Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969 | |
Cabinet | See list |
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Party | Democratic |
Election | 1964 |
Seat | White House |
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Senator from Texas
37th Vice President of the United States 36th President of the United States
First term
Second term
Presidential and Vice presidential campaigns
Post-presidency
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Lyndon B. Johnson's tenure as the 36th president of the United States began on November 22, 1963, upon the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, and ended on January 20, 1969. Johnson had been vice president for 1,036 days when he succeeded to the presidency. Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, ran for and won a full four-year term in the 1964 presidential election, in which he defeated Republican nominee Barry Goldwater in a landslide. Johnson did not run for a second full term in the 1968 presidential election because of his low popularity. Johnson was succeeded by Republican Richard Nixon. His presidency marked the high tide of modern liberalism in the 20th century United States.
Johnson expanded upon the
In foreign affairs, Johnson's presidency was dominated by the
Though eligible for another term, Johnson announced in March 1968 that he would not seek renomination. His preferred successor, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, won the Democratic nomination but was narrowly defeated by Nixon in the 1968 presidential election. Though Johnson left office with low approval ratings, polls of historians and political scientists tend to have Johnson ranked as an above-average president. His domestic programs transformed the United States and the role of the federal government, and many of his programs remain in effect today. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War remains broadly unpopular, but his civil rights initiatives are nearly-universally praised for their role in removing barriers to racial equality.
Accession
Johnson represented Texas in the United States Senate from 1949 to 1961, and served as the Democratic leader in the Senate beginning in 1953.[1] He sought the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, but was defeated by John F. Kennedy. Hoping to shore up support in the South and West, Kennedy asked Johnson to serve as his running mate, and Johnson agreed to join the ticket. In the 1960 presidential election, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket narrowly defeated the Republican ticket led by Vice President Richard Nixon.[2] Johnson played a frustrating role as a powerless vice president, rarely consulted except specific issues such as the space program.[3]
Kennedy was
Taking up Kennedy's legacy, Johnson declared that "no memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the
In response to the public demand for answers and the growing number of conspiracy theories, Johnson established a commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, known as the Warren Commission, to investigate Kennedy's assassination.[8] The commission conducted extensive research and hearings and unanimously concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination.[9] Since the commission's official report was released in September 1964, other federal and municipal investigations have been conducted, most of which support the conclusions reached in the Warren Commission report. Nonetheless, a significant percentage of Americans polled still indicate a belief in some sort of conspiracy.[10][11]
Administration
When Johnson assumed office following President Kennedy's death, he asked the existing Cabinet to remain in office.
Johnson concentrated decision-making in his greatly expanded White House staff.[16][17][18] Many of the most prominent Kennedy staff appointees, including Ted Sorensen and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., left soon after Kennedy's death. Other Kennedy staffers, including National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and Larry O'Brien, played important roles in the Johnson administration.[19] Johnson did not have an official White House Chief of Staff. Initially, his long-time administrative assistant Walter Jenkins presided over the day-to-day operations at the White House.[20] Bill Moyers, the youngest member of Johnson's staff, was hired at the outset of Johnson's presidency. Moyers quickly rose into the front ranks of the president's aides and acted informally as the president's chief of staff after the departure of Jenkins.[21] George Reedy, another long-serving aide, assumed the post of White House Press Secretary,[22] while Horace Busby, a valued aide to Johnson at various points in his political career, served primarily as a speech writer and political analyst.[23] Other notable Johnson staffers include Jack Valenti, George Christian, Joseph A. Califano Jr., Richard N. Goodwin, and W. Marvin Watson.[24] Ramsey Clark was the last surviving member of Johnson's cabinet, who died on April 9, 2021.[25]
Vice presidency
The office of vice president remained vacant during Johnson's first (425-day partial) term, as at the time there was no way to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency. Johnson selected Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, a leading liberal, as his running mate in the 1964 election, and Humphrey served as vice president throughout Johnson's second term.[26]
Led by Senator Birch Bayh and Representative Emanuel Celler, Congress, on July 5, 1965, approved an amendment to the Constitution addressing succession to the presidency and establishing procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the vice president, and for responding to presidential disabilities. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 10, 1967, becoming the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[27]
Judicial appointments
Johnson made two appointments to the
In addition to his Supreme Court appointments, Johnson appointed 40 judges to the
Domestic affairs
Great Society domestic program
Despite his political prowess and previous service as
Taxation and budget
Fiscal Year |
Receipts | Outlays | Surplus/ Deficit |
GDP
|
Debt as a % of GDP[38] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | 112.6 | 118.5 | −5.9 | 661.7 | 38.8 |
1965 | 116.8 | 118.2 | −1.4 | 709.3 | 36.8 |
1966 | 130.8 | 134.5 | −3.7 | 780.5 | 33.8 |
1967 | 148.8 | 157.5 | −8.6 | 836.5 | 31.9 |
1968 | 153.0 | 178.1 | −25.2 | 897.6 | 32.3 |
1969 | 186.9 | 183.6 | 3.2 | 980.3 | 28.4 |
Ref. | [39] | [40] | [41] |
Influenced by the Keynesian school of economics by his chief economic advisor Seymour E. Harris, Kennedy had proposed a tax cut designed to stimulate consumer demand and lower unemployment.[42] Kennedy's bill was passed by the House, but faced opposition from Harry Byrd, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.[43] After Johnson took office and agreed to decrease the total federal budget to under $100 billion, Byrd dropped his opposition, clearing the way for the passage of the Revenue Act of 1964.[44] Signed into law on February 26, 1964, the act cut individual income tax rates across the board by approximately 20 percent, cut the top marginal tax rate from 91 to 70 percent, and slightly reduced corporate tax rates.[45] Passage of the long-stalled tax cut facilitated efforts to move ahead on civil rights legislation.[46]
