Lyndon Baines Johnson - 36th President of the United States- born August 27, 1908 in Stonewall (Texas), died January 22, 1973 in Stonewall (Texas). President of the United States from November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969.

In public opinion polls about the performance and personality of presidents, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson consistently ranks one of the last places. Most Americans view the 36th president as a power-obsessed and cunning opportunist who tried to dominate and manipulate and embroiled the country in the only war the United States has ever lost. Traumatic events marred his presidency, beginning with the violent death of John F. Kennedy and followed by student riots and severe racial unrest. It ended with the assassination of African-American civil rights activist and peace prize winner Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, who was the hope of the younger generation.

The distant war in the jungle dashed Johnson's promise of peace, freedom and prosperity - Vietnam became America's nemesis, and the president became a traitor to the "American Dream". His social and legislative achievements and services in the field of civil rights have been almost completely forgotten.

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas, exactly 100 kilometers west of Austin. His father, Samuel Johnson Jr., was a farmer, broker, and later a railroad employee. Temporary member of the Democratic Party in the Texas House of Representatives. Mother Rebecca Baines left the profession of journalist after her marriage. Lyndon Johnson, his three younger sisters and brother did not grow up in poverty, as he later constantly claimed. Conditions were modest, but electricity and running water were not available in the early decades of the 20th century anywhere in the Texas hill country, a landscape to which Johnson was tied his entire life. The years of his youth left their mark on him: the family's economic opportunities were limited, and it suffered from a constant fall in prices for agricultural products. The family was forced to go into debt so that Lyndon Johnson could get an education at Southwestern Texas State Normal College. For an ambitious, smart, sensitive and insecure young man in constant need of self-affirmation, college was not an incentive. The results of the history and English specialization were average. He first showed his almost limitless energy and indomitable work pressure, which until the end of his life rarely allowed him to sleep more than 4 hours a day, during school practice in 1928 - 1829. He taught extremely successfully to the children of Mexican immigrants in a segregated school in Cotulla, Texas. This made a great impression on the local nobility and college teachers. When Democratic Representative Richard Kleber was looking for an assistant at the end of 1931, the choice fell on Lyndon Johnson. While serving as bureau chief in Washington, which at that time was under the sign of the global economic crisis, he gained considerable experience and established numerous contacts. As if by chance, in September 1934, I met Claudia Alta Taylor, whom the family called “Lady Bird.” They married, at Johnson's insistence, two months later. In 1935, he was appointed director of the National Youth Administration in Texas, an agency for unemployed youth. His reputation as an active, liberal supporter of the New Deal and an excellent organizer secured the 28-year-old Johnson a seat in the House of Representatives in the 1937 special election. As a zealous champion of his Texas constituency and home region, Johnson spent more than $70 million on jobs and a dam project, winning the hearts of all segments of the population. At the same time, Johnson also received personal benefits. The income with which he supported the entire family increased significantly thanks to gifts and morally questionable investment guidelines. In 1941, he failed to enter the Senate as a result of election manipulation by his rival.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a first lieutenant in the reserve, Johnson was decorated in 1942 for combat operations in the Pacific, in which he participated as an observer. In 1948, with a sharp change in the distribution of votes between the parties, he was able to win his competitor with a slight advantage of 87 votes in the primary elections for the Senate, which were also accompanied by illegal actions. In program terms, he managed not to cause discontent anywhere. He promised poor voters an expansion of Social Security and subsidies for agriculture, offered himself as a defender of the oil industry's interests, and hinted at conservatives his opposition to President Truman's progressive civil rights policies. In foreign policy, he stood out for his categorical anti-communism, energetically advocated increasing the defense budget and approved of the Marshall Plan and NATO. This program was typical of Johnson's policies. He tried to amicably accommodate individual interests, to find a unifying middle path, and as a senator, and later as president, to be a representative, and indeed a servant, of all Americans. In September, Johnson quickly made his career. Already in 1951, he became the parliamentary organizer of the democratic faction, a year later - the leader of the minority faction, and after the elections to Congress, in November 1954, the leader of the majority. He, like no one else, saw through the complex interweaving of power in Congress and the relationship between the Senate, the House of Representatives and the President. An outstanding tactician, he became one of the most influential people in Washington. It was not his public appearances that created his respect and influence, but his actions behind the scenes. The most important results of his activities in the Senate were the discrediting of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who launched an anti-communist “witch hunt” that went too far even from Johnson’s point of view, the publication of the Space Act in 1958, and participation in the creation of the National Aeronautics and Exploration Administration outer space (NASA). The implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was seen as a particular success of Johnson's. Proposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, this relatively ineffective law would have given African Americans in the South the right to vote, which had previously been widely opposed. Without Johnson's active participation, even this modest beginning on the road to full civil rights could not be realized. He watered down Eisenhower's original proposal for a special jurisdiction through which African-Americans could challenge their right to vote. Like other legislators from the South, Johnson viewed this as one-sided discrimination against the southern states. When he struck that clause out of the draft, he was already speaking out as a supporter of long-overdue civil rights reforms. His moderate stance found widespread support in Congress, defusing the swelling crisis between North and South, between conservative and liberal Democrats, and paved the way for the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

In the 1960 election, political observers gave Johnson a good chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination. However, the expectation that he would wait and hope until the various contenders mutually excluded each other and in the end he would remain the only favorite did not materialize. When he announced his candidacy on July 5, 1960, a few days before the start of the Democratic Convention, it was already too late. It was not he, but John F. Kennedy who became the spokesman for the hopes of a party internally divided by conflicts. To win votes in the South, Johnson was forced to settle for an honorable but politically uninfluential second vice presidency under Kennedy. The following years were characterized by disappointment. Harvard-educated and confident, clearly enjoying his position, Kennedy engendered great insecurity and feelings of inferiority in the Texas political cowboy. Compelled to pure representation, Johnson tried in vain to give his office a contour. Kennedy did not use his contacts with the Senate and did not involve him, with few exceptions, in political decision-making processes. But in the field of astronautics and the issue of civil rights, Kennedy recognized a certain responsibility for his deputy. Also, numerous trips abroad did not provide him with the opportunity to develop politically, but served to represent the United States and its president. Among other trips, he visited West Berlin on August 19, 1961, a few days after the wall went up, to demonstrate America's continued and unrestricted support to the besieged city. He was enthusiastically received by a million Berliners.

