History UsefulNotes / LyndonJohnson

* ThemeInitials: He was aobsessed over his initials (it worked for Roosevelt and Kennedy?): he had LBJ on his wristcuffs, gave out pens with LBJ on them during his trips to other countries, his wife was nicknamed '''L'''ady '''B'''ird '''J'''ohnson (real name Claudia, and that nickname actually predated LBJ; He proposed to her on the day they first met), named his children '''L'''ynda '''B'''ird and '''L'''uci '''B'''aines '''J'''ohnson (his first daughter was born ''10'' years after his marriage), and his pet beagle's name was '''L'''ittle '''B'''eagle '''J'''ohnson.

* EtTuBrute: "If I've lost [[WalterCronkite Cronkite]], I've lost Middle America!" Check and mate.

After leaving office, he decided that he didn't have much to live for and resumed smoking, even though his doctors previously told him many years before that it would kill him. Everyone around him remarked that it was pretty much a lengthy form of suicide, and he had a lot of heart attacks. On January 22, 1973, Johnson, 64 years old, died of his third heart attack, two days after he would have finished a second full term, only four weeks after [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman another well-respected former Democratic senator who later became Vice President and President]] died from pneumonia. Johnson was the only living former President when he died. One day after he died, a ceasefire in Vietnam was reached.

* The Tony-Award winning play Theatre/AllTheWay is based on his 1964 election. Creator/BryanCranston (he of ''Series/BreakingBad'' fame) won a Tony for the portrayal.

* The Tony-Award winning play All The Way is based on his 1964 election. Creator/BryanCranston (he of ''Series/BreakingBad'' fame) won a Tony for the portrayal.

Additionally, there was a persistent atmosphere of political corruption that surrounded Johnson, including accusations of voter fraud, bribery, and selling government secrets. The secret COINTELPRO FBI program, which was a (largely illegal) series of spying networks watching the Civil Rights leaders and other "subversive" groups, continued under his watch, though the public would not know about it until it leaked in 1971. Critics claimed that his civil rights bills and domestic programs were attempts to buy votes with handouts to blacks and poor whites (for what it is worth, MalcolmX agreed with that first point). Because the plans for his Great Society programs were rushed out so quickly and because the majority of federal money was still being spent on the military, the massive bureaucracies LBJ put in place to administer his grandiose social projects proved to be riddled with waste and inefficiency - as one member of Congress said, "We cannot have guns and butter." In addition to taking money away from his domestic programs, the Vietnam War had long-reaching consequences for the American economy, and it was one of several factors involved in the stagnating economy of TheSeventies. Meanwhile, racial and social tensions reached heights no one could have predicted just years earlier, with summer riots starting in many cities, especially in minority communities. Sometimes entire parts of cities went up in flames. Many affluent (as in, mostly white) city residents moved out of the urban areas and into suburbs, starting what was appropriately nicknamed the "white flight." The riots and other factors caused a crime wave that affected American cities for decades, only starting to finally go down in TheNineties - how much of this was beyond LBJ's control is uncertain, but it was an issue with several voters. Johnson also changed how Social Security was managed in this country, as surpluses from the Social Security trust funds were included in the yearly federal budget to make the deficits look smaller. His increasing unpopularity, along with his ill health, ultimately led to his decision not to run for re-election in 1968. It appears that the actual independent effect of the war was not the only cause for his low ratings, with his perceived mishandling of domestic issues causing additional public distrust, especially the escalating urban violence and race riots. In response to the increasing divide over the war and racial issues, a growing counter-culture started among the youth in protest of what was going on throughout the country.

* HistoryRepeats: [[UsefulNotes/AndrewJohnson A Southerner named Johnson is selected as the Vice-Presidential nominee to a younger, charismatic President from the North, to appeal to Southern voters. But that president ends up being assassinated, thus making Johnson president, who sadly becomes widely loathed by his own presidency's end]].

* In ''Film/ForrestGump'' the title character moons Johnson.
** Unintentionally. In the book, Gump and Johnson were sharing the stories of their respective surgical scars -- Johnson from gallbladder surgery, Gump from being "wounded in the buttocks." A photographer just happened to walk by at the inopportune moment, and spun the story.

** Hank hero-worships both of them; among the presidents, only his appreciation for UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan rivals that of LBJ.
*** In addition, Hank's prize bloodhound Ladybird is named after Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, the President's wife.