Despite a period of strong economic growth,[47] heavy spending on the Vietnam War and on domestic programs contributed to a rising budget deficit, as well as a period of inflation that would continue into the 1970s.[48] Between fiscal years 1966 and 1967, the budget deficit more than doubled to $8.6 billion, and it continued to grow in fiscal year 1968.[49] To counter this growing budget deficit, Johnson reluctantly signed a second tax bill, the Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968, which included a mix of tax increases and spending cuts, producing a budget surplus for fiscal year 1969.[50][51]
Civil rights
Johnson's success in passing major civil rights legislation was a stunning surprise.[52]
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Though a product of the South and a protege of segregationist Senator
In order for Johnson's civil rights bill to reach the House floor for a vote, the president needed to find a way to circumvent Representative Howard W. Smith, the chairman of the House Rules Committee. Johnson and his allies convinced uncommitted Republicans and Democrats to support a discharge petition, which would force the bill onto the House floor.[43][58] Facing the possibility of being bypassed by a discharge petition, the House Rules Committee approved the civil rights bill and moved it to the floor of the full House.[59] Possibly in an attempt to derail the bill,[60] Smith added an amendment to the bill that would ban gender discrimination in employment.[61] Despite the inclusion of the gender discrimination provision, the House passed the civil rights bill by a vote of 290–110 on February 10, 1964.[62] 152 Democrats and 136 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while the majority of the opposition came from 88 Democrats representing states that had seceded during the Civil War.[63]
Johnson convinced Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to put the House bill directly into consideration by the full Senate, bypassing the Senate Judiciary Committee and its segregationist chairman James Eastland.[64] Since bottling up the civil rights bill in a committee was no longer an option, the anti-civil rights senators were left with the filibuster as their only remaining tool. Overcoming the filibuster required the support of at least 20 Republicans, who were growing less supportive of the bill due to the fact that the party's leading presidential contender, Senator Barry Goldwater, opposed the bill.[65] Johnson and the conservative Dirksen reached a compromise in which Dirksen agreed to support the bill, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforcement powers were weakened.[66] After months of debate, the Senate voted for closure in a 71–29 vote, narrowly clearing the 67-vote threshold then required to break filibusters.[67] Though most of the opposition came from Southern Democrats, Senator Goldwater and five other Republicans also voted against ending the filibuster.[67] On June 19, the Senate voted to 73–27 in favor of the bill, sending it to the president.[68]
Johnson signed the
Voting Rights Act
After the end of Reconstruction, most Southern states enacted laws designed to
Soon after the 1964 election, civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began a push for federal action to protect the voting rights of racial minorities.[74] On March 7, 1965, these organizations began the Selma to Montgomery marches in which Selma residents proceeded to march to Alabama's capital, Montgomery, to highlight voting rights issues and present Governor George Wallace with their grievances. On the first march, demonstrators were stopped by state and county police, who shot tear gas into the crowd and trampled protesters. Televised footage of the scene, which became known as "Bloody Sunday", generated outrage across the country.[76] In response to the rapidly increasing political pressure upon him, Johnson decided to immediately send voting rights legislation to Congress, and to address the American people in a speech before a Joint session of Congress. He began:
I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause. ... Rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation. The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For, with a country as with a person, 'what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'[76][77]
Johnson and Dirksen established a strong bipartisan alliance in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, precluding the possibility of a Senate filibuster defeating the bill. In August 1965, the House approved the bill by a vote of 333 to 85, and Senate passed the bill by a vote of 79 to 18.[78] The landmark legislation, which Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965, outlawed discrimination in voting, thus allowing millions of Southern blacks to vote for the first time. In accordance with the act, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia were subjected to the procedure of preclearance in 1965.[79] The results were significant; between the years of 1968 and 1980, the number of Southern black elected state and federal officeholders nearly doubled.[77] In Mississippi, the voter registration rate of African Americans rose from 6.7 percent to 59.8 percent between 1964 and 1967, a reflection of a broader increase in African-American voter registration rates.[80]
Civil Rights Act of 1968
In April 1966, Johnson submitted a bill to Congress that barred house owners from refusing to enter into agreements on the basis of race; the bill immediately garnered opposition from many of the Northerners who had supported the last two major civil rights bills.
"War on Poverty"
The 1962 publication of The Other America had helped to raise the profile of poverty as a public issue, and the Kennedy administration had begun formulating an anti-poverty initiative.[86] Johnson built on this initiative, and in his 1964 State of the Union Address stated, "this administration today, here and now, declares an unconditional war on poverty in America. Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty but to cure it–and above all, to prevent it."[87]
In April 1964, Johnson proposed the
The Economic Opportunity Act would also create the
In August 1965, Johnson signed the
Johnson took an additional step in the War on Poverty with an
In August 1968, Johnson passed an even larger funding package, designed for expanding aid to cities, the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968. The program extended upon the 1965 legislation, but created two new housing finance programs designed for moderate-income families, Section 235 and 236, and vastly expanded support for public housing and urban renewal.[111]
As a result of Johnson's war on poverty, as well as a strong economy, the nationwide poverty rate fell from 20 percent in 1964 to 12 percent in 1974.[47] The OEO was abolished in 1981.[70] Some economists have claimed that the war on poverty did not result in a substantial reduction in poverty rates. Other critics have further claimed that Johnson's programs made poor people too dependent on the government. Other scholars have disputed these criticisms. The effectiveness of the war on poverty was limited by American involvement in the Vietnam War, which consumed the country's economic resources.[112]
Education
Johnson, whose own ticket out of poverty was a public education in Texas, fervently believed that education was a cure for ignorance and poverty.