Kennedy's assassination immediately brought Johnson into the center of power; on November 22, 1963, his car was directly behind Kennedy's when the fatal shots were fired at the president. Security officers threw him onto the floor of the car, which followed the dying Kennedy to the hospital at crazy speed. At 2:39 p.m., about two hours after the tragic events, Johnson was sworn in on board a military aircraft. The first action of the new president, whose swearing-in seemed to some to be a strange excessive haste, and to others to ensure American viability, was the order: “Let's fly up.” Like the vast majority of Americans, he was deeply shocked by the events in Dallas. He behaved tactfully and generously towards Kennedy's widow and former employees. Most were successfully offered to remain in the government. But he combined personal involvement with a subtle instinct for people in power. Kennedy's popularity, his myth and the atmosphere of stupor after the assassination could be perfectly turned into political capital. Finally, Roosevelt appeared to be equal to the ideal of Franklin D. Johnson's program was one of personnel and political continuity. Moreover, he strongly advocated the strengthening and expansion of existing social policies. And in his first government statement, on January 8, 1964, he declared an “unconditional war against poverty.”

Like no other president before him, Johnson understood the legislative process and the weaknesses and strengths of the American government system. Since the time of Roosevelt, he has been a supporter of an active federal government and a strong institution of the presidency. Not only did he view foreign policy as the domain of the president: in domestic policy, he gave Congress the function of a political means of correction, a power that rules on the initiative of the president. The Texas schoolteacher, who had risen to the level of majority leader in Congress over many years, viewed his government as a family, as his property. In this sphere of personal power, where the abbreviation “LBD” reigned everywhere, he ruled without limit. He pushed himself and his employees to extremes, controlled all government affairs and personally monitored every political process. In the first two years of his presidency, he eclipsed all other constitutional bodies - one became the dominant political factor.

Introduced by Kennedy, but stuck in Congress, he was able to pass a civil rights law within the shortest possible time. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which finally gave African-Americans in the South the right to vote and introduced equal rights for men and women, is rightly seen as a major step toward equal rights for the sexes and for ethnic and religious minorities since the Bill. about the rights of 1791. Johnson's overwhelming electoral victory over arch-conservative Republican Barry Goldwater in November 1964—Johnson won with a majority of 15 million votes (61.1 percent of the popular vote)—gave him the opportunity to realize his lifelong dream: to fulfill his hope, cherished since his teaching days, to improve living conditions of all Americans. The stream of laws that Congress, at the initiative of the Johnson administration, passed under the slogan of the “Great Society” over the next two years does not reveal a single programmatic structure and does not flow from any ideological pattern. Johnson was a pragmatist and understood himself as such. Unlike his predecessor, he knew how to deftly deal with Congress. Masterfully won over reluctant senators and waited for the right moment to introduce legislation. It is not for nothing that the 89th Congress went down in American history as the “Congress of Implementation.” With his intentions, Johnson was responding to the ever-growing pressure from liberal America, the African-American civil rights movement, the women's movement and student protesters. Earl Warren's Supreme Court also signaled the need for sweeping societal reforms in a number of significant decisions in civil rights cases. But Johnson not only did not go with the flow of social development, but tried to influence and manage it.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 doubled African-American voting in the South within one year. Another legislative milestone was the creation of health insurance for the elderly and poor, as well as measures to develop schools, universities, museums and other educational institutions. Inner-city housing construction was encouraged, sweeping laws were passed to protect the environment, and consumer protections were created. The new immigration law abolished the discriminatory provisions of the 20s against Asian immigrants and favored foreign American immigration. Against the backdrop of a thriving economy, Johnson was even able to carry out the tax cuts planned by Kennedy for private traders and specialists. The average income of American families increased by 85% during the 1960s. However, already in 1967, numerous social programs were cut and taxes were raised again, because the war in Vietnam was drawing huge sums of money. Activities such as food cards for the poor turned out to be a heavy burden on the federal budget in the future. Despite its shortcomings and deviations, the successes of the “Great Society” are impressive: if in 1965 exactly 90% of African-Americans living in the South could not participate in elections and only a few hundred of them occupied high government positions throughout the country, then twenty years later, black participation in elections matched the percentage of white Americans, and 6,000 African-Americans held significant government positions. If in 1965 more than half of all retirees had no health insurance and a third of them lived below the official poverty line, then twenty years later these social phenomena had been eliminated. The number of Americans living below the poverty level fell from 17% in 1965 to 11% in 1973, and if government food benefits are included, then in 1973 this number was no more than 6.5%. Then, however, the development trend turned back.

In foreign policy, Johnson followed Kennedy's direction. He cautiously advocated better cooperation with the Soviet Union. Against significant resistance in Congress, but to the delight of American farmers, he provided large loans to Moscow for the purchase of grain: in 1968 he signed a treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and at the end of his presidency he worked to enter into negotiations on limitation of atomic weapons (SALT-1). However, the introduction of American troops into the Dominican Republic, shaken by political crises (1965), finally showed him as a traditional champion of the policy of containment and led to a loss of sympathy for the United States in Latin America. Johnson interpreted the call for reform