also president of Baylor University during the American Civil War.
Johnson's grandfather, Samuel Ealy Johnson Sr., was raised as a Baptist, and was temporarily a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In his later years, grandfather became Christadelphian; Johnson's father also joined Christadelphian Church towards the end of his life. Later, as a politician, Johnson was influenced in his positive attitude toward Jews by religious belief that his family, especially his grandfather, had shared with him (see Operation Texas). Johnson's favorite Bible verse comes from the King James Version of Isaiah 1:18. "Come on now, and let's reason together..."
At school, Johnson is an awkward and talkative boy and elected his 11th-grade president. He graduated in 1924 from Johnson City High School, where he participated in public speaking, debate, and baseball. At age 15, Johnson is the youngest member in his class. Pressured by his parents to attend college, he enrolled in the "subcolitik" of Southwest Texas State Teachers College (SWTSTC) in the summer of 1924, where unmediated high school students could take the required grade 12 courses to enter college. He left school just weeks after his arrival, and decided to move to Southern California. She worked in her cousin's law practice and in various side jobs before returning to Texas, where she worked as a day laborer.
In 1926, Johnson successfully enrolled at SWTSTC (now Texas State University). She works through schools, participates in campus debates and politics, and edits school papers, The College Star . The lecture years complete the skills of persuasion and political organization. For nine months, from 1928 to 1929, Johnson stopped his studies to teach Mexican-American children at the separate Welhausen School in Cotulla, about 90 miles (140 km) south of San Antonio in La Salle County. The job helped him to save money to complete his education, and he graduated in 1930. He had taught at Pearsall High School before taking a position as a public speaking teacher at Sam Houston High School in Houston.
When he returned to San Marcos in 1965, after signing the Higher Education Act of 1965, Johnson recalled:
I will never forget the faces of the boys and girls at Welhausen's Little Mexican School, and I still remember the pain of realizing and knowing that the college was closed to almost all the children because they were too poor. And I think that's when I decided that this nation can never rest while the door of knowledge remains closed to Americans.
Maps Lyndon B. Johnson
Login to politics
After Richard M. Kleberg won a special election in 1931 to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives, he appointed Johnson as his legislative secretary. Johnson got a position on the recommendation of his own father and State Senator Welly Hopkins, who had been campaigned by Johnson in 1930. Kleberg had little interest in performing the daily tasks of a Congressman, instead of delegating it to Johnson. After Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election, Johnson became a loyal supporter of Roosevelt's New Deal. Johnson was elected as a speaker of the "Little Congress," a group of auxiliaries to Congress, where he coached members of Congress, journalists, and lobbyists. Johnson's friends soon included assistants to President Roosevelt and fellow Texans like Vice President John Nance Garner and Congressman Sam Rayburn.
Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, also known as "Lady Bird", from Karnack, Texas on November 17, 1934, after studying at Georgetown University Law Center for several months. The wedding was inaugurated by Pdt. Arthur R. McKinstry at St. Episcopal Church Mark in San Antonio. They had two daughters, Lynda Bird, born in 1944, and Luci Baines, born in 1947. Johnson named her children with the initials LBJ; the dog is Little Beagle Johnson. His is the LBJ Ranch; his initials are in his cuffs, ashtrays, and clothes.
In 1935, he was appointed head of the Texas National Youth Administration, allowing him to use the government to create education and employment opportunities for young people. He resigned two years later to run for Congress. Johnson, a very tough boss throughout his career, often demands long working days and works on weekends. He is portrayed by friends, fellow politicians, and historians who are motivated by an unbelievable passion for power and control. As Johnson's biographer Robert Caro put it, "Johnson's ambitions are unorthodox-at levels unencumbered by ideological weight, philosophy, principles, confidence."
Careers in the US House (1937 -1949)
In 1937, Johnson successfully campaigned in a special election for the 10th congress district in Texas, which included Austin and the surrounding hills. He ran on the New Deal platform and was helped effectively by his wife. He served in the House of Representatives from April 10, 1937, until January 3, 1949. President Franklin D. Roosevelt found Johnson to be an ally and channel for information, particularly in relation to issues concerning internal politics in Texas (Operation Texas) and the machinations of Vice President John Nance Garner and House Speaker Sam Rayburn. Johnson was immediately appointed to the Naval Affairs Committee. He works for rural electrification and other improvements to his district. Johnson directs the projects to contractors he personally knows, such as Brown Brothers, Herman and George, who will fund many of Johnson's future careers. In 1941, he ran for the US Senate Democratic nomination in a special election; His main opponents are the Governor of Texas, businessman and radio character W. Lee O'Daniel; Johnson almost lost the primary Democrat, which was then the same as the election, with O'Daniel receiving 175,590 votes (30.49%), and Johnson 174.279 (30.26%). Active military service (1941-1942)
Johnson was appointed Commander Lieutenant at the US Naval Reserve on June 21, 1940. While serving as a US congressman, he was called to active duty three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The order was to report to the Head of Naval Operations Office in Washington , DC for instruction and training. After his training, he asked the Vice Minister of the Navy James Forrestal for combat duty. He was sent instead to inspect the shipyard facilities in Texas and on the West Coast. In the spring of 1942, President Roosevelt needed his own report on what kind of conditions in the Southwest Pacific. Roosevelt felt that the information flowing into the chain of command of the military needed to be conveyed by a highly trusted political assistant. From Forrestal's suggestion, Roosevelt assigned Johnson to a three-person survey team in the Southwest Pacific.
