This paper examines the political career and presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson, arguing that his tenure fundamentally and permanently altered American politics. Beginning with his early career as a congressional secretary and his controversial path through Texas elections, the paper traces Johnson's rise to Senate Majority Leader, Vice President, and ultimately President. It analyzes his landmark civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965, his Great Society domestic agenda, and the tragic contradiction embodied in his escalation of the Vietnam War. The paper concludes that Johnson's secretive management of Vietnam, once revealed, changed how Americans viewed the presidency and politicians forever, while also producing legislation that curtailed presidential power.
The presidency of Lyndon Johnson fundamentally changed American politics forever. In his career, he had an effect on each of the institutions in which he served, but none more so than the presidency. The changes that resulted would not only revise the way in which subsequent presidents operated, but would also change the way in which Americans looked at the office. Because his path to ultimate power was so unique, it is worth examining how he arrived there.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in Stonewall, Texas, on the Pedernales River in the hill country of West Texas, to Rebekah Baines and Sam Johnson. He was one of four children. In 1927, he enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College, and upon graduation he taught debate and public speaking in Houston. After several years, he left to become secretary in 1931 to Congressman Richard M. Kleberg. Johnson applied himself to organizing Kleberg's office and soon began to wield influence well beyond his position, making friends with many influential people in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), including Vice President John Nance Garner, also a Texan.
In 1934, he met and married Claudia Alta Taylor — known also as Lady Bird — on November 17, after a very brief courtship. The following year he left the employ of Congressman Kleberg to become the head of the Texas National Youth Administration. His new post enabled him to build a political base with his constituents. In 1937, Johnson ran for Congress on a New Deal platform in a special election for the 10th Congressional District of Texas, to represent Austin and the surrounding Hill Country, effectively aided by his wife, Lady Bird Johnson.
In 1941, in a special election for the United States Senate, Johnson ran against Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, a popular radio personality. Johnson lost in a close race when late results brought O'Daniel from behind. Johnson had failed to hold back enough votes to overcome the late surge by his opponent. It was a lesson he never forgot. As one biographer described it, Johnson's mistake had enabled his opponents to take his victory away. He had planned, schemed, and maneuvered for ten years — had worked day and night, weekday and weekend — and had won. He had relaxed for one day, and he had lost (Caro, Path to Power, p. 740).
During the campaign, Johnson had promised that if the United States entered the war, he would serve in the military. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he entered the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, earning the Silver Star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. There was some question about the circumstances surrounding the decorations, but he returned to Congress a hero after FDR ordered all members of Congress serving in the military to return to their offices. He continued to serve in the House of Representatives until 1949, when he moved to the Senate.
In 1948, Lyndon Johnson again ran for the Senate and this time won. The election was highly controversial. A three-way Democratic Party primary left Johnson in a run-off with former governor Coke Stevenson. Johnson campaigned hard and won by only 87 votes out of a million cast, earning him the nickname "Landslide Lyndon." In Texas in 1948, winning the primary was tantamount to winning the general election. It was alleged that 202 ballots in Jim Wells County had been added at the last moment to shift the tallies in Johnson's favor. He was helped by George Parr, the "Duke of Duval County." As Caro recounts, another county in Parr's domain was Jim Wells, where reformers' strength had forced Parr to exercise discretion on Election Day. The only precinct in that county run as the Duke preferred was Luis Salas' Precinct 13 (Caro, Means of Ascent, p. 317). The total votes for Johnson originally reported by telephone on Election Night was 765. When the written tallies were opened, he had 965 votes — 200 more than on Election Night. Johnson had learned his lesson from his previous Senate loss.
Johnson prospered in the Senate and assumed the minority leadership in 1953. In 1955, after his reelection to the Senate, he became the Majority Leader. His success in the Senate pushed him into national prominence and ultimately to selection as Vice President for John F. Kennedy in 1960. In 1963, upon Kennedy's assassination, he was elevated to the presidency. In 1964, he was elected in his own right, defeating Barry Goldwater in a landslide.
Johnson had finally reached the pinnacle of power of which he had always dreamed. He had known from the first day he entered politics that he would be president someday, and every move had been made with that ultimate goal in mind. As president, he was determined to leave his mark upon history — and he did, although not entirely in the way he had intended.
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