* The Tony-Award winning play All The Way is based on his 1964 election. Bryan Cranston (he of ''Series/BreakingBad'' fame) won a Tony for the portrayal.

Johnson became Vice President, and he was known for being bored with the job. Since the office of Vice President has been [[UsefulNotes/JohnAdams famously]] known for being very useless, LBJ didn't get to do too much, and Kennedy sought him for advice on an infrequent basis. He did get to head the National Aeronautics Space Council, though, so that's cool. He might well have been forgotten by history, had the events of November 22, 1963 not intervened. The death of Kennedy meant Johnson became President, being sworn in on UsefulNotes/AirForceOne, with a Roman Catholic missal as no Bible was available.

'''Lyndon Baines Johnson''' (1908-1973), often known as '''LBJ''', was the 36th President of the United States [[TheSixties (1963-1969)]]. The [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteenth]] President from the Democratic Party, he inherited the office following the tragic assassination of [[HopeSpot the young and inspirational]] UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and was followed by the [[SarcasmMode honest and lovable]] UsefulNotes/RichardNixon. He managed to be both incredibly good for his domestic reforms and horrendously bad for what he did abroad.

On his second attempt he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948. He became Senate Majority Leader and was chosen as UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's running mate in 1960, after earlier trying to stop JFK's nomination, in an attempt to balance the unpopularity that the more liberal [[HollywoodNewEngland New Englander]] Kennedy inspired in the Democratic Party's largely conservative Southern base. Johnson is widely regarded as one of the more effective Senate Majority Leaders in recent history, in no small part due to his propensity for unapologetically bullying other Senators. Known as the "Johnson Treatment," he would use his intimidating height and lean close to other Senators and invade their personal space, making them nervous and easier to manipulate. Johnson even had a collection of dirty secrets on every Senator, including their favorite things, their fears, and any skeletons in their closets. This continued to be used once he was President. Senate majority leader for six years, LBJ wisely chose to cooperate with the hugely popular President UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower rather than try to sabotage his policies, thus giving Johnson the image of a moderate lawmaker. A number of important bills, including Eisenhower's two Civil Rights Acts, were passed in the Senate largely because of Johnson's political maneuvering. He was also one of only three senators from the [[TheAmericanCivilWar former Confederate States]] (the other two being Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore, Sr., both of Tennessee) not to sign the high-profile, pro-segregation Southern Manifesto in 1956. However, whether this was due to principle, politics (he was known to already be eyeing the White House), his role in the Senate's leadership, or some combination thereof is unclear.

Following Kennedy's death, public sympathy was largely for the Democrats. Johnson was elected to his only full term in a landslide in 1964, with help from the infamous "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_(advertisement) Daisy Girl]]" ad, which painted his Republican opponent, Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, as a warmongering extremist who might well start World War III (for the record, Goldwater did say he would use nuclear weapons in Vietnam if he had to). Johnson won a 61.1% landslide with the popular vote (the largest popular vote landslide in modern American history, surpassed only by the landslides which swept some of the Founding Fathers into office) as well as 44 states, including, for the first time in the Democratic Party's history, Vermont; in much the same vein, Georgia voted for Goldwater, the first time ''it'' had ever voted Republican. Goldwater was the first Republican to sweep the Deep South, winning Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina; if blacks in the South had equal voting rights, Goldwater probably would have only won his home state of Arizona, giving him only '''''five electoral votes'''''. [[note]]In hindsight, this colossal defeat for the Republicans was a blessing in disguise. Since they were not in the White House during the peak of the Vietnam War, they escaped much of the blame for it. Goldwater's then-staunchly conservative positions on most issues helped move the Republicans to the right after their center-leaning ideology in the post-WWII years. This paved the way for RonaldReagan. Additionally, most of the Republicans who lost reelection that year were from the party's old guard, clearing the way for younger politicians with fresher ideas to get elected in those seats.[[/note]] Because Johnson had ascended to the presidency with less than two years of Kennedy's term remaining, LBJ could therefore run again in 1968 and still be under the ten-year maximum a person can serve as President in place under the Twenty-second Amendment. We'll get to that part later. Meanwhile, the Democrats also won huge landslides in both houses of Congress, which gave them the chance to pass sweeping liberal bills for the first time since the days of FDR and the New Deal.