Johnson reports to General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. Johnson and two US Army officers went to the headquarters of Group Bomb 22, which was assigned a high-risk mission to bomb the Japanese air base at Lae in New Guinea. Johnson's roommate is the second lieutenant of the army who is a B-17 bomber pilot. On June 9, 1942, Johnson volunteered as an observer for an air raid mission in New Guinea by eleven B-26 bombers that included his roommates on another plane. While on a mission, his roommate and his B-26 bomber were shot down without any of the eight survivors from a collision into the water. Reports vary about what happened to the B-26 bomber carrying Johnson during the mission. Johnson's biographer, Robert Caro, received Johnson's report, and supported him with testimony from the crew of the aircraft concerned: the plane was attacked, paralyzed one machine, and returned before reaching its destination, albeit remained under massive fire. Others claim that it turns back because of a generator problem before it reaches its destination and before it faces enemy aircraft and is never attacked. This is supported by official flight records. Other targeted aircraft were attacked near the target at the same time that Johnson's plane was recorded to have landed back at the original airbase. MacArthur recommends Johnson for the Silver Star for bravado in action: the sole crew member who received the decor. After being approved by the army, he personally presented a medal for Johnson, with the following quote:
For gallantry in action around Port Moresby and Salamaula, New Guinea, on June 9, 1942. While on a mission to obtain information in the Southwest Pacific, Lieutenant Commander Johnson, to gain personal knowledge of combat conditions, volunteered as an observer on combat missions dangerous air over a hostile position in New Guinea. As our plane approached the target area, they were intercepted by eight enemy fighters. When, at this moment, the plane in which Lieutenant Commander Johnson is an observer, develops a mechanical problem and is forced to return himself, presenting a favorable target for enemy fighters, he proves a marked cold despite the dangers involved. Her handsome action allows her to gain and return with valuable information.
Johnson, who has been using the camera as an observer, reports to Roosevelt, to Navy leaders, and to Congress that his condition is sad and unacceptable: some historians have suggested this in return for recommending MacArthur about Silver Star to him. He argues that the South Pacific Pacific desperately needs a higher priority and a greater share of the supply of war. The fighter planes were sent there, for example, "much lower" to Japanese planes, and bad morals. He told Forrestal that the Pacific Fleet had a "critical" need for 6,800 other experienced men. Johnson set up a twelve-point program to improve efforts in the region, emphasizing "greater cooperation and coordination in command and between different war theaters." Congress responded by making Johnson chair of a high-powered subcommittee of the Naval Affairs Committee, with a mission similar to the Truman Committee in the Senate. He investigated the "business as usual" discontinuity that seeped into the sea war and demanded that the admiral form and complete work. Johnson went too far when he proposed a bill that would crack down on the draft exclusion of shipyard workers if they were absent from work too often; organized laborers blocked bills and denounced him. Johnson's biographer Robert Dallek concludes, "The mission is a temporary exposure to the perceived danger of satisfying Johnson's personal and political desires, but it also represents a genuine effort on his part, however wrong, to increase the number of American combat troops."
In addition to Silver Star, Johnson received the US Campaign Medal, the Asia Pacific Campaign Medal, and the Victory Medal of World War II. He was released from active duty on July 17, 1942 and remained in the Sanctuary, then promoted to commander on 19 October 1949 (effective June 2, 1948). He resigned from the Sanctuary effective January 18, 1964.
Careers in the US Senate (1949 -1961)
The contested 1948 election
In the 1948 election, Johnson again ran for the Senate and won in a highly controversial outcome in the three main Democratic parties. Johnson faces the famous former governor, Coke Stevenson, and George Peddy (former state representative of District 8 in Shelby County). Johnson drew crowds to the venue with his chartered helicopter dubbed "The Johnson City Windmill". He raised money to flood the country in campaigning circles and won more conservatives by choosing Taft-Hartley's actions (limiting the strength of trade unions) and by criticizing the unions. Stevenson entered first but did not have a majority, so an overflow was held; Johnson campaigned harder, while Stevenson's effort slumped.
The runoff amount takes a week, handled by the Central Committee of the Democratic State (since this is the main party). Johnson finally announced the winner with 87 votes from 988,295 players. The committee voted to validate Johnson's candidacy by a single majority (29-28), with the last vote given on behalf of Johnson by Temple, Texas, publisher Frank W. Mayborn. There are many allegations of voter fraud; an author alleges that Johnson's campaign manager, future Texas governor John B. Connally, is connected to 202 ballots at Precinct 13 in Jim Wells County, where the names are strangely listed in alphabetical order with the same pen and handwriting, only at the closing of the poll. Some of these voters insist that they did not vote for the day. Robert Caro argued in his 1989 book that Johnson had stolen the election in Jim Wells County, and that 10,000 ballots were also posted in Bexar County alone. Electoral judge Luis Salas said in 1977 that he had certified 202 fake ballot papers for Johnson. The country's Democratic Convention supports Johnson. Stevenson went to court, but Johnson won - with timely help from his friend Abe Fortas. He completely defeated Republican Jack Porter in an election in November and went to Washington, permanently nicknamed "Lyndon Landslide." Johnson, ignoring his critics, gladly accepted the nickname.