Johnson's second major education program was the
In order to cater to the growing number of Spanish-speaking children from Mexico, California and Texas set up public schools that were segregated. These schools primarily focused on teaching English, but they received less funding than schools for non-Latino white children. This resulted in a shortage of resources and underqualified teachers in these schools. The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 provided federal grants to school districts for the purpose of establishing educational programs for children with limited English-speaking ability until it expired in 2002.[123][124]
Medicare and Medicaid
Since 1957, many Democrats had advocated for the government to cover the cost of hospital visits for seniors, but the
Mills and Johnson administration official
Environment
The 1962 publication of
During his time as President, Johnson signed over 300
In 1965, First Lady
Immigration
Johnson himself did not rank immigration as a high priority, but congressional Democrats, led by Emanuel Celler, passed the sweeping Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The act repealed the National Origins Formula, which had restricted emigration from countries outside of Western Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The law did not greatly increase the number of immigrants who would be allowed into the country each year (approximately 300,000), but it did provide for a family reunification provision that allowed for some immigrants to enter the country regardless of the overall number of immigrants. Largely because of the family reunification provision, the overall level of immigration increased far above what had been expected. Those who wrote the law expected that it would lead to more immigration from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, as well as relatively minor upticks in immigration from Asia and Africa. Contrary to these expectations, the main source of immigrants shifted away from Europe; by 1976, more than half of legal immigrants came from Mexico, the Philippines, Korea, Cuba, Taiwan, India, or the Dominican Republic.[150] The percentage of foreign-born in the United States increased from 5 percent in 1965 to 14 percent in 2016.[151] Johnson also signed the Cuban Adjustment Act, which granted Cuban refugees an easier path to permanent residency and citizenship.[152]
Transportation
During the mid-1960s, various
In March 1966, Johnson asked Congress to establish a Cabinet-level department that would coordinate and manage federal transportation programs, provide leadership in the resolution of transportation problems, and develop national transportation policies and programs.
Domestic unrest
Anti-Vietnam War movement
The American public was generally supportive of the Johnson administration's rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam in late 1964.[158] Johnson closely watched the public opinion polls,[159] which after 1964 generally showed that the public was consistently 40–50 percent hawkish (in favor of stronger military measures) and 10–25 percent dovish (in favor of negotiation and disengagement). Johnson quickly found himself pressed between hawks and doves; as his aides told him, "both hawks and doves [are frustrated with the war] ... and take it out on you."[160] Many anti-war activists identified as members of the "New Left," a broad political movement that distrusted both contemporary mainstream liberalism and Marxism.[161] Although other groups and individuals attacked the Vietnam War for various reasons, student activists emerged as the most vocal component of the anti-war movement. Membership of Students for a Democratic Society, a major New Left student group opposed to Johnson's foreign policy, tripled during 1965.[162]
Despite campus protests, the war remained generally popular throughout 1965 and 1966.
Urban riots
The nation experienced a series of "long hot summers" of
In what is known as the "
The riots confounded many civil rights activists of both races due to the recent passage of major civil rights legislation. They also caused a backlash among Northern whites, many of whom stopped supporting civil rights causes.[180] Johnson formed an advisory commission, informally known as the Kerner Commission, to explore the causes behind the recurring outbreaks of urban civil disorder.[181] The commission's 1968 report suggested legislative measures to promote racial integration and alleviate poverty and concluded that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal."[182] The president, fixated on the Vietnam War and keenly aware of budgetary constraints, barely acknowledged the report.[174]
One month after the release of the Kerner Commission's report, the April 4, 1968,
Other issues
Cultural initiatives
Johnson created a new role for the federal government in supporting the arts, humanities, and public broadcasting. To support humanists and artists, his administration set up the
Space program
While Johnson was in office,
Gun control
Following the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as mass shootings such as the one perpetrated by Charles Whitman, Johnson pushed for a major gun control law.[193] Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary Liz Carpenter, in a memo to the president, worried that the country had been "brainwashed by high drama," and that Johnson "need[ed] some quick dramatic actions" that addressed "the issue of violence."[194]
On October 22, 1968, Lyndon Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968, one of the largest and farthest-reaching federal gun control laws in American history. The measure prohibited convicted felons, drug users, and the mentally ill from purchasing handguns and raised record-keeping and licensing requirements.[195] It also banned mail order sales of rifles and shotguns.[196] President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had purchased by mail order a 6.5 mm caliber Carcano rifle through an ad in the magazine American Rifleman.[197] Johnson had sought to require the licensing of gun owners and the registration of all firearms, but could not convince Congress to pass a stronger bill.[198]
Consumer protection
In January 1964, Surgeon General Luther Terry issued a detailed report on smoking and lung cancer. The report "hit the country like a bombshell," Terry later said, becoming "front page news and a lead story on every radio and television station in the United States and many abroad." Terry's report prompted Congress to pass the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act in July 1965, requiring cigarette manufacturers to place a warning label on the side of cigarette packs stating: "Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health."[199][200]
The
Foreign affairs
Johnson's key foreign policy advisors were Dean Rusk, George Ball, McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Robert McNamara and (at the end) Clark Clifford.[205] According to historian David Fromkin:
Johnson was not a "hidden hand" president like Eisenhower, who appeared to let his cabinet make policy while in fact doing so him self. L.B.J. was what he seemed at the time: a president ill at ease in foreign policy who chose to rely on the judgment of the Kennedy team he inherited....When his advisers disagreed, would try to split the difference between them. He acted as a majority leader, reconciling diverse points of view within his own camp rather than making decisions on the merits of the issue. He wanted to quell dissent, and he was a master at it.[206]