One of the good things he did was his support of the CivilRightsMovement. After he became President, he went before Congress and declared that nothing would honor the legacy of their recently deceased leader more if they passed the Civil Rights Bill which he supported. (LBJ would often rely on the public memory of Kennedy to get his desired legislation passed.) Thanks largely to LBJ's skill with Congress, the bill narrowly passed in 1964 and Johnson signed it before he was up for election that year - thus, legal segregation against minorities could no longer be enforced. The next year, following the Selma Marches of 1965, he decided to tackle obstacles to the black vote. He maneuvered the passage of the Twenty-fourth Amendment through the states, which banned the use of poll taxes that were used to prevent black people from voting. He then signed the sweeping Voting Rights Act, which banned literacy tests and gave the federal government the power to intervene in any counties which tried to prevent certain groups from voting (namely, all of the South). Johnson went before Congress and, when asking them to pass the act, took on the Civil Rights Movement's slogan and declared [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "We Shall Overcome."]] LBJ also signed other bills defending civil rights, including a bill in 1968 which banned discrimination in the sale of housing. He gave an executive order requiring federal contractors to implement "affirmative action" to bring more minorities and women into the workforce - this is [[IThoughtItMeant actually something different]] than what immediately comes to mind when you hear "affirmative action." Johnson was not actually telling them to start hiring more of them to meet the number of minorities in the region with racial quotas, that was RichardNixon; LBJ just wanted to protect minorities from discrimination and encourage others by example. Two landmark nominations for federal office were made during Johnson's time: Thurgood Marshall became the first African American on the Supreme Court (He was the man who previously argued against racial segregation in the Supreme Court case ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954).) and Robert Weaver became the first African American on the Cabinet, heading the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development. The effect of this was seen immediately - while the Democrats had already won the black vote since the days of FranklinDRoosevelt, now they voted ''overwhelmingly'' for the Democrats, and the percentage of African Americans voting Democrat has never fallen below 80%. However, this also meant that the Democrats lost the white Southern vote, a loss which would haunt them for decades to come. It's generally agreed among scholars that Johnson would have accomplished a lot more than Kennedy - Southerners in Congress would not have taken kindly to a Northerner telling them to pass these civil rights bills, but when it was their fellow Southerner Johnson supporting these measures, several of them quieted down. Still, he did come to recognize that he only improved their standing in the eyes of the law, not their social standing. As he said not long before leaving office, "As I see it, I've moved the Negro from D+ to C-. He's still nowhere. He knows it."

This was all part of Johnson's broader ideal of "The Great Society," Johnson's name for his domestic policies. Following Kennedy's famous challenge to "Let us begin anew," Johnson declared "let us continue" in the wake of the nation's mourning. With his mastery of Congress, Johnson managed to remarkably pass more than 1,000 pieces of legislation. Much of The Great Society was part of his War on Poverty - his attempt to bring nearly every American over the poverty line. The Economic Opportunity Act (1964) created the Job Corps and the Volunteers in Service to America to help provide aid and job training to poor communities in the country. Several programs were created to help teach the poor how to become more self-sufficient, such as Volunteers in Service to America, Community Action Agencies (each of which are run locally), and Head Start. A tax cut in 1964 put less burden on low-income Americans. It was Johnson who created the Food Stamp program (now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in 1964. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) was a sweeping reform of the education system that provided aid to schools with a large number of low-income students, and the Higher Education Act (1965) created a scholarship program to ensure that students from poor families will have the opportunity to get a college education. He amended Social Security in 1965 to create Medicaid (health care for poor people) and Medicare (health care for the elderly); Johnson signed this bill in front of former President HarryTruman, who tried to get these passed years ago, and gave him and his wife the first Medicare cards. The Omnibus Housing Act (1965) provided housing for low-income Americans, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development was created to oversee urban renewal. The development of poor rural areas, especially Appalachia and the Deep South, was one of the Johnson administration's highest priorities. He is notable as the '''''only''''' U.S. President to attempt to end national poverty, and poverty was indeed drastically reduced during his term by a full '''''ten percent''''', and living conditions were significantly improved for those who remained below the line. For what it is worth, it has never seen such a huge, rapid fall ever since (it mostly hovers somewhere below 15% depending on how the economy is doing, usually around 13%). Many of the people lifted out of poverty were minorities and retired senior citizens, two groups often suffered even during times of prosperity. The economy was also in great shape during his presidency, with unemployment getting as low as ''3.4%'' for months when he left office. To compare, the lowest it has ever been since was near the end of BillClinton's second term when it was briefly at 3.8%.