Beginner senator to the majority whip
Once in the Senate Johnson was known among his colleagues for the "courtesy" of his highly successful senator, especially Senator Richard Russell, Democrat of Georgia, leader of the Conservative Party coalition and arguably the most powerful man in the Senate. Johnson went on to get Russell's support in the same way he had "cornered" Chairman Sam Rayburn and gained important support in the House.
Johnson was appointed to the Senate Armed Services Committee, and then in 1950, he helped create the Preparedness Investigation Subcommittee. Johnson became its chairman and investigated defense and efficiency costs. This investigation revealed a long investigation and demanded an action taken partially by the Truman Administration, although it can be argued that the committee's inquiry reinforces the need for change. Johnson gets the headlines and national attention through press handling, the efficiency with which the committee delivers new reports, and the fact that he ensures that each report is unanimously approved by the committee. Johnson used his political influence in the Senate to receive a broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of his wife. After the 1950 election, Johnson was elected the Majority Senate Whip in 1951 under the new Majority Leader, Ernest McFarland of Arizona, and served from 1951 to 1953.
Democratic leader's Senate
In the 1952 general election, Republicans won a majority in the House and Senate. Among the losing Democrats that year was McFarland, who lost to Barry Goldwater. In January 1953, Johnson was elected by his Democratic counterparts to become a minority leader; he became the most junior senator ever elected to this position. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in making appointments to the committee, while defending it for the post of chairman. In the 1954 election, Johnson was re-elected to the Senate, and since the Democrats won a majority in the Senate, Johnson went on to become the majority leader. Former majority leader William Knowland became a minority leader. Johnson's job is to schedule legislation and help the steps favored by Democrats. Johnson, Rayburn, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower worked together well in passing Eisenhower's domestic and foreign agendas.
During the Suez Crisis Johnson tried to prevent the US government from criticizing the Israeli invasion of the Sinai peninsula. Along with the rest of the nation, Johnson was shocked by the possible threat of Soviet dominance of space flight implied by the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1 , and used its influence to ensure travel from 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act, NASA.
Historians Caro and Dallek regard Lyndon Johnson as the most effective Senate majority leader in history. He is very adept at gathering information. A biographer suggests he is "the largest intelligence gatherer ever known to Washington", finding exactly where every Senator stands on issues, philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses and what it takes to get votes. Robert Baker claims that Johnson will occasionally send a senator to a NATO trip to avoid disagreements. Johnson's control center is "The Treatment", explained by two journalists:
Treatment can take ten minutes or four hours. It came, wrapping the target, in a Johnson Ranch pool, in one of Johnson's offices, in the Senate dressing room, on the Senate floor itself - wherever Johnson might find a fellow Senator in his reach.
The tone of his voice can be a plea, accusation, cambol, excitement, ridicule, tears, complaints, and threats. It's all this together. It ran the whole human emotion. The speed is dazzling, and everything is in one direction. Injections from the target are rare. Johnson anticipates them before they are spoken. He moved closer, his face a little millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry, humor, and genius analogies make The Treatment a near-hypnotized experience and make the target stunned and helpless.
A 60-per-cigarette smoker, Johnson suffered a near-fatal heart attack on July 2, 1955. He suddenly gave up smoking as a result, with only a few exceptions, and resumed his habit until he left the White House on January 20, 1969. Johnson announced him will remain as party leader in the Senate on New Year's Eve 1955, his doctor reported he has made "the most satisfying recovery" since his heart attack five months earlier.
1960 campaign
Johnson's success in the Senate made him a potential Democratic presidential candidate; he had become a "favorite son" candidate of the Texas delegation at the Party's national convention in 1956, and appeared to be in a strong position to run for nomination in 1960. Jim Rowe repeatedly urged Johnson to launch a campaign in early 1959, but Johnson thought it's better to wait, thinking that John Kennedy's efforts will create a division in the ranks that can then be exploited. Rowe eventually joins Humphrey's campaign with frustration, another movement that Johnson's thoughts play into his own strategy.
Candidates for president
Johnson was late into the campaign in July 1960 which, coupled with his reluctance to leave Washington, allowed rival Kennedy's campaign to secure a substantial early advantage among Democratic state party officials. Johnson downplayed Kennedy's quality of charm and intelligence, compared to his own reputation as a more rough and spinning "Landslide Lyndon." Caro points out that Johnson's doubts are the result of an overwhelming fear of failure.