All historians agree that Vietnam dominated the administration's foreign policy and all agree the policy was a political disaster on the home front. Most agree that it was a diplomatic disaster, although some say that it was successful in avoiding the loss of more allies. Unexpectedly, North Vietnam after it conquered the South became a major adversary of China, stopping China's expansion to the south in the way that Washington had hoped in vain that South Vietnam would do.[207] In other areas the achievements were limited. Historian Jonathan Colman says that was because Vietnam dominated the attention; the USSR was gaining military parity; Washington's allies more becoming more independent (e.g. France) or were getting weaker (Britain); and the American economy was unable to meet Johnson's demands that it supply both guns and butter.[208]
Cold War
Johnson took office during the Cold War, a prolonged state of very heavily armed tension between the United States and its allies on the one side and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other. Johnson was committed to containment policy that called upon the U.S. to block Communist expansion of the sort that was taking place in Vietnam, but he lacked Kennedy's knowledge and enthusiasm for foreign policy, and prioritized domestic reforms over major initiatives in foreign affairs.[209]
Though actively engaged in containment in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, Johnson made it a priority to seek arms control deals with Moscow.[210] The Soviet Union also sought closer relations to the United States during the mid-to-late 1960s, partly due to the increasingly worse Sino-Soviet split. Johnson attempted to reduce tensions with China by easing restrictions on trade, but the beginning of China's Cultural Revolution ended hopes of a greater rapprochement.[211] Johnson was concerned with averting the possibility of nuclear war, and he sought to reduce tensions in Europe.[212] The Johnson administration pursued arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, signing the Outer Space Treaty and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and laid the foundation for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.[210] Johnson held a largely amicable meeting with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin at the Glassboro Summit Conference in 1967, and in July 1968 the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which each signatory agreed not to help other countries develop or acquire nuclear weapons. A planned nuclear disarmament summit between the United States and the Soviet Union was scuttled after Soviet forces violently suppressed the Prague Spring, an attempted democratization of Czechoslovakia.[213]
Vietnam
Background and Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
At the end of World War II, Vietnamese revolutionaries under Communist leader
In August 1964, ambiguous evidence suggested two U.S. destroyers had been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters 40 miles (64 km) from the Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although Johnson very much wanted to keep discussions about Vietnam out of the 1964 election campaign, he felt forced to respond to the supposed Communist aggression. He obtained from the Congress the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964. The resolution gave blanket congressional approval for use of military force to repel future attacks.[220] In effect, Johnson was granted the constitutional authority to conduct a war in Vietnam without a formal declaration from Congress.[221]
1965–1966
Johnson decided on a systematic bombing campaign in February 1965 after an attack by Viet Cong guerrillas on Pleiku Air Base, killing eight Americans.[222] The eight-week bombing campaign became known as Operation Rolling Thunder.[223] The U.S. would continue to bomb North Vietnam until late 1968, dropping 864,000 tons of bombs over three and a half years.[224] In March 1965, McGeorge Bundy called for American ground operations. Johnson agreed and also quietly changed the mission from defensive to offensive operations.[225] On March 8, 1965, two Marine battalions, 3,500 troops, went ashore near Da Nang, the first time U.S. combat forces had been sent to mainland Asia since the Korean War.[226]
In June, South Vietnamese Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor reported that the bombing offensive against North Vietnam had been ineffective and that the South Vietnamese army was outclassed and in danger of collapse.[227] In late July, McNamara and Johnson's top advisors recommended an increase in U.S. soldiers from 75,000 to over 200,000.[228] Johnson agreed but felt boxed in by unpalatable choices. If he sent additional troops he would be attacked as an interventionist, and if he did not, he thought he risked being impeached.[229] Under the command of General William Westmoreland, U.S. forces increasingly engaged in search and destroy operations in South Vietnam.[230][231] By October 1965, there were over 200,000 troops deployed in Vietnam.[232] Most of these soldiers were drafted after leaving high school, and disproportionately came from poor families. College students could obtain deferments.[233]
Throughout 1965, few members of Congress or the administration openly criticized Johnson's handling of the war, though some, like
By late 1966, multiple sources began to report progress was being made against the North Vietnamese logistics and infrastructure; Johnson was urged from every corner to begin peace discussions. The gap with Hanoi, however, was an unbridgeable demand on both sides for a unilateral end to bombing and withdrawal of forces. Westmoreland and McNamara then recommended a concerted program to promote pacification; Johnson formally placed this effort under military control in October.[239] Johnson grew more and more anxious about justifying war casualties, and talked of the need for decisive victory, despite the unpopularity of the cause.[240] By the end of 1966, it was clear that the air campaign and the pacification effort had both failed, and Johnson agreed to McNamara's new recommendation to add 70,000 troops in 1967 to the 400,000 previously committed. Heeding the CIA's recommendations, Johnson also increased bombings against North Vietnam.[241] The bombing escalation ended secret talks being held with North Vietnam, but U.S. leaders did not consider North Vietnamese intentions in those talks to be genuine.[242]
1967 and the Tet Offensive
By the middle of 1967 nearly 70,000 Americans had been killed or wounded in the war, which was being commonly described in the news media and elsewhere as a "stalemate."[243] A Gallup, Inc. poll in July 1967 showed that 52 percent of Americans disapproved of the president's handling of the war, and only 34 percent thought progress was being made.[244] Nonetheless, Johnson agreed to an increase of 55,000 troops, bringing the total to 525,000.[245] In August, Johnson, with the Joint Chiefs' support, decided to expand the air campaign and exempted only Hanoi, Haiphong and a buffer zone with China from the target list.[246] Later that month McNamara told a Senate subcommittee that an expanded air campaign would not bring Hanoi to the peace table. The Joint Chiefs were astounded, and threatened mass resignation; McNamara was summoned to the White House for a three-hour dressing down; nevertheless, Johnson had received reports from the CIA confirming McNamara's analysis at least in part. In the meantime an election establishing a constitutional government in the South was concluded and provided hope for peace talks.[247]