And then the Tet Offensive happened in 1968. This was a series of multiple attacks aimed at just about every American and South Vietnamese stronghold in the South. The goal of the North was to provoke a general uprising among the South Vietnamese people against the unpopular central government, and sweep them to a quick and decisive victory. It failed miserably: the people did not revolt, the North Vietnamese Army suffered massive casualties, and the Viet Cong was so devastated that it never fully recovered. None of that really mattered, however. The American people, having been told repeatedly that the communists were on the verge of defeat, were outraged that an offensive on this scale could take place. The psychological impact of the offensive had not been anticipated by the communists, and demoralization was not their intention, but when they saw the effects [[IMeantToDoThat they began broadcasting the offensive as a brilliant success]]. Protests against continued involvement in the war broke out all over the country, especially on college campuses, and these continued in the following years. The Democrats, formerly in perfect unity under Johnson's capable hands, split into multiple factions, some sticking by the President and others demanding the war's immediate end. Johnson went on air and shocked the country by saying that not only would no further troops be sent to Vietnam, but that he would not be seeking reelection later that year. This left the Democratic ticket wide open for anyone to take. JFK's brother [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy Bobby]] entered the race at the last minute, and, when it looked like he would win the party's convention and possibly the presidency, he was fatally shot. When the Democratic convention eventually happened in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, angry protesters demanding peace eventually [[{{Irony}} got involved in brutal clashes with thousands of police officers]]. Johnson's Vice President, UsefulNotes/HubertHumphrey, won during all the commotion. Meanwhile, this gave the Republicans, who nominated UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, the perfect chance to win. Thus, Johnson's time in office ended in tragedy, just like how it began in tragedy.[[note]]It can be argued that the defeat of 1968 was such a heavy blow to the Democrats that they ''still'' haven't fully recovered. Since FDR's time, the Republicans only won the presidency once, and they did so by choosing the most popular man in the country, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, for their nominee]]. The Democrats were clearly the majority party, and they were unified by capable party leaders like FDR and LBJ. 1968, however, saw the DeepSouth, once a safe zone for the Democrats, leave for the Republicans, and the broken Democrats continued fighting each other for years while the Republicans started to gain more unity and power. Now, the conservative Republicans became the majority party. Other factors, of course, played into it, such as the revival of conservative philosophies (like AynRand) and the aging of the country's population, but the party split in the late 60's is arguably the greatest cause. Nixon and the Republicans started to appeal to the South, and the Southern Strategy became the Republican Party's biggest guarantee of winning the White House for decades. The two greatest popular vote and Electoral College vote margins since Johnson were won by Nixon and RonaldReagan, both Republicans. Meanwhile, this had dire consequences for liberalism for decades. In order to win more moderate and independent votes following the resurgence of conservatism, the Democrats became the centrist party, with platforms pretty similar to the Republican platform when they were the centrist party during the liberal years of the New Deal coalition. Before the election of BarackObama in 2008, the only Democrats in the White House were unpopular one-termer JimmyCarter and the very moderate BillClinton. (Not coincidentally, both were Southerners.) However, if Obama getting elected twice despite not winning almost any Southern state is any indication, it looks like the Democrats are starting to slowly rebound. We'll see in the next several years.[[/note]]

For what it is worth, the rest of his foreign policy wasn't so bad. Relations with Latin American countries were a bit testy during his time - he stopped a revolution in the Dominican Republic in 1965, he did not back down when Castro threatened to cut off the water supply to Guantanamo Bay in an attempt to force the Americans out, and the start of negotiations with Panama to return the Panama Canal began on his watch, finally getting completed during JimmyCarter's term. Meanwhile, relations with the Soviet Union improved significantly in spite of Vietnam - in 1967, the first direct treaty between the two countries was signed since the fall of Russia. The Outer Space Treaty (1967) banned nuclear weapons from being sent into space, and we also signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which made it illegal to transfer nukes between countries. Following the [[ArabIsraeliConflict Six-Day War]], Johnson met with Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin and the two agreed that they needed to defuse tensions in the Middle East. When North Korea captured an American spy ship in 1968, Johnson managed to negotiate the release of its crew.

After leaving office, he decided that he didn't have much to live for and resumed smoking, even though his doctors previously told him many years before that it would kill him. Everyone around him remarked that it was pretty much a lengthy form of suicide, and he had a lot of heart attacks. On January 22, 1973, Johnson, 64 years old, died of his third heart attack, two days after he would have finished a second full term, only four weeks after [[HarryTruman another well-respected former Democratic senator who later became Vice President and President]] died from pneumonia. Johnson was the only living former President when he died. One day after he died, a ceasefire in Vietnam was reached.

