Lyndon Johnson Essay, Research Paper

The 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson became president Nov. 22, 1963 shortly after the blackwash of President John F. Kennedy. He was before long elected in 1964 for a full term. Deciding non to run for a 2nd term, he was replaced as president by Richard M. Nixon in 1969. Lyndon was born on a farm near Stonewall, Tex. , Aug. 27, 1908. The first of five kids of Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. he was born to political relations both his grampss and his male parent had served in the Texas legislative assembly. When Lyndon was five old ages old, his parents moved to Johnson City, Tex. He pursued his surveies unwillingly, although he was elected president of his seven-member category at Johnson City High School and won the county debating title with a friend during his senior twelvemonth. He considered his instruction finished when he graduated from high school in 1924. He left Texas for California, where for several months he worked in the jurisprudence office of his cousin, Thomas Martin. After a twelvemonth of working with his cousin, he cam e places and gave in his parents. With a $ 75 loan, in February 1927 he entered Southwest Texas State Teachers College at San Marcos. On campus he worked both as a janitor and as secretary to the college president. After graduation, he taught debating and public speech production at Sam Houston High School in Houston, but a twelvemonth subsequently he turned to political relations. In 1937 Johnson decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. One of 10 campaigners, Johnson at foremost made small headroom, but eventually he gained attending when he came down hard in support of the New Deal. Besides giving Johnson leadway was Roosevelt & # 8217 ; s try to increase the size of the Supreme Court, which all the other major campaigners opposed. Johnson won with twice as many ballots as his nearest challenger. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Nipponese bombed Pearl Harbor ; and an hr after voting for a declaration of war, Johnson, who was a member of the Naval Reserve, was asked to to responsibility. Three yearss subsequently he was a lieutenant commanding officer, the first House member to travel into uniform. Johnson was in active service until July 1942, when Roosevelt called all Congressmen in service back to their stations in Washington. Back in the House, Johnson went against waste in military work force and war production. All the clip, he was going an progressively of import congressional individual ; he became a member of the House Naval Committee, traveling in 1947 to the Armed Services Committee. After the war Johnson began taking a different stance on some issues, he needed to make something drastic because it was necessary if he hoped to seek once more for statewide office. He besides became preoccupied with a wireless station his married woman purchased in Austin. When the concern began to boom, he told friends he might go forth public life. However, in 1948 he decided to run once more for the Senate. There were 11 campaigners. Johnson won it by merely 87 ballots, thanks to late returns from Jim Wells County, which went 202 to 1 for Johnson. In 1949 Johnson took his place in the Senate under the nickname Landslide Lyndon, mentioning to his 87-vote primary win. Yet, he began a speedy rise in the Senate. He developed a close friendly relationship with Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia, the Senate & # 8217 ; s most powerful Democrat. In 1951, at the age of 42, and after merely two old ages in the Senate, Johnson, by an incidental series of events, was elected bulk whip, the 2nd most of import party place in the Senate. In 1953 the Republicans so gained control of the Senate, and Johnson was elected Democratic minority leader. Two old ages subsequently, with the Democrats back in control, he became bulk leader. In the interim, in 1954, he had won reelection to the Senate. So at this point in clip Johnson was on the lifting he was deriving more power than anyone else has of all time earlier. On July 2, 1955 Johnson suffered a monolithic bosom onslaught. He easy recuperated and returned to the Senate the undermentioned January. Continuing to construct his power until 1960, when he went for the Democratic presidential nomination. He did non officially denote his campaigning until July 5, 1960, merely a few yearss before the Democratic National Convention. Because of his designation as a Southerner and the three-year run for the nomination by Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Johnson was solidly defeated by Kennedy on the first ballot. Johnson did non bask the life of vice-president, removed as he was from the levers of power, even though President Kennedy kept Johnson informed on major policy determinations. Johnson served on the National Security Council and its executive commission. As president of the President & # 8217 ; s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, he worked for broader occupation chances for inkinesss. In the autumn of 1963, reports began to go around that Kennedy would choose a new running mate in 1964, a rumour Kennedy denied. The studies arose chiefly from never-proved suggestions that Johnson was involved in the dirt environing his former Senate protege, Robert G. Baker. The Senate Democratic secretary who had been forced to vacate after disclosures that he had used his Senate place to construct a personal concern luck. But political relations began to busy Kennedy and Johnson as they looked in front to the 1964 elections. In November 1963 they traveled together to Texas, trusting to mend the split among Texas Democrats. On November 22 Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dallas with Johnson several autos behind.Within two hours after Kennedy was officially pronounced dead, Johnson was sworn in as president aboard the presidential jet, Air Force One, at Dallas & # 8217 ; Love Field. When he returned to Washington that flushing on the plane with the slain president & # 8217 ; s organic structure, Johnson embarked on a presidential term that would go one of the most controversial in the state & # 8217 ; s history. Johnson displayed some of the same qualities moving against some of the foreign crises. His first was the January 1964 anti-American rebellion in Panama that led to impermanent rupture of diplomatic dealingss. A personal entreaty to the president of Panama and promise of a reappraisal of the canal state of affairs eased the crisis. In February, Cuban Premier Fidel Castro cut off the H2O supply of the U.S. naval base at Guant namo, Cuba. Johnson rejected advice that he direct in Marines and ordered H2O shipped from the U.S. mainland. Then, on May 22, 1964, in a generation address at the University of Michigan, Jo

hnson displayed his vision of a Great Society. He saw the United States as a topographic point where there would be copiousness and autonomy for all … which demands an terminal to poorness and unfairness … where every kid can happen cognition to enrich his head and enlarge his endowments … where the metropolis of adult male serves non merely the demands of the organic structure but the desire for beauty and the hungriness for enrichment … where adult male can regenerate contact with nature … where work forces are more concerned with the quality of their ends than the measure of their goods.