With the war arguably in a stalemate and in light of the widespread disapproval of the conflict, Johnson convened a group of veteran government foreign policy experts, informally known as "the Wise Men": Dean Acheson, Gen. Omar Bradley, George Ball, Mac Bundy, Arthur Dean, Douglas Dillon, Abe Fortas, Averell Harriman, Henry Cabot Lodge, Robert Murphy and Max Taylor.[248] They unanimously opposed leaving Vietnam, and encouraged Johnson to "stay the course."[249] Afterward, on November 17, in a nationally televised address, the president assured the American public, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." Less than two weeks later, an emotional Robert McNamara announced his resignation as Defense Secretary. Behind closed doors, he had begun regularly expressing doubts over Johnson's war strategy, angering the president. He joined a growing list of Johnson's top aides who resigned over the war, including Bill Moyers, McGeorge Bundy, and George Ball.[235][250]
On January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and the
Post-Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive convinced senior leaders of the Johnson administration, including the "Wise Men" and new Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, that further escalation of troop levels would not help bring an end to the war.[254] Johnson was initially reluctant to follow this advice, but ultimately agreed to allow a partial bombing halt and to signal his willingness to engage in peace talks.[255] On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced that he would halt the bombing in North Vietnam, while at the same time announcing that he would not seek re-election.[256] He also escalated U.S. military operations in South Vietnam in order to consolidate control of as much of the countryside as possible before the onset of serious peace talks.[257] Talks began in Paris in May, but failed to yield any results.[258] Two of the major obstacles in negotiations were the unwillingness of the United States to allow the Viet Cong to take part in the South Vietnamese government, and the unwillingness of North Vietnam to recognize the legitimacy of South Vietnam.[259] In October 1968, when the parties came close to an agreement on a bombing halt, Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon intervened with the South Vietnamese, promising better terms so as to delay a settlement on the issue until after the election.[260] Johnson sought a continuation of talks after the 1968 election, but the North Vietnamese argued about procedural matters until after Nixon took office.[261]
Johnson once summed up his perspective of the Vietnam War as follows:
I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I really loved—the Great Society—in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs.... But if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser and we would both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.[262]
Middle East
Johnson's Middle Eastern policy relied on the "three pillars" of
In 1967 the
Latin America
Under the direction of Assistant Secretary of State Thomas C. Mann, the United States placed an emphasis on Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, which provided economic aid to Latin America.[265] Like Kennedy, Johnson sought to isolate Cuba, which was under the rule of the Soviet-aligned Fidel Castro.[266]
In 1965, the Dominican Civil War broke out between the government of President Donald Reid Cabral and supporters of former President Juan Bosch.[267] On the advice of Abe Fortas, Johnson dispatched over 20,000 Marines to the Dominican Republic.[268] Their role was not take sides but to evacuate American citizens and restore order. The U.S. also helped arrange an agreement providing for new elections. Johnson's use of force in ending the civil war alienated many in Latin America, and the region's importance to the administration receded as Johnson's foreign policy became increasingly dominated by the Vietnam War.[267]
Britain and Western Europe
Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, believed in a strong "Special Relationship" with the United States and wanted to highlight his dealings with the White House to strengthen his own prestige as a statesman. President Lyndon Johnson disliked Wilson, and ignored any "special" relationship.[269] Johnson needed and asked for help to maintain American prestige, but Wilson offered only lukewarm verbal support for the Vietnam War.[270] Wilson and Johnson also differed sharply on British economic weakness and its declining status as a world power. Historian Jonathan Colman concludes it made for the most unsatisfactory "special" relationship in the 20th century.[271] The press generally portrayed the relationship as strained. Its tone was set early on when Johnson sent Secretary of State Dean Rusk as head of the American delegation to the state funeral of Winston Churchill in January 1965, rather than the new vice president, Hubert Humphrey. Johnson himself had been hospitalized with influenza and advised by his doctors against attending the funeral.[272] This perceived slight generated much criticism against the president, both in the U.K. and in the U.S.[273][274]
As the economies of Western Europe recovered, European leaders increasingly sought to recast the alliance as a partnership of equals. This trend, along with Johnson's conciliatory policy towards the Soviet Union and his escalation of the Vietnam War, led to fractures within NATO. Johnson's request that NATO leaders send even token forces to South Vietnam were denied by leaders who lacked a strategic interest in the region. West Germany and especially France pursued independent foreign policies, and in 1966 French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from NATO. The withdrawal of France, along with West German and British defense cuts, substantially weakened NATO, but the alliance remained intact. Johnson refrained from criticizing de Gaulle and he resisted calls to reduce U.S. troop levels on the continent.[275]
South Asia
Since 1954,
List of international trips
Dates | Country | Locations | Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | September 16, 1964 | Canada | Vancouver | Informal visit. Met with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in ceremonies related to the Columbia River Treaty. |
2 | April 14–15, 1966 | Mexico | Mexico, D.F. | Informal visit. Met with President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. |
3 | August 21–22, 1966 | Canada | Campobello Island,
Chamcook |
Laid cornerstone at Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Conferred informally with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. |
4 | October 19–20, 1966 | New Zealand | Wellington | State visit. Met with Prime Minister Keith Holyoake. |
October 20–23, 1966 | Australia | Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville |
State visit. Met with Governor-General Richard Casey and Prime Minister Harold Holt. Intended as a "thank-you" visit for the Australian government's solid support for the Vietnam War effort, the president and first lady were greeted by demonstrations from anti-war protesters.[279] | |
October 24–26, 1966 | Philippines | Manila, Los Baños, Corregidor |
Attended a summit with the heads of State and government of Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Vietnam, and Thailand.[280] The meeting ended with pronouncements to stand fast against communist aggression and to promote ideals of democracy and development in Vietnam and across Asia.[281] | |
October 26, 1966 | South Vietnam | Cam Ranh Bay | Visited U.S. military personnel. | |
October 27–30, 1966 | Thailand | Bangkok | State visit. Met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej. | |
October 30–31, 1966 | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | State visit. Met with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman | |
October 31 – November 2, 1966 |
South Korea | Seoul, Suwon |
State visit. Met with President Park Chung-hee and Prime Minister Chung Il-kwon . Addressed National Assembly.