Johnson was a [[BunnyEarsLawyer colorful figure]], whose rough-edged Texan demeanor contrasted strongly with Kennedy's elegant image. One incident had him exposing his appendicitis scar to the public; in another he picked up his pet beagle by the ears, assuring the onlookers, "He lahks it!" He had odd eating habits, eating quickly and, if someone near him hasn't finished eating yet, taking ''their'' food to eat, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps his oddest habit was conducting meetings on the toilet (Perhaps one of the best nonsexual examples of CoitusUninterruptus). Or maybe his oddest habit was pulling his penis - named "Jumbo" - out in front of the White House Press Corps, and waving it around. Still, he sometimes had moments of sympathy that shocked those close to him: After he was sworn in on Air Force One, he called Kennedy's mother to try and comfort her. Satirical portrayals in media usually focused on playing up his Texan-ness to a comical degree. Oh, he was also a big fan of SimonAndGarfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

* HeroWorshipper: He was this for FranklinDRoosevelt. Johnson really tried to go down in history as "[=FDR=] 2.0", including the part about winning a major foreign war. The tragedy of it is that he probably would've been one of the greatest presidents if he hadn't actually gone to war.

* VindicatedByHistory: Yes and no. ''Loathed'' at the time of his presidency because of the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, he has been viewed more favorably by scholars in hindsight for his domestic program and his control of Congress, and they often place him in the Top 15 for his domestic successes. The public, however, still remembers him more for the Vietnam War, and his approval rating is only above RichardNixon and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush as far as post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Presidents go.

** Hank hero-worships both of them; among the presidents, only his appreciation for RonaldReagan rivals that of LBJ.

Johnson was a [[BunnyEarsLawyer colorful figure]], whose rough-edged Texan demeanor contrasted strongly with Kennedy's elegant image. One incident had him exposing his appendicitis scar to the public; in another he picked up his pet beagle by the ears, assuring the onlookers, "He lahks it!" He had odd eating habits, eating quickly and, if someone near him hasn't finished eating yet, taking ''their'' food to eat, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps his oddest habit was conducting meetings on the toilet (Perhaps one of the best nonsexual examples of CoitusUninterruptus). Still, he sometimes had moments of sympathy that shocked those close to him: After he was sworn in on Air Force One, he called Kennedy's mother to try and comfort her. Satirical portrayals in media usually focused on playing up his Texan-ness to a comical degree. Oh, he was also a big fan of SimonAndGarfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

-->'''Josh:''' LBJ never would have taken this kind of crap from Democrats in Congress. He'd have said "You're voting my way, in exchange for which it is ''possible'' that I might remember your name."

* SuckySchool: He went to a one-room school that only had one teacher. His graduating class (which he was president of) only had ''six people''.

'''Lyndon Baines Johnson''' (1908-1973), often known as '''LBJ''', was the 36th President of the United States [[TheSixties (1963-1969)]]. The [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteenth]] President from the Democratic Party, he inherited the office following the tragic assassination of [[HopeSpot the young and inspirational]] JohnFKennedy and was followed by the [[SarcasmMode honest and lovable]] RichardNixon. He managed to be both incredibly good for his domestic reforms and horrendously bad for what he did abroad.

Johnson was a Texan by birth (unlike UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush). After a brief time as a teacher, he worked as the head of the Texan branch of FranklinDRoosevelt's National Youth Administration and then was elected to Congress in 1937. This background exposed him to both the effects of the segregation policies of the South as well as the dire poverty that some people live in, and it shaped his political beliefs to be highly liberal. In UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, he asked for a combat assignment, but didn't really see much action. He did try to improve conditions for US soldiers.

