Lyndon B. Johnson
Party: Democratic
Presidency: 1963 - 1969 |
Lyndon B. Johnson was born in Stonewall, Texas on August 27, 1908. He went to high school in nearby Johnson City, named for his family, which had been in Texas since before the Civil War. After high school Johnson attended Southwest Texas Texas State Teachers College, where he was active in campus politics and debates. After college, Johnson knew that he wanted to enter politics and in 1931 moved to Washington, D.C. to be a legislative secretary for Texas Congressman Richard Kleberg. In Washington, Johnson quickly developed a network of politicians, lobbyists, and friends. When the US entered WWII, Johnson received a commission as a reserve lieutenant commander. On his only combat mission, his plane had mechanical trouble and he had to turn back. He returned to Washington after the War.
In 1948, Johnson was elected Senator from Texas and through his strong networking became minority leader in the Senate by 1953. In 1954 the Democrats regained the Senate and he was made majority leader. In 1960, Johnson wanted to run for President, but was handily beaten by JFK at the Democratic Convention. Afterward, Kennedy asked Johnson to be his running mate because Johnson would win him the support of the deep south. When Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States. In 1964 Johnson ran for President and was elected with sixty-one percent of the popular vote, the largest majority in US history. By 1968, Johnson's approval ratings had fallen due to his increase of US activity in Vietnam, and the Democratic party was split into four competing factions. On March 31, 1968 he announced that he would not be running for reelection. After his presidency, Johnson returned to Texas. He died on his ranch on July 22, 1973(1). |
The Great Society
President Johnson Signs Medicare, photograph.
LBJ's "Great Society" was the largest series of liberal legislation since Roosevelt's New Deal. It was partly a continuation of JFK's policies, but it was mostly Johnson's own brainchild. As part of his campaign in 1964, Johnson declared a war on poverty, which would be fought with legislation to spread education and help poorer parts of the Country. The Great Society also included legislation for civil rights, and one of its first passed acts was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Kennedy had promised to see passed. Other acts included the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, creating the Job Corps for vocational training and establishing the Office of Economic Opportunity; the Wilderness Protection Act, saving 9.1 million acres of forest from development; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, providing funding to public schools throughout the nation; the Voting Rights Act, banning literacy tests and other discriminatory practices; the Immigration Act, ending national quotas on immigration; the Omnibus Housing Act, allocating money for low-income housing development; and the Air and Water Quality Acts, imposing stricter limits on pollution. Programs created as part of the Great Society include the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic peace corps; Head Start, a preschool program for disadvantaged youngsters; The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, which funded artists and galleries; and Medicare, which helps the elderly with their medical expenses. Clearly, the Great Society is prolific and under recognized(2).
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution (1964)
Tonkin Gulf Incident, August, photograph.
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred on August 2, 1964, when three North Vietnamese torpedo boats, one of which is pictured to the left, attacked the USS Maddox, which had been sailing in the Gulf of Tonkin, gathering intelligence. The attack was a response to earlier strikes by South Vietnamese fast patrol boat strike on targets on the North Vietnamese coast. The North Vietnamese could not catch the fast patrol boats, which the US had supplied to South Vietnam, so they attacked the Maddox instead. The torpedoes from the attacking boats all missed, and only one other shot hit the Maddox. In contrast, shellfire from the larger ship and air support from the US carrier Ticonderoga hit the smaller boats, destroying one of them. After the skirmish, the destroyer USS Turner Joy joined the Maddox and the intelligence-gathering mission continued. On the night of August 4, the ships reported being attacked. This report was misinterpreted as being another attack by the North Vietnamese. The Incident surprised leaders in Washington because the North Vietnamese had not been intimidated by the US display of force, and had instead attacked the US ships. It was a sign that the war was going to be much harder and longer than anyone had anticipated. The most important result of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed Johnson to use whatever military power he saw fit in Vietnam. Johnson used his new power to deploy many more troops and resources in Vietnam(3).
The Apollo 1 Fire (1967)
The disaster that struck NASA's space program on January 27, 1967, should never have happened. The launch rehearsal test started poorly, with a bad smell in the breathing oxygen. After an hour spent fixing that problem, the communications system started malfunctioning. Despite the faulty communications, the practice countdown continued. Then, at 6:31 p.m., a single word, "fire" came through on the communications channel. A faulty electrical connection had sparked, igniting the multiple flammable materials in the pure oxygen environment of the command capsule. The astronauts attempted to open the hatch, but it proved impossible to remove quickly. Support crews rushed to the capsule with fire extinguishers and tried to open the door from the outside, but they could not get it open either, hindered by their ineffective breathing masks. All three men in the command capsule lost consciousness and died in the conflagration.