Johnson tried in vain to take advantage of Kennedy's youth, poor health, and failure to take a position on Joseph McCarthy. He has formed a "Stop Kennedy" coalition with Adlai Stevenson, Stuart Symington, and Hubert Humphrey, but proved unsuccessful. Johnson received 409 votes at the only vote at the Democratic convention to Kennedy 806, and the convention nominated Kennedy. Tip O'Neill is a representative from the state of Massachusetts at Kennedy's home at the time, and he remembers that Johnson approached him at the convention and said, "Tip, I know you have to support Kennedy at the beginning, but I want you to be with me on the vote second. "O'Neill replied," Senator, there will be no second vote. "
Vice-Presidential Candidate
According to Kennedy's Special Advisers Myer Feldman and Kennedy themselves, it is impossible to reconstruct the exact way in which Johnson's vice presidential nomination finally took place. Kennedy realized that he could not be elected without the support of traditional South Democrats, who largely supported Johnson; Nevertheless, the leaders of the workers unanimously opposed them against Johnson. AFL-CIO President George Meany called Johnson "a mortal enemy," while AFL-CIO President Illinois Reuben Soderstrom insisted that Kennedy "made a mistake from the leaders of the American labor movement." After much back and forth with the party leaders and others on this issue, Kennedy did offer Johnson a vice presidential nomination at the Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles at 10:15 am on July 14, the morning after he was nominated, and Johnson accepted it. From that point to the actual nomination of that night, the facts are debated in many ways. (LeRoy Collins convention chairman's statement of a two-thirds majority vote supported by voting votes is even debatable.)
Seymour Hersh states that Robert F. Kennedy (known as Bobby) hates Johnson for his personal attacks on the Kennedy family, and then maintains that his brother offered his position to Johnson only as a courtesy, expecting him to refuse. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. agreed with the version of Robert Kennedy's event, and proposed that John Kennedy would prefer Stuart Symington as his team mate, alleging that Johnson was working with House Speaker Sam Rayburn and pressing Kennedy to support Johnson. Robert Kennedy wanted his brother to choose the labor leader Walter Reuther.
Robert Caro's biographer offers a different perspective; he wrote that the Kennedy campaign was desperate to win what was expected to be a very close vote against Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Johnson is required on tickets to help bring Texas and the Southern states. Caro's research shows that on July 14, John Kennedy started the process while Johnson was still asleep. At 6:30, John Kennedy asked Robert Kennedy to prepare forecasts for the upcoming voting vote "including Texas". Robert summoned Pierre Salinger and Kenneth O'Donnell to help him. Salinger realizes the consequences of counting the votes of Texas as their own, and asks if he is considering a Kennedy-Johnson ticket, and Robert answers "yes". Caro argues that it was then John Kennedy called Johnson to arrange a meeting; he also summoned Pennsylvania Governor David L. Lawrence, a supporter of Johnson, to ask him to nominate Johnson as vice president if Johnson accepted the role. According to Caro, Kennedy and Johnson met and Johnson said that Kennedy would have a problem with the anti-Johnson Kennedy supporters. Kennedy returned to his room to announce Kennedy-Johnson tickets to his nearest supporters, including the northern political boss. O'Donnell was angry at what he regarded as a betrayal by Kennedy, who had previously thrown Johnson as anti-labor and anti-liberal. Afterwards, Robert Kennedy visited labor leaders who were very unhappy with Johnson's choice and, having seen the depth of the labor opposition for Johnson, Robert spread the message between his brother's hotel suite and Johnson - apparently trying to undermine the proposed ticket without the Power of John Kennedy.
Caro goes on to his analysis that Robert Kennedy is trying to get Johnson to agree to become Democrat Party chairman rather than vice president. Johnson refused to accept the change of plans unless it came directly from John Kennedy. Despite the intervention of his brother, John Kennedy was convinced that Johnson was what he wanted as a life partner; he met with staff like Larry O'Brien, his national campaign manager, to say that Johnson would be vice president. O'Brien recalled later that John Kennedy's words were entirely unexpected, but after a brief consideration of the electoral situation, he thought "it was a genius". When John and Robert Kennedy next saw their father Joe Kennedy, he told them that signing Johnson as a couple was the smartest thing they had ever done.
Selection back to US Senate
At the same time as his vice president, Johnson is also seeking a third term in the US Senate. According to Robert Caro, "On November 8, 1960, Lyndon Johnson won the election for the two vice-presidents of the United States, on a Kennedy-Johnson ticket, and for a third term as senator (he had changed Texas law to allow him to run for both offices) When he won the post of vice president, he made arrangements to resign from the Senate, as he had to do under federal law, immediately after it was held on 3 January 1961. "(In 1988, Lloyd Bentsen, vice president Democratic vice-president Michael Dukakis and Senator from Texas, took advantage of "Lyndon's law," and was able to keep his seat in the Senate even though Dukakis lost to George HW Bush.)
Johnson was re-elected Senator with 1,306,605 votes (58 percent) to John Tower of Republican 927,653 (41.1 percent). Fellow Democrat William A. Blakley was appointed to replace Johnson as Senator, but Blakley lost a special election in May 1961 to the Tower.
Vice Presidency (1961-1963)
After the election, Johnson was quite concerned about the nature of the newly traditionally ineffective office, and began to take over power that was not given in that position. He initially sought the transfer of authority of the Senate majority leader to the vice-president, as it made him the president of the Senate, but faced strong opposition from the Democratic Caucus, including members whom he considered his supporters.