On his second attempt he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948. He became Senate Majority Leader and was chosen as JohnFKennedy's running mate in 1960, after earlier trying to stop JFK's nomination, in an attempt to balance the unpopularity that the more liberal [[HollywoodNewEngland New Englander]] Kennedy inspired in the Democratic Party's largely conservative Southern base. Johnson is widely regarded as one of the more effective Senate Majority Leaders in recent history, in no small part due to his propensity for unapologetically bullying other Senators. Known as the "Johnson Treatment," he would use his intimidating height and lean close to other Senators and invade their personal space, making them nervous and easier to manipulate. Johnson even had a collection of dirty secrets on every Senator, including their favorite things, their fears, and any skeletons in their closets. This continued to be used once he was President. Senate majority leader for six years, LBJ wisely chose to cooperate with the hugely popular President UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower rather than try to sabotage his policies, thus giving Johnson the image of a moderate lawmaker. A number of important bills, including Eisenhower's two Civil Rights Acts, were passed in the Senate largely because of Johnson's political maneuvering. He was also one of only three senators from the [[TheAmericanCivilWar former Confederate States]] (the other two being Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore, Sr., both of Tennessee) not to sign the high-profile, pro-segregation Southern Manifesto in 1956. However, whether this was due to principle, politics (he was known to already be eyeing the White House), his role in the Senate's leadership, or some combination thereof is unclear.

Of course, the Great Society had many other notable acts. He passed several environmental bills: the Wilderness Protection Act (1964) preserved almost 10 million acres of forests, the Water Quality Act (1965) required that the country's lakes and rivers get cleaned up, the Clean Air Act Amendments (1965) set new standards for vehicle exhaust emission, and the Air Quality Act (1967) put limits on pollution. His wife, Lady Bird Johnson, vocally supported passage of the Highway Beautification Act (1965), which limited the amount of advertising that can be placed on federal highways and also forbid junkyards from being visible on the roads, meaning that either gates were built around them or they were moved. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended the system of racial quotas in the immigration system (prior to the bill's passage, anyone from Latin America, Asia, and Africa was banned and severe limitations were put in Southern and Eastern Europe), instead putting emphasis on immigrants who had relatives in the country. Johnson signed the bills creating the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, providing support for the country's artists. The Freedom of Information Act (1966) disclosed nearly all documents from the executive branch. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) ended the system of employment discrimination for people over 40. The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created both National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Following the tragic assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and RobertFKennedy, Johnson passed the Gun Control Act of 1968, forbidding interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers and dealers. The Bilingual Education Act (1968) required schools to teach multiple languages and provide extra care for students with limited grasp of English (namely, Spanish-speaking students). The Department of Transportation was created to oversee the building of new roads, highways, and public rails. New laws were passed to protect American consumers from false advertising and requiring food industries to list ingredients in their products. Most of the work done for the Moon landing was done on his watch, too, and he was in the audience watching the Apollo 11 rocket launch just months after he left office.

And then the Tet Offensive happened in 1968. This was a series of multiple attacks aimed at just about every American and South Vietnamese stronghold in the South. The goal of the North was to provoke a general uprising among the South Vietnamese people against the unpopular central government, and sweep them to a quick and decisive victory. It failed miserably: the people did not revolt, the North Vietnamese Army suffered massive casualties, and the Viet Cong was so devastated that it never fully recovered. None of that really mattered, however. The American people, having been told repeatedly that the communists were on the verge of defeat, were outraged that an offensive on this scale could take place. The psychological impact of the offensive had not been anticipated by the communists, and demoralization was not their intention, but when they saw the effects [[IMeantToDoThat they began broadcasting the offensive as a brilliant success]]. Protests against continued involvement in the war broke out all over the country, especially on college campuses, and these continued in the following years. The Democrats, formerly in perfect unity under Johnson's capable hands, split into multiple factions, some sticking by the President and others demanding the war's immediate end. Johnson went on air and shocked the country by saying that not only would no further troops be sent to Vietnam, but that he would not be seeking reelection later that year. This left the Democratic ticket wide open for anyone to take. JFK's brother [[RobertFKennedy Bobby]] entered the race at the last minute, and, when it looked like he would win the party's convention and possibly the presidency, he was fatally shot. When the Democratic convention eventually happened in Chicago, angry protesters demanding peace eventually [[{{Irony}} got involved in brutal clashes with thousands of police officers]]. Johnson's Vice President, UsefulNotes/HubertHumphrey, won during all the commotion. Meanwhile, this gave the Republicans, who nominated UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, the perfect chance to win. Thus, Johnson's time in office ended in tragedy, just like how it began in tragedy.[[note]]It can be argued that the defeat of 1968 was such a heavy blow to the Democrats that they ''still'' haven't fully recovered. Since FDR's time, the Republicans only won the presidency once, and they did so by choosing the most popular man in the country, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, for their nominee]]. The Democrats were clearly the majority party, and they were unified by capable party leaders like FDR and LBJ. 1968, however, saw the DeepSouth, once a safe zone for the Democrats, leave for the Republicans, and the broken Democrats continued fighting each other for years while the Republicans started to gain more unity and power. Now, the conservative Republicans became the majority party. Other factors, of course, played into it, such as the revival of conservative philosophies (like AynRand) and the aging of the country's population, but the party split in the late 60's is arguably the greatest cause. Nixon and the Republicans started to appeal to the South, and the Southern Strategy became the Republican Party's biggest guarantee of winning the White House for decades. The two greatest popular vote and Electoral College vote margins since Johnson were won by Nixon and RonaldReagan, both Republicans. Meanwhile, this had dire consequences for liberalism for decades. In order to win more moderate and independent votes following the resurgence of conservatism, the Democrats became the centrist party, with platforms pretty similar to the Republican platform when they were the centrist party during the liberal years of the New Deal coalition. Before the election of BarackObama in 2008, the only Democrats in the White House were unpopular one-termer JimmyCarter and the very moderate BillClinton. (Not coincidentally, both were Southerners.) However, if Obama getting elected twice despite not winning almost any Southern state is any indication, it looks like the Democrats are starting to slowly rebound. We'll see in the next several years.[[/note]]