The actions of directing military personnels in to Vietnamese jungles did non get down to ache Johnson & # 8217 ; s popularity as the war would subsequently. In August 1964, at the Democratic convention, Johnson was nominated without resistance for a full four-year term as president. He chose Senator Hubert H. Humphrey oas his running mate in the run against Senator Barry M. Goldwater and William E. Miller. In the run, On November 3, Johnson was elected by a border of 15,951,000 ballots, the largest in history. His 43.1 million popular ballots, 61.1 per centum of the sum, was besides a record. He lost merely Goldwater & # 8217 ; s ain province of Arizona and five Southern provinces. Johnson & # 8217 ; s large win besides brought a 38-seat addition for the Democrats in the House of Representatives and set two seats to the already big Democratic Senate bulk. In 1965 Johnson introduced twice every bit many measures as he had in 1964, the Congress approved about 70 % of them excessively. The legislative gait continued into 1966, even though it had begun to decelerate down. Johnson obtained steps making the Teachers Corps ; a new plan of rent addendums for destitute households. As you can see Johnson was one of the most powerful people at the clip. Johnson, the first Southerner to busy the White House since Andrew Johnson, stayed true to his committedness to civil rights by seting the first black, Thurgood Marshall, into the Supreme Court. Johnson besides appointed the first black cabinet officer.Even from all the good that was go oning during his first term nil could stand in the manner of the Vietnam War. In February 1965 after foraies on U.S. military installings, Johnson held bombing foraies on North Vietnam. Rather than acknowledge the war had escalated, Johnson at foremost In April 1965 Johnson ordered U.S. military personnels into the Dominican Republic to forestall a feared coup d’etat by Communists during an antigovernment rebellion. Johnson, nevertheless, said he was merely making it to protect American citizens at that place. In his 1966 State of the Union message, Johnson insisted the turning U.S. economic system could supply both guns for Vietnam and aid for the Great Society. By the autumn elections, nevertheless, Johnson & # 8217 ; s popularity had fallen so greatly that many Democrats running for reelection hoped he would non run for them. Johnson made merely a few addresss ; so, in late October, he flew off on a 17-day, 31,500-mile, 7-nation trip. It took him to Vietnam, when he returned place he entered Bethesda Naval Hospital for remotion of a pharynx polyp and a hernia operation He was skiping that the trip would profit him good he had some letdown. In November the Democrats lost 47 seats in the House and 3 in the Senate. They still controlled both houses of the Congress, nevertheless. By January 1967, when the president went before the new and less docile 90th Congress, he got the thought for the first clip that the federal authorities would hold to decelerate down on Great Society disbursement. In add-on, he asked for a impermanent revenue enhancement addition a six- per centum surcharge on corporate and personal income revenue enhancements. He thought that this would assist finance the war and to decelerate down rising prices. Sing the smaller Democratic bulk, Johnson fared good with the 90th Congress. He got another civil rights measure, one subdivision of which outlawed favoritism in most lodging. Another 1 he got was a $ 5.4 billion lodging plan ; an anticrime measure designed to assist local constabulary forces and a $ 7.3 billion measure to help higher instruction. There are a few other but I will non travel into item. When the Congress eventually acted, the surcharge was raised to 10 per centum, and Johnson had to hold to cut federal disbursement in 1968 by $ 6 billion. To this point Johnson had non disclosed whether he would seek reelection, although indicants were that he would. Johnson was non officially on the ballot in the state & # 8217 ; s first primary in New Hampshire. But Democratic leaders at that place conducted an intense run for a big Johnson write-in ballot. As the March 12 election neared, nevertheless, McCarthy, whose run ab initio had gotten really baffled, all of a sudden it began to billow. When the ballots were counted, McCarthy had won 42 per centum of the Democratic ballot to Johnson & # 8217 ; s 48 per centum and, when Republican ballots were added, came within about 200 ballots of get the better ofing Johnson. As the month progressed, it became evident that Johnson would do even worse in the Wisconsin primary on April 2. By province jurisprudence, he was on the ballot even though he was non an proclaimed campaigner. Kennedy entered excessively late to be on the ballot, but Johnson was once more challenged by McCarthy. In mid- March, a private White House canvass showed that the president would acquire merely approximately 25 per centum of the ballot, which was what he did acquire. Finally, on the dark of March 31, Johnson addressed the state by telecasting and announced that he had ordered a arrest to bombardment of 90 per centum of the district of North Vietnam. In exchange, he asked Hanoi to do some motion toward a peace conference. The proclamation marked the most important alteration in U.S. policy since Feb. 6, 1965, when Johnson initiated sustained bombing foraies on North Vietnam. In his concluding months in office, Johnson hoped to better dealingss with the Soviet Union. He had hoped to see Moscow and get down negotiations about restricting missiles. But on August 20, merely before preliminary negotiations, 200,000 Russian military personnels, supported by other Warsaw Pact states, invaded Czechoslovakia. The action forced delay of the U.S.-Soviet treatments until after Johnson left office. Immediately after Richard M. Nixon & # 8217 ; s startup January 20, Johnson retired to his spread in Texas to get down composing his memoirs, subsequently titled The Vantage Point: Positions of the Presidency, 1963- 1969. He lectured on occasion at the University of Texas and in May 1971 attended the dedication of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library composite located on the University of Texas campus in Austin. Johnson died on Jan. 22, 1973, and was buried at the LBJ Ranch, in Johnson City, Texas.