LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Biography
On November 22, 1963, ninety-nine minutes after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, had stunned the nation, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office as President of the United States and was flown immediately to Washington, D.C., to assume his new duties. Of all the vice presidents who have succeeded to the presidency, Johnson was perhaps the most thoroughly trained in politics. Most of his adult life had been spent in public service, and he had built a notable record of accomplishment, both as vice president and in Congress, where he had served as majority leader of the Senate.
U.S. Senator
In 1941, Johnson ran for the U.S. Senate in a special election, but he was defeated. In 1948, Johnson again ran for the Senate and won. He was assigned to the Armed Services Committee, and in 1950, when the Korean War broke out, he helped establish the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee. He became its chairman and conducted a series of investigations of defense costs and efficiency. These investigations brought him national attention. They also earned him the respect of senior members of the Senate.
Johnson quickly advanced to a position of leadership. In 1953, he was chosen minority leader, the youngest man ever named to the post by either major political party. He won re-election to the Senate in 1954. Since the Democrats had gained control of the Senate, Johnson became majority leader. His duties were to schedule legislation and to help pass measures favored by the Democrats.
Vice President
Johnson’s success as Senate majority leader led to his being widely mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate. He was Texas’ “favorite son” candidate at the party’s national convention in 1956. It was not until 1960, however, that he made a serious bid for the nomination. He received 409 votes on the first and only ballot at the Los Angeles convention, but the nomination went to Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Johnson was then nominated for vice president, having been personally chosen by Kennedy as his running mate. The Kennedy-Johnson ticket won the 1960 election but received an extremely close margin of the popular vote.
As vice president, Johnson traveled across the country on speech-making tours and journeyed to many foreign countries. He attended meetings of the National Security Council and cabinet sessions and served as chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council and the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.
President
Johnson was in Dallas on a political trip with President Kennedy in 1963, when Kennedy was shot and killed by a sniper's rifle fire. He was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States on the plane carrying him back to Washington. Johnson‚s first efforts were devoted to calming the nation's fears. In an address before a joint session of Congress, a few days after assuming the presidency, he called for passage of Kennedy's legislative program. To investigate the assassination, he created a presidential commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
In his first State of the Union message in January 1964, Johnson presented a broad program of legislation to Congress. Most of his major proposals were enacted during the long session of Congress that followed. Among them were a substantial reduction in taxes, a far-reaching civil rights bill, and an antipoverty program.
The Election of 1964
Johnson easily won the Democratic nomination for president in 1964. For his vice president, he chose Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. The Republican candidates were Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona for president and Representative William E. Miller of New York for vice president. Johnson received 61 percent of the popular votes cast and 486 electoral votes to Goldwater's 52. It was the most one-sided presidential election since 1936.
The Great Society
Acting on Johnson‚s program, which he hoped would help build what he called a “great society,” Congress passed much legislation in 1965. Federal aid to education, funds for the depressed Appalachia region, creation of a new Department of Housing and Urban Development, hospitalization insurance for the elderly (Medicare), and changes in the immigration laws were some of the measures provided. Congress also approved the Voting Rights Act of 1965, designed to protect the voting rights of blacks.
In 1966, at the president's urging, another new cabinet-level department was created—the Department of Transportation. Legislation passed by Congress in 1967 included a 13-percent increase in Social Security benefits and a federal air-pollution control bill. In 1968 a civil rights bill with strong open housing provisions was passed by Congress.
Foreign Affairs
In foreign affairs, events in Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Middle East, and Vietnam caused the administration particular concern. In Panama, dissatisfaction with the existing Panama Canal treaty led to rioting in 1964 and the temporary breaking of diplomatic relations with the United States. Relations with Panama were improved by Johnson’s agreement to begin negotiations on a new treaty. Reports of Communist influence in a rebel movement in the Dominican Republic prompted the president to send troops to that country in 1965. The troops were withdrawn after a peaceful election the following year. In the Middle East the situation remained tense following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Johnson’s most controversial decision was to increase the number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam and to bomb sites in North Vietnam. The Vietnam War became the most crucial issue facing the president in 1967 and 1968. Johnson frequently found himself attacked by both “doves,” who were oposed to the war, and by “hawks,” who supported the war but criticized his handling of it.
Withdrawal from Politics
In March 1968, in an address to the nation, Johnson announced a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam. More startling was his announcement that he would not seek renomination for the presidency, citing the growing division within the country over the war. The Democratic nomination went, instead, to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was defeated in the 1968 election by Richard M. Nixon. After departing from the White House in 1969, Johnson retired to his ranch in Johnson City, Texas, where as president he had often entertained visiting dignitaries. Suffering from an earlier heart ailment, he died suddenly on January 22, 1973, at the age of 64.
Booth Mooney
Author, The Lyndon Johnson Story