And then the Tet Offensive happened in 1968. This was a series of multiple attacks aimed at just about every American and South Vietnamese stronghold in the South. The goal of the North was to provoke a general uprising among the South Vietnamese people against the unpopular central government, and sweep them to a quick and decisive victory. It failed miserably: the people did not revolt, the North Vietnamese Army suffered massive casualties, and the Viet Cong was so devastated that it never fully recovered. None of that really mattered, however. The American people, having been told repeatedly that the communists were on the verge of defeat, were outraged that an offensive on this scale could take place. The psychological impact of the offensive had not been anticipated by the communists, and demoralization was not their intention, but when they saw the effects [[IMeantToDoThat they began broadcasting the offensive as a brilliant success]]. Protests against continued involvement in the war broke out all over the country, especially on college campuses, and these continued in the following years. The Democrats, formerly in perfect unity under Johnson's capable hands, split into multiple factions, some sticking by the President and others demanding the war's immediate end. Johnson went on air and shocked the country by saying that not only would no further troops be sent to Vietnam, but that he would not be seeking reelection later that year. This left the Democratic ticket wide open for anyone to take. JFK's brother [[RobertFKennedy Bobby]] entered the race at the last minute, and, when it looked like he would win the party's convention and possibly the presidency, he was fatally shot. When the Democratic convention eventually happened in Chicago, angry protesters demanding peace eventually [[{{Irony}} got involved in brutal clashes with thousands of police officers]]. Johnson's Vice President, HubertHumphrey, won during all the commotion. Meanwhile, this gave the Republicans, who nominated RichardNixon, the perfect chance to win. Thus, Johnson's time in office ended in tragedy, just like how it began in tragedy.[[note]]It can be argued that the defeat of 1968 was such a heavy blow to the Democrats that they ''still'' haven't fully recovered. Since FDR's time, the Republicans only won the presidency once, and they did so by [[DwightDEisenhower choosing the most popular man in the country for their nominee]]. The Democrats were clearly the majority party, and they were unified by capable party leaders like FDR and LBJ. 1968, however, saw the Deep South, once a safe zone for the Democrats, leave for the Republicans, and the broken Democrats continued fighting each other for years while the Republicans started to gain more unity and power. Now, the conservative Republicans became the majority party. Other factors, of course, played into it, such as the revival of conservative philosophies (like AynRand) and the aging of the country's population, but the party split in the late 60's is arguably the greatest cause. Nixon and the Republicans started to appeal to the South, and the Southern Strategy became the Republican Party's biggest guarantee of winning the White House for decades. The two greatest popular vote and Electoral College vote margins since Johnson were won by Nixon and RonaldReagan, both Republicans. Meanwhile, this had dire consequences for liberalism for decades. In order to win more moderate and independent votes following the resurgence of conservatism, the Democrats became the centrist party, with platforms pretty similar to the Republican platform when they were the centrist party during the liberal years of the New Deal coalition. Before the election of BarackObama in 2008, the only Democrats in the White House were unpopular one-termer JimmyCarter and the very moderate BillClinton. (Not coincidentally, both were Southerners.) However, if Obama getting elected twice despite not winning almost any Southern state is any indication, it looks like the Democrats are starting to slowly rebound. We'll see in the next several years.[[/note]]

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: With his Vice President HubertHumphrey. Johnson was a boisterous, domineering loudmouth who enjoyed hunting and speeding along his ranch in a pickup truck. Humphrey was a gabby, yet sensitive man who was prone to tearing up. He also let Johnson dominate him during the extent of their working relationship.