Johnson sought to increase his influence within the executive branch. He composed an executive order for Kennedy's signature, gave Johnson a "general oversight" of national security issues, and required all government agencies to "cooperate fully with the vice president in carrying out these tasks." Kennedy's response was to sign a non-binding letter asking Johnson to "review" the national security policy instead. Kennedy also rejected Johnson's initial request for an office adjacent to the Oval Office, and employed a full-time Vice President staff at the White House. His lack of influence was released later in 1961 when Kennedy appointed Johnson's friend Sarah T. Hughes to federal judge, while Johnson had tried and failed to collect nominations for Hughes early in his presidency. House Speaker Sam Rayburn complicates the appointment of Kennedy in exchange for support from the administrative bill.
In addition, many Kennedy White House members insult Johnson, including the president's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and they laugh at his crude, crude way. Congressman Tip O'Neill remembers that Kennedy's people "insult Johnson that even they do not try to hide.... They really take pride in insulting him."
Kennedy, however, made an effort to get Johnson busy, informed, and often to the White House, to tell the servants, "I can not have my vice president, who knows every reporter in Washington, going around saying we're all screwed up so we will make him happy. "Kennedy pointed him to a job like the head of the Presidential Committee on Equal Employment, where he worked with African Americans and other minorities. Kennedy probably intends to remain a more nominal position, but Taylor Branch at Pillar of Fire believes that Johnson encouraged further and faster Kennedy government action for the civil rights of Kennedy originally intended to go. The Branch notes the irony of Johnson as a civil rights advocate, when the Kennedy family hopes that he will appeal to a conservative southern voter. In particular, he recorded Johnson's Memorial Day speech 1963 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as a catalyst that resulted in more action.
Johnson took on many small diplomatic missions, which gave him limited insights on global issues, as well as self-promotion opportunities on behalf of the country's flag. He attended Cabinet meetings and National Security Council. Kennedy gave Johnson control over all presidential pledges involving Texas, and appointed him as chairman of the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Science.
Kennedy also appointed Johnson Chairman of the National Aeronautics Space Council. The Soviets defeated the US with the first manned spacecraft in April 1961, and Kennedy gave Johnson the task of evaluating the state of the US space program and recommended a project that would allow the US to chase or defeat the Soviets. Johnson responded with a recommendation that the US get a leadership role by undertaking resources to start a project to land an American on the Moon in the 1960s. Kennedy prioritized the space program, but Johnson's appointment provided potential protection in case of failure.
Johnson was touched by the Senate scandal in August 1963 when Bobby Baker, Secretary for Senate Majority Leaders and a protà ©  © Johnson, was under investigation by the Senate Rules Committee on allegations of bribery and financial irregularities. One witness alleges that Baker has arranged for the witness to give a bribe to the Vice President. Baker resigned in October, and the investigation did not extend to Johnson. The negative publicity of the affair fed rumors in Washington's circle that Kennedy plans to drop Johnson from Democratic ticket in the upcoming 1964 presidential election. However, on October 31, 1963, a reporter asked if he intended and hoped to have Johnson on the tickets the following year. Kennedy replied, "Yes to both questions." There is little doubt that Robert Kennedy and Johnson hate each other, but John and Robert Kennedy agree that dropping Johnson off the ticket could incur major losses in the South in the 1964 election, and they agree that Johnson will remain on the ticket.
Presidency (1963-1969)
The Johnson presidency takes place during a healthy economy, with stable growth and low unemployment. Regarding the whole world, there is no serious controversy with big countries. Attention therefore focused on domestic policy, and, after 1966, in the Vietnam War.
Succession
Johnson was swiftly inaugurated as President at Air Force One in Dallas on November 22, 1963, just 2 hours and 8 minutes after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, amid suspicions of a conspiracy against the government. He was sworn in by US District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a family friend. In busyness, the Bible was not at hand, so Johnson took an oath of office using a Roman Catholic missile from the desk of President Kennedy. Cecil Stoughton's iconic photo of Johnson takes the oath of presidency as she saw it. Kennedy is the most famous photograph ever taken on a presidential plane.
He is convinced of the need to make the transition soon after the killing to give stability to a country in mourning in shock. He and the Secret Service are concerned that he can also be a target of conspiracy, and feel compelled to quickly move the new president from Dallas and return it to Washington. It is welcomed by some with a statement that Johnson is too hasty to take over power.
In the days following the assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson made a speech to Congress saying that "No warning or speech can be more memorable to President Kennedy's memories than the earliest part of the Civil Rights Bill with which he fought so long." The wave of national sadness after the killings provided a great momentum for Johnson's pledge to implement Kennedy's plan and his policy to seize Kennedy's legacy to provide momentum for his legislative agenda.
On November 29, 1963, just one week after Kennedy's assassination, Johnson issued an executive order to rename the NASA Apollo Launch Operation Center and the launch facility of NASA/Air Force Cape Canaveral as John F. Kennedy Space Center. Cape Canaveral is officially known as Cape Kennedy from 1963-1973.
Johnson is wary of public demand for answers. To avoid speculation about such a conspiracy, he immediately created a panel led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, known as the Warren Commission, to investigate the Kennedy assassination. The Commission conducted extensive research and hearings and unanimously concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the murder. Conspiracy theories are not satisfied and they remain active.