Both NASA and the Senate conducted investigations into the disaster and reported their recommendations for future engineers. Flammable materials were removed, the door was redesigned completely, the atmosphere was changed to be a nitrogen-oxygen mix, and engineers grew more respectful of the crews they were sending to space. The disaster did not need to happen, but NASA was sure to learn from it(4). |
The Riots in Detroit and Newark (1967)
Detroit Riot Zone, 1967, photograph.
The riots in Newark, lasting from July 14 to July 17, 1967 and the riots in Detroit from July 23 to July 28 were the most violent in a series of 164 disturbances reported in 128 cities that summer. Both riots started because of police brutality in predominantly black neighborhoods and were fueled by resentment of racial discrimination and under-representation in municipal governments, persistent poverty, general police brutality, and Vietnam war.
The Newark riot started when John Smith, a taxi driver, was arrested for driving around a double parked police car. On his way to the police station and while he was in custody he was beaten by the officers. Civil rights leaders demanded that Smith be taken to a hospital, and unsuccessfully tried to calm a crowd that believed Smith had died in custody. Looting and rampaging ensued, and only got worse when the National Guard arrived. Twenty-three people died seven hundred twenty-five were injured, and fifteen hundred were arrested.
The Detroit riot began when police officers raided an after-hours drinking club, expecting to arrest a few drunks. Instead, they found eighty-two people attending a party for two returned Vietnam veterans. The police arrested all of them. Confused and unhappy, a group of men broke the windows of a nearby clothing store, and the looting spread from there. Both the national guard and the military had to be called in to restore order, and by the end of the riot forty-three people were dead, 1,189 were injured, and seven thousand had been arrested(5).
The Newark riot started when John Smith, a taxi driver, was arrested for driving around a double parked police car. On his way to the police station and while he was in custody he was beaten by the officers. Civil rights leaders demanded that Smith be taken to a hospital, and unsuccessfully tried to calm a crowd that believed Smith had died in custody. Looting and rampaging ensued, and only got worse when the National Guard arrived. Twenty-three people died seven hundred twenty-five were injured, and fifteen hundred were arrested.
The Detroit riot began when police officers raided an after-hours drinking club, expecting to arrest a few drunks. Instead, they found eighty-two people attending a party for two returned Vietnam veterans. The police arrested all of them. Confused and unhappy, a group of men broke the windows of a nearby clothing store, and the looting spread from there. Both the national guard and the military had to be called in to restore order, and by the end of the riot forty-three people were dead, 1,189 were injured, and seven thousand had been arrested(5).
The King Assassination Riots (1968)
Looting During MLK Riots, photograph.
Riots broke out across the nation as black communities heard that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated on April 4, 1968. In Chicago, mobs roamed the streets, looting stores and starting fires. Most of the targeted properties belonged to whites. Three thousand Illinois National Guardsmen arrived in the city and were met with sniper fire. None of the guard or police were seriously injured. Mayor Richard J. Daley had instructed police forces to fire to kill at arsonists or people holding molotov cocktails and shoot to maim or injure at people looting stores. At the end of the chaos nine to eleven people were dead, three hundred fifty people had been arrested, and one hundred sixty-two building had been destroyed. Some of the vacant lots left behind were still empty thirty years later. Throughout the nation, similar riots took place, a testament to the power and importance of the civil rights movement in America(6).
1. "Lyndon B. Johnson," Bio.com.
2. "Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society,'" U.S. History.
3. "Tonkin Gulf Crisis, August," Department of The Navy -- Naval History and Heritage Command.
4. Howell, "Apollo 1: The Fatal," Space.com.
5. Herman, "Introduction," 1967 Riots.
6. Coates, "Riots Follow Killing of Martin," Chicago Tribune.
2. "Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society,'" U.S. History.
3. "Tonkin Gulf Crisis, August," Department of The Navy -- Naval History and Heritage Command.
4. Howell, "Apollo 1: The Fatal," Space.com.
5. Herman, "Introduction," 1967 Riots.
6. Coates, "Riots Follow Killing of Martin," Chicago Tribune.