| |
5 | December 3, 1966 | Mexico | Ciudad Acuña | Informal meeting with President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. Inspected construction of Amistad Dam. |
6 | April 11–14, 1967 | Uruguay | Punta del Este | Summit meeting with Latin American heads of state .
|
April 14, 1967 | Suriname | Paramaribo | Refueling stop en route from Uruguay. | |
7 | April 23–26, 1967 | West Germany | Bonn | Attended the funeral of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and conversed with various heads of state. |
8 | May 25, 1967 | Canada | Montreal, Ottawa |
Met with Governor General Roland Michener. Attended Expo 67. Conferred informally with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. |
9 | October 28, 1967 | Mexico | Ciudad Juarez
|
Attended transfer of El Chamizal from the U.S. to Mexico. Conferred with President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. |
10 | December 21–22, 1967 | Australia | Canberra, Melbourne | Attended the funeral of Prime Minister Harold Holt.[279] Conferred with other attending heads of state. |
December 23, 1967 | Thailand | Khorat | Visited U.S. military personnel. | |
December 23, 1967 | South Vietnam | Cam Ranh Bay | Visited U.S. military personnel. Addressing the troops, Johnson declares "...all the challenges have been met. The enemy is not beaten, but he knows that he has met his master in the field."[235] | |
December 23, 1967 | Pakistan | Karachi | Met with President Ayub Khan .
| |
December 23, 1967 | Italy | Rome | Met with President Giuseppe Saragat and Prime Minister Aldo Moro. | |
December 23, 1967 | Vatican City | Apostolic Palace | Audience with Pope Paul VI. | |
11 | July 6–8, 1968 | El Salvador | San Salvador | Attended the Conference of Presidents of the Central American Republics. |
July 8, 1968 | Nicaragua | Managua | Informal visit. Met with President Anastasio Somoza Debayle. | |
July 8, 1968 | Costa Rica | San José | Informal visit. Met with President José Joaquín Trejos Fernández. | |
July 8, 1968 | Honduras | San Pedro Sula | Informal visit. Met with President Oswaldo López Arellano. | |
July 8, 1968 | Guatemala | Guatemala City | Informal visit. Met with President Julio César Méndez Montenegro. |
Elections during the Johnson presidency
1964 election campaign
Segregationist Governor
The 1964 Democratic National Convention re-nominated Johnson and celebrated his accomplishments after less than one year in office.[283] Early in the campaign, Robert F. Kennedy was a widely popular choice to run as Johnson's vice presidential running mate, but Johnson and Kennedy had never liked one another.[284] Hubert Humphrey was ultimately selected as Johnson's running mate, as the Johnson campaign hoped that Humphrey would strengthen the ticket in the Midwest and industrial Northeast.[158] Johnson, knowing full well the degree of frustration inherent in the office of vice president, put Humphrey through a gauntlet of interviews to guarantee his absolute loyalty and having made the decision, he kept the announcement from the press until the last moment to maximize media speculation and coverage.[285] At the end of the Democratic Convention, polls showed Johnson in a comfortable position to obtain re-election.[286]
Goldwater was perhaps the most conservative major party nominee since the passage of the
Regardless of Goldwater's background (his father was born in the Judaic community but left it and became an Episcopalian), Johnson won a large majority of the Jewish vote. It was a liberal constituency that gave strong support to the Great Society.[294]
1966 mid-term elections
After the smashing reelection victory of President Johnson in 1964, the Democratic Congress passed a raft of liberal legislation. Labor union leaders claimed credit for the widest range of liberal laws since the New Deal era, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the War on Poverty; aid to cities and education; increased Social Security benefits; and Medicare for the elderly. The 1966 elections were an unexpected disaster, with defeats for many of the more liberal Democrats. According to Alan Draper, the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Action (COPE) was the main electioneering unit of the labor movement. It ignored the white backlash against civil rights, which had become a main Republican attack point. The COPE assumed falsely that union members were interested in issues of greatest salience to union leadership, but polls showed this was not true. Their members were much more conservative. The younger union members were much more concerned about taxes and crime, and the older ones had not overcome racial biases. Furthermore, a new issue—the War in Vietnam—was bitterly splitting the liberal coalition into "hawks" (led by Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey) and "doves" (led by Senators
Johnson's coalition of big businessmen, trade unions, liberal intellectuals, white ethnic minorities, and blacks began to disintegrate even before the 1966 election. Trade unions did not do as well as corporations during the Johnson years. Social welfare did poorly because Americans preferred reduction in taxes to social improvements.[clarification needed] The Great Society was further weakened by reactions against urban violence (by white ethnics) and against the Vietnam War (by intellectuals and students).[296][page range too broad] Republicans campaigned on law and order concerns stemming from urban riots, Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War, and on the sluggish economy; they warned of looming inflation and growing federal deficits.[297]
In the midterm elections, Democrats lost 47 seats in the House to the Republicans, and also three in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Democrats retained majority control of both House and Senate. The losses hit the party's liberal wing hardest, which in turn decreased Johnson's ability to push his agenda through Congress.[298] The elections also helped the Republicans rehabilitate their image after their disastrous 1964 campaign.[292]
1968 elections and transition period
Presidential primaries
As he had served less than two years of President Kennedy's term, Johnson was constitutionally eligible for election to a second full term in the 1968 presidential election under the provisions of the 22nd Amendment.[299][300] However, beginning in 1966, the press sensed a "credibility gap" between what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was happening on the ground in Vietnam, which led to much less favorable coverage.[301] By year's end, the Democratic governor of Missouri, Warren E. Hearnes, warned that "frustration over Vietnam; too much federal spending and... taxation; no great public support for your Great Society programs; and ... public disenchantment with the civil rights programs" had eroded the president's standing. There were bright spots; in January 1967, Johnson boasted that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a 13-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever. Asked to explain why he was unpopular, Johnson responded, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don't always please all the people."[302]
As the 1968 election approached, Johnson began to lose control of the Democratic Party, which was splitting into four factions. The first group consisted of Johnson and Humphrey, labor unions, and local party bosses (led by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley). The second group consisted of antiwar students and intellectuals who coalesced behind Senator Eugene McCarthy in an effort to "