Johnson retained Kennedy's senior appointed office, some for his full presidency. He even defended Robert Kennedy as the Attorney General, with whom he had a very difficult relationship. Robert Kennedy remained in office for several months until leaving in 1964 to run for the Senate. Although Johnson did not have an official chief of staff, Walter Jenkins was the first among a handful of people alike and led the details of daily operations at the White House. George Reedy, who was Johnson's second-longest assistant, took over as press secretary when John F. Kennedy himself, Pierre Salinger, left the post in March 1964. Horace Busby was another "threat-three man", as Johnson called it. helpers. He serves primarily as a speech writer and political analyst. Bill Moyers is the youngest member of Johnson's staff. He handles scheduling and part-time speeches.
Rapid legislative initiative
The new president considers it advantageous to quickly pursue one of Kennedy's top legislative goals - tax cuts. Johnson worked closely with Harry F. Byrd of Virginia to negotiate a budget reduction of under $ 100 billion in exchange for what the Extraordinary Senate's approval of the Revenue Act of 1964. Congressional approval was followed in late February, and facilitated the effort to follow civil rights. At the end of 1963, Johnson also launched his initial attack on Poverty, recruiting Kennedy Sargent Shriver, then head of the Peace Corps, to spearhead the effort. In March 1964, the LBJ sent to the Congress the Economic Opportunity Act, which created the Working Corps and Community Action Program, designed to attack poverty locally. The action also created VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America, a domestic partner for the Peace Corps.
Civil Rights Movement
President Kennedy had submitted a civil rights bill to Congress in June 1963, which was met with fierce opposition. Johnson renewed his efforts and asked Bobby Kennedy to spearhead for administration on Capitol Hill. This provided adequate political protection for Johnson if his efforts failed; but if successful, Johnson will receive a lot of credit. Historian Robert Caro notes that the proposed Bill of Kennedy faces the same tactics that prevented the passage of civil rights bills in the past; congressmen and southern senators used congressional procedures to prevent him from coming to the ballot. In particular, they hold all the major Kennedy drafts have been proposed and which are considered urgent, especially the tax reform bill, to force the supporters of the bill to withdraw it.
Johnson was quite familiar with procedural tactics, because he played a role in the same tactics of civil rights law that Harry Truman had conveyed to Congress fifteen years earlier. In the fight, the extension of the lease control was withheld until the civil rights bill was withdrawn. Believing that the current course meant that the Civil Rights Act would suffer the same fate, it adopted a different strategy from Kennedy, who had largely escaped the legislative process. By tackling the withholding tax first, the previous tactics are eliminated.
Passing the civil rights bill in the House of Representatives requires it through the Rules Committee, which has detained him in an attempt to kill him. Johnson decided to campaign to use a dismissal petition to force him into the floor of the House. Faced with an increasing threat that they would pass, the House's legislative committee approved the bill and moved it to the full Building floor, which passed it shortly thereafter in 290-110 votes. In the Senate, because the tax law had passed three days earlier, the anti-civil rights senators were left with the filibuster as the only remaining tool. Overcoming the filibuster requires the support of more than twenty Republicans, who grew less supportive due to the fact that their party would nominate a presidential candidate against the bill. According to Caro, in the end is Johnson's ability to convince Republican leader Everett Dirksen to support a bill that gathers Republican votes needed to overcome filibuster in March 1964; after 75 hours of debate, the bill passed the Senate in a 71-29 vote. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act fortified in 1964 into law on July 2. Legend has it that the night after the signing of the bill, Johnson told a maid, "I think we just sent the South to Republicans for a long time to come", anticipating a backlash from the white South against Johnson's Democratic Party.
Biographer Randall B. Woods argues that Johnson effectively used the call for Judeo-Christian ethics to gain support for civil rights law. Woods writes that Johnson undermined the southern filibuster against the bill:
LBJ wraps white American with a straight moral jacket. How can those who persistently, persistently and extraordinarily identify themselves with a merciful and just God continue to justify racial discrimination, police brutality and segregation? Where in the Judeo-Christian ethic there is a justification for killing young girls in a church in Alabama, denying an education equivalent to black children, forbidding fathers and mothers from competing for jobs that will feed and dress their families? Was Jim Crow an American response to "Communism Without God"?
Woods states that Johnson's religiosity is so deep: "At the age of 15 he joins the Disciples of Christ, or Christian, church and will forever believe that it is the duty of the rich to care for the poor, the strong to help the weak, and the educated to speak for inarticulate. "Johnson shared his mentor's belief, FDR, that he paired liberal values ​​into religious values, believing that freedom and social justice served both God and humanity.
The Great Society
Johnson wanted an interesting slogan for the 1964 campaign to describe his proposed domestic agenda for 1965. Eric Goldman, who joined the White House in December of that year, thought that Johnson's domestic program was best captured in Walter Lippman's book title, The Good Society . Richard Goodwin changed it - into "The Great Society" - and included this in detail as part of a speech to Johnson in May 1964 at the University of Michigan. These include movements of urban renewal, modern transport, clean environment, anti-poverty, health care reform, crime control, and educational reform.
presidential election 1964
In the spring of 1964, Johnson did not seem optimistic about the prospect of being elected president in himself. Important changes took place in April when he took over the private management of negotiations between the railway fraternity and the railway industry over featherbedding issues. Johnson emphasized to those potentially impacting the strike economy. After a huge horse trade, especially with operators who won the president's pledge for greater freedom in assigning more liberal rights and allowances of depreciation by the IRS, Johnson got approval. This substantially improves her confidence and her image.