Following Kennedy's death, public sympathy was largely for the Democrats. Johnson was elected to his only full term in a landslide in 1964, with help from the infamous "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_(advertisement) Daisy Girl]]" ad, which painted his Republican opponent, Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, as a warmongering extremist who might well start World War III (for the record, Goldwater did say he would use nuclear weapons in Vietnam if he had to). Johnson won a 61.1% landslide with the popular vote (the largest popular vote landslide in modern American history, surpassed only by the landslides which swept some of the Founding Fathers into office) as well as 44 states, including, for the first time in the Democratic Party's history, Vermont; in much the same vein, Georgia voted for Goldwater, the first time ''it'' had ever voted Republican. There were also huge Democratic gains in Congress, leaving Johnson free to pass almost any legislation. [[note]]In hindsight, this colossal defeat for the Republicans was a blessing in disguise. Since they were not in the White House during the peak of the Vietnam War, they escaped much of the blame for it. Goldwater's then-staunchly conservative positions on most issues helped move the Republicans to the right after their center-leaning ideology in the post-WWII years. This paved the way for RonaldReagan. Additionally, most of the Republicans who lost reelection that year were from the party's old guard, clearing the way for younger politicians with fresher ideas to get elected in those seats.[[/note]] Because Johnson had ascended to the presidency with less than two years of Kennedy's term remaining, LBJ could therefore run again in 1968 and still be under the ten-year maximum a person can serve as President in place under the Twenty-second Amendment. We'll get to that part later. Meanwhile, the Democrats also won huge landslides in both houses of Congress, which gave them the chance to pass sweeping liberal bills for the first time since the days of FDR and the New Deal.

Following Kennedy's death, public sympathy was largely for the Democrats. Johnson was elected to his only full term in a landslide in 1964, with help from the infamous "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_(advertisement) Daisy Girl]]" ad, which painted his Republican opponent, Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, as a warmongering extremist who might well start World War III (for the record, Goldwater did say he would use nuclear weapons in Vietnam if he had to). Johnson won a 61.1% landslide with the popular vote (the largest popular vote landslide in modern American history) as well as 44 states, including, for the first time in the Democratic Party's history, Vermont; in much the same vein, Georgia voted for Goldwater, the first time ''it'' had ever voted Republican. There were also huge Democratic gains in Congress, leaving Johnson free to pass almost any legislation. [[note]]In hindsight, this colossal defeat for the Republicans was a blessing in disguise. Since they were not in the White House during the peak of the Vietnam War, they escaped much of the blame for it. Goldwater's then-staunchly conservative positions on most issues helped move the Republicans to the right after their center-leaning ideology in the post-WWII years. This paved the way for RonaldReagan. Additionally, most of the Republicans who lost reelection that year were from the party's old guard, clearing the way for younger politicians with fresher ideas to get elected in those seats.[[/note]] Because Johnson had ascended to the presidency with less than two years of Kennedy's term remaining, LBJ could therefore run again in 1968 and still be under the ten-year maximum a person can serve as President in place under the Twenty-second Amendment. We'll get to that part later. Meanwhile, the Democrats also won huge landslides in both houses of Congress, which gave them the chance to pass sweeping liberal bills for the first time since the days of FDR and the New Deal.

->''"If one morning [[WalkOnWater I walked on top of the water]] across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: '[[AccentuateTheNegative President Can't Swim.]]'"''\\
--'''Lyndon Johnson'''

''How many kids did you kill today?"''\\
--'''Popular anti-UsefulNotes/VietnamWar protest chant'''

* An unnamed Johnson is seen from behind, petting his beagle, in ''BatmanTheMovie'', as he announces the fate of the representatives of the [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations United World Organization]].

Johnson became Vice President, and he was known for being bored with the job. Since the office of Vice President has been [[UsefulNotes/JohnAdams famously]] known for being very useless, LBJ didn't get to do too much, and Kennedy sought him for advice on an infrequent basis. He did get to head the National Aeronautics Space Council, though, so that's cool. He might well have been forgotten by history, had the events of November 22, 1963 not intervened. The death of Kennedy meant Johnson became President, being sworn in on AirForceOne, with a Roman Catholic missal as no Bible was available.