Historians have debated the factors that led to Johnson's surprise decision. Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative he decided to leave.[309] Woods writes that Johnson realized he needed to leave in order for the nation to heal.[310] Dallek says that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. His health was not good, and he was preoccupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement and his base of support continued to shrink. Leaving the race would allow him to pose as a peacemaker.[311] Bennett, however, says Johnson "had been forced out of a reelection race in 1968 by outrage over his policy in Southeast Asia."[312] Johnson may also have hoped that the convention would ultimately choose to draft him back into the race.[313]
Vice President Hubert Humphrey entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal, making the 1968 Democratic primaries a three-way contest between Humphrey, Kennedy, and McCarthy. Kennedy cut into McCarthy's liberal and anti-war base, while also winning the support of the poor and working class. He won a series of primary victories, but was
General election and transition period
Humphrey faced two major opponents in the 1968 general election campaign. The Republicans nominated former Vice President Richard Nixon, and Nixon selected Governor
Humphrey's polling numbers improved after a September 30 speech in which he broke with Johnson's war policy, calling for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam.[316] In what was termed the October surprise, Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam", effective November 1, should the North Vietnamese government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the Paris peace talks. However, Nixon won the election, narrowly edging Humphrey with a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote.[316] Wallace captured 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes. Nixon capitalized on discontent over civil rights to break the Democratic Party's hold on the South. He also performed well in the states west of the Mississippi River, due in part to rising resentment against the federal government in those states. Both the South and the West would be important components of the GOP electoral coalition in subsequent elections.[320] Despite Nixon's victory in the 1968 presidential election, Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.[321]
Historical reputation
Historians argue that Johnson's presidency marked the peak of modern liberalism in the United States after the New Deal era, and Johnson is ranked favorably by many historians.[322][323] Johnson's presidency left a lasting mark on the United States, transforming the United States with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, various anti-poverty measures, environmental protections, educational funding, and other federal programs.[324] The civil rights legislation passed under Johnson are nearly-universally praised for their role in removing barriers to racial equality.[324] A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Johnson as the tenth best president.[325] A 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians also ranked Johnson as the tenth best president.[326] Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War remains broadly unpopular, and, much as it did during his tenure, often overshadows his domestic accomplishments.[327][328] A 2006 poll of historians ranked Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War as the third-worst mistake made by a sitting president.[329] Historian Kent Germany writes that, "the legacies of death, renewal, and opportunity attached to the Johnson administration are ironic, confusing, and uncertain. They will likely remain that way."[330] Germany explains:
The man who was elected to the White House by one of the widest margins in U.S. history and pushed through as much legislation as any other American politician now seems to be remembered best by the public for succeeding an assassinated hero, steering the country into a quagmire in Vietnam, cheating on his saintly wife, exposing his stitched-up belly, using profanity, picking up dogs by their ears, swimming naked with advisers in the White House pool, and emptying his bowels while conducting official business. Of all those issues, Johnson's reputation suffers the most from his management of the Vietnam War, something that has overshadowed his civil rights and domestic policy accomplishments and caused Johnson himself to regret his handling of "the woman I really loved—the Great Society."[331]
Johnson's persuasiveness and understanding of Congress helped him to pass remarkable flurry of legislation and gained him a reputation as a legislative master.[327] Johnson was aided by his party's large congressional majorities and a public that was receptive to new federal programs,[332] but he also faced a Congress dominated by the powerful conservative coalition of southern Democrats and Republicans, who had successfully blocked most liberal legislation since the start of World War II.[333] Though Johnson established many lasting programs, other aspects of the Great Society, including the Office of Economic Opportunity, were later abolished.[324] The perceived failures of the Vietnam War nurtured disillusionment with government, and the New Deal coalition fell apart in large part due to tensions over the Vietnam War and the 1968 election.[324][216] Republicans won five of six presidential elections after Johnson left office. Ronald Reagan came into office in 1981 vowing to undo the Great Society, though he and other Republicans were unable to repeal many of Johnson's programs.[324]
Fredrik Logevall argues "there still seems much to recommend the 'orthodox' view that [Johnson] was a parochial and unimaginative foreign policy thinker, a man vulnerable to cliches about international affairs and lacking interest in the world beyond America's shores."[334] Many historians emphasize Johnson's provincialism. The “been in Texas too long” school of interpretation was coined in the Warren I. Cohen and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker anthology, Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World to describe the consensus of historians who see Johnson as a politician with a narrow vision.[335] One smaller group of scholars, called the "Longhorn School", argues that—apart from Vietnam—Johnson had a fairly good record in foreign policy.[336] Many of the "Longhorn School" are students of Robert Dallek, who has argued that "the jury is still out on Johnson as a foreign policy leader".[337] By contrast, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes argues:
- When it comes to foreign policy and world affairs, Lyndon Johnson is remembered as a disaster. That was the popular view of him when he left office and it has remained the dominant view in the years since, be it with the general public or with historians. There is good reason for this view and it can be reduced to one word: Vietnam.[338]
Notes
- ^ Johnson later signed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which extended protection against age discrimination in employment to individuals over the age of 40. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and disability, respectively.
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Works cited
- Bernstein, Irving (1996). Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195063127.
- Bornet, Vaughn Davis (1983). The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700602421.
- Caro, Robert (2012). The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power. ISBN 978-0375713255.
- Dallek, Robert (1998). Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513238-0.
- Herring, George C. (2008). From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507822-0.