That same year, Robert F. Kennedy was widely regarded as the perfect choice to run as vice president of Johnson's vice president but Johnson and Kennedy nevertheless never liked each other and Johnson, fearing Kennedy would be credited with his presidential election, hate the idea and oppose it at every opportunity. Kennedy himself hesitated about the position and, knowing that the prospect made Johnson satisfied refused not to consider himself. Finally, the poor Goldwater vote counted down Johnson's dependence on Kennedy as his partner. The election of Hubert Humphrey as vice president then came to a conclusion earlier, and is considered to have strengthened Johnson in the Midwest and Northeast industry. Johnson, well aware of the level of frustration inherent in the vice president's office, placed Humphrey through interview challenges to ensure his absolute loyalty and had made his decisions, he kept the press announcement to the last moment to maximize media speculation and coverage.
In preparation for the Democratic convention, Johnson asked the FBI to send a squad of 30 agents to cover convention activities; The goal of the squad is to let the White House staff know about every annoying activity on the floor. The squad's focus narrows on the delegation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which seeks to replace the segregated white delegates that are regularly elected in the state. The troop activity also includes Martin Luther King room wiping as well as the Nonviolent Student Coordination Committee (SNCC) and the Race Equality Congress (INTI). From start to finish, the squad's duties were carefully written out in terms of monitoring disturbing activities that might endanger the president and other high officials.
In fact, Johnson is deeply concerned about the potential for political damage from media coverage of racial tensions exposed by credential battles between MFDP and segregation delegates, and he commissioned Humphrey to manage the problem. The Credentials Committee of the convention states that two MFDP delegates in the delegation sit as observers and agree to "prohibit future delegations from countries where every citizen is deprived of the right to vote by reason of their race or color." The MFDP rejected the committee's decision. The convention became a clear personal victory that Johnson wanted, but the sense of betrayal caused by the marginalization of the MFDP would spark dissatisfaction with Johnson and the Democratic Party from the left; SNCC Chairman John Lewis would call it a "turning point in the civil rights movement."
At the start of the 1964 presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater appeared to be a strong contender, with strong support from the South, threatening Johnson's position as predicted in reaction to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. However, Goldwater lost momentum as his campaign expanded. On September 7, 1964, Johnson's campaign manager broadcast "Daisy ads". It depicts a little girl taking a chest from a daisy, counting to ten. Then the baritone voice took over, counting down from ten to zero and visually showing a nuclear bomb explosion. The message conveyed was that the Goldwater presidential election held the danger of nuclear war. Goldwater campaign messages are best represented by bumper stickers displayed by supporters who claim "In your heart, you know he is right.". The opponent captures Johnson's campaign spirit with a bumper sticker that says "In your heart, you know he's probably" and "In your stomach, you know he's crazy". Johnson won the presidential seat with a landslide with 61.05 percent of the vote, making it the highest ever in a popular vote. At that time, it was also the widest popular margin in the 20th century - more than 15.95 million votes - this was later surpassed by President Nixon's victory in 1972. At Electoral College, Johnson defeated Goldwater by a margin of 486 to 52. Johnson won 44 countries, compared with six Goldwater. Voters also gave Johnson the biggest majority in Congress since FDR elections in 1936 - Senate with a majority of 68-32 and a house with 295-140 Democratic margins.
Voting Right Act
Johnson began his elected presidential term with the same motives as when he made it to the office, ready to "continue John Fitzgerald Kennedy's plans and programs, not because of our sorrow or sympathy, but because they were right." He was reluctant to push the southern congressmen further after the issuance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and suspected their support might be temporarily tapped. Nevertheless, the Selma march to Montgomery in Alabama led by Martin Luther King ultimately led Johnson to start a debate over the voting laws in February 1965.
Johnson gave the congressional speech - Dallek considers it the greatest - in which he says "rarely whenever there is a problem that exposes the secret American heart itself... we rarely meet with challenges... for the values ​​and purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation The problem of equal rights for American Negroes is such a problem, and should we defeat every enemy, should we multiply our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this problem, then we will fail as people and as a nation. "On in 1965, he reached part of a second civil rights bill called the Right of Choice Act, which prohibited discrimination in the ballot so as to enable millions of southern blacks to vote for the first time. In accordance with the law, several states, "seven of the eleven southern states of the former confederation" (Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia) were subjected to preclearance procedures in 1965 while Texas, for the largest African American population of any state, followed in 1975. The Senate passed the voting legislation in a 77-19 vote after 2 1/2 months and won a share at home in July, with 333-85. The results were significant - between 1968 and 1980, the number of blacks of southern states and federal officials nearly doubled. The action also made a huge difference in the number of elected black officials nationally - in 1965, several hundred black holders mushroomed to 6,000 in 1989.
After the killing of Viola Liuzzo's civil rights worker, Johnson went on television to announce the capture of four Ku Klux Klans who were involved in his death. He angrily denounced the Klan as a "hooded fanatic society," and warned them to "return to a viable society before it was too late." Johnson was the first President to arrest and prosecute members of the Clan since Ulysses S. Grant about 93 years earlier. He turned to the Christian redemption theme to encourage civil rights, thus mobilizing support from the Northern and Southern churches. In his speech at the commencement of Howard University on June 4, 1965, he said that both government and state are needed to help achieve the goal, "Destructing forever not only the legal and public practice barriers, but the wall that is bound to the conditions of many people, with its skin color To dissolve, that we can, antique enemies of hearts that reduce the holders, divide the big democracy, and do wrong - wrong big - for God's children...