- Mackenzie, G. Calvin; Weisbrot, Robert (2008). The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s. Penguin Press. ISBN 9781594201707.
- May, Gary (2013). Bending Toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy (Kindle ed.). Basic Books. pp. 47–52. ISBN 978-0-465-01846-8.
- ISBN 978-0195117974.
- Risen, Clay. The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act (2014) online
- Woods, Randall (2006). LBJ: Architect of American Ambition. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0684834580.
- Zeitz, Joshua (2018). Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House. Penguin. ISBN 9780525428787.
- Zelizer, Julian (2015). The Fierce Urgency of Now. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1594204340.
Further reading
- Andrew, John A. (1999). Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. OCLC 37884743.
- Brinkley, Douglas. Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening (2022) excerpt
- Burns, Richard Dean and Joseph M. Siracusa. The A to Z of the Kennedy–Johnson Era (2009)
- Califano, Joseph A. The triumph & tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: the White House years (2015).
- Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973 (2 vol, 2012), a major scholarly biography; 788pp
- Dallek, Robert (2004). Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1280502965., Abridged version of his two-volume biography; online free to borrow
- Dallek, Robert (2004). Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Ellis, Sylvia. Freedom's Pragmatist: Lyndon Johnson and Civil Rights. (UP of Florida, 2013).
- Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online
- Hodgson, Godfrey. JFK and LBJ: The Last Two Great Presidents (Yale UP, 2015) excerpt
- Holzer, Harold. The Presidents Vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media—from the Founding Fathers to Fake News (Dutton, 2020) pp. 222–251. online
- Isserman, Maurice, and Michael Kazin. America divided: The civil war of the 1960s (6th ed. Oxford UP, 2020).
- Kalman, Laura. The Long Reach of the Sixties: LBJ, Nixon, and the Making of the Contemporary Supreme Court (Oxford University Press, 2017).
- Lichtenstein, Nelson, ed. Political Profiles: The Johnson Years. 1976. short biographies of 400+ key politicians.
- Longley, Kyle. LBJ's 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval (2018) excerpt
- Melosi, Martin V. "Environmental Policy" in A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson, ed. by Mitchell B. Lerner. (Blackwell, 2012) pp. 187–209.
- Melosi, Martin V. "Lyndon Johnson and Environmental Policy,' in Robert Divine, ed., The Johnson Years, Volume Two: Vietnam, The Environment and Science (U of Kansas Press, 1987), pp. 113–149
- Milkis, Sidney M. and Jerome M. Mileur, eds. The Great Society and the High Tide of Liberalism (2005)
- Pach, Chester. The Johnson Years (Facts on File, 2005), an encyclopedia
- Savage, Sean J. JFK, LBJ, and the Democratic Party (2004)
- Schulman, Bruce J. (1995). Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press.
- ISBN 0-385-46833-4
- Woods, Randall B. Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the Limits of Liberalism (2016), 480pp., a scholarly history.
- Zarefsky, David. President Johnson's War On Poverty: Rhetoric and History (2nd ed. 2005). excerpt
- Zeitz, Joshua. Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House (2018) excerpt
- Zelizer, Julian E. The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society (2015) excerpt
Foreign policy
- Allcock, Thomas Tunstall and Thomas C. Mann. President Johnson, the Cold War, and the Restructuring of Latin American Foreign Policy (2018) 284 pp. online review
- Brands, H. W. The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (1997)
- Brands, H. W. ed. The foreign policies of Lyndon Johnson: Beyond Vietnam (1999); essays by scholars. online free to borrow.
- Cohen, Warren I., and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, eds. Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World: American Foreign Policy 1963–1968 (Cambridge University Press, 1994)
- Colman, Jonathan. The Foreign Policy of Lyndon B. Johnson: The United States and the World, 1963–1969 (Edinburgh University Press, 2010) 231 pp. online
- Gavin, Francis J. and Mark Atwood Lawrence, eds. Beyond the Cold War: Lyndon Johnson and the New Global Challenges of the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2014) 301 pp.
- Kunz, Diane B. ed. The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations During the 1960s (1994)
- Preston, Thomas. The President and His Inner Circle: Leadership Style and the Advisory Process in Foreign Affairs (2001)
- Schoenbaum, Thomas J. Waging Peace and War: Dean Rusk in the Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson Years (1988).
Vietnam
- Berman, Larry. Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam (1991)
- 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)
- 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
- Lerner, Mitchell B. ed. A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson (2012) ch 18–21 pp 319–84
- Logevall, Fredrik. Fear to Negotiate: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War, 1963–1965. (Yale UP, 1993)
- McMaster, H. R. Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam (1998) excerpt
- Nelson, Michael. "The Historical Presidency: Lost Confidence: The Democratic Party, the Vietnam War, and the 1968 Election." Presidential Studies Quarterly 48.3 (2018): 570–585.
- Schandler, Herbert Y. Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam: The unmaking of a president (Princeton UP, 2014) online free to borrow
- Sheehan, Neil, ed. The Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War (1971, 2017) abridged version excerpt
- Vandiver, Frank E. Shadows of Vietnam: Lyndon Johnson's Wars (1997)
Historiography
- Catsam, Derek. "The civil rights movement and the Presidency in the hot years of the Cold War: A historical and historiographical assessment." History Compass 6.1 (2008): 314–344. online[dead link]
- Gould, Lewis L. "The Revised LBJ" Wilson Quarterly 24#2 (2000), pp. 80–83 online
Primary sources
- Califano Jr., Joseph A. Inside: A Public and Private Life (2004)
- Johnson, Lyndon B. The Vantage Point (1971)
- McNamara, Robert S. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (1995) excerpt
- Rostow, W. W. The Diffusion of Power: An Essay in Recent History (1972) pp 309–533.
External links
- Miller Center on the Presidency at U of Virginia, brief articles on Johnson and his presidency