In 1967, Johnson nominated civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to become the first African American judge in the Supreme Court. To lead the new Department of Housing and Urban Development, Johnson pointed to Robert C. Weaver - the first African-American cabinet secretary in the US presidency. In 1968 Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which provided the same housing opportunity regardless of race, creed, or national origin. The impetus for the legal part came from the Chicago Open Housing Movement 1966, the April 4, 1968 murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., and civil unrest across the country after the death of the King. On April 5, Johnson wrote a letter to the United States House of Representatives urging the issuance of a Fair Housing Act. With urgent new attention from legislative director Joseph Califano and Democratic Council Chairman John McCormack, the bill (previously stalled) passed through the House by a large margin on April 10.
Immigration
With the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the country's immigration system was reformed and all national origin quotas dating back to 1920 were removed. The annual inflow rate doubled between 1965 and 1970, and doubled again in 1990, with a dramatic increase from Asia and Mexico. Scholars gave Johnson a small credit for the law, which was not one of his priorities; he had endorsed the 1952 McCarren-Walters Act that was unpopular among reformers.
federal funds for education
Johnson, whose ticket out of poverty is a general education in Texas, strongly believes that education is a cure for ignorance and poverty, and an important component of the American dream, especially for the poor-faced minority and strict local tax budgets. He made education a top priority of the Great Society's agenda, with an emphasis on helping poor children. After a landslide in 1964 brought many members of the new liberal Congress, LBJ launched a legislative effort that took the name of the Basic and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. The bill sought to double federal spending on education from $ 4 billion to $ 8 billion. ; with much facilitating by the White House, it passed by the House of Representatives by voting 263-146 on March 26 and then it went unchanged in the Senate, by 73-8, without going through the regular conference committee. This is a historic achievement by the president, with billions billions of dollars passing as it was introduced just 87 days earlier.
For the first time, large sums of federal money go to public schools. In practice ESEA means helping all public school districts, with more money going to districts that have a large proportion of students from poor families (including all major cities). For the first time private schools (mostly Catholic schools in inner cities) receive services, such as library funding, which comprise about 12 percent of the ESEA budget. Although federal funds were involved, they were managed by local officials, and in 1977 it was reported that less than half the funds actually applied for the education of children below the poverty line. Dallek reported further that researchers cited by Hugh Davis Graham soon discovered that poverty is more related to family background and environmental conditions than the amount of education a child receives. Early studies showed early improvements for poor children assisted by ESEA reading and math programs, but later assessment showed that the benefits faded quickly and the left pupil was slightly better than those not in the scheme. Johnson's second major education program is the Higher Education Act of 1965, which focuses on funding for low-income students, including grants, study money, and government loans.
Although ESEA established Johnson's endorsement amongst the K-12 teacher unions, both the Higher Education Act and the new funds alleviated college professors and college students increasingly uneasy with the war in Vietnam. In 1967, Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act to create an educational television program to complement the broadcast network.
In 1965, Johnson also established the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, to support academic subjects such as literature, history, and law, and art such as music, painting, and sculpture (as WPA has done).
"War on Poverty" and healthcare reform
In 1964, at Johnson's request, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1964 and the Economic Opportunity Act, as part of the war against poverty. Johnson enacted legislation that created programs such as Head Start, Food Coupons, and Working Studies. During Johnson's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line falling from 23 percent to 12 percent.
Johnson took an additional step in the Poverty War with an urban renewal effort, presented to Congress in January 1966, "Demonstration City Program". In order to qualify a city will need to show its readiness to "catch the blows and decay and make a big impact on the development of its entire city." Johnson asked for an investment of $ 400 million per year for $ 2.4 billion. In the fall of 1966 Congress passed a substantially reduced program for $ 900 million, which came to be called the Johnson Model Cities Program. Changing the name has little effect on the success of the bill; The New York Times wrote 22 years later that the program largely failed.
Johnson's initial efforts to improve health care are the establishment of the Commission for Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and Stroke (HDCS). Combined, these diseases accounted for 71 percent of the country's deaths in 1962. To enforce the recommendations of the commission, Johnson asked Congress for funds to set up a Regional Health Program (RMP), to create a network of hospitals with federal government-funded research and practices. ; Congress delivered a significantly diluted version.
As a reserve position, in 1965 Johnson shifted its focus to hospital insurance for those under Jamsostek. The key players in starting this program, named Medicare, are Wilbur Mills, Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee. To reduce the Republican opposition, Mills suggested that Medicare be formed as a triple cake - hospital insurance under Social Security, a voluntary insurance program for doctor visits and an expanded medical welfare program for the poor, known as Medicaid. The bill endorsed the house by 110 votes on April 8. Efforts in the Senate are far more complicated; However, the Medicare bill passed Congress on July 28 after negotiations on the conference committee. Medicare now includes tens of millions of Americans. Johnson gave the first two Medicare cards to former President Harry S Truman and his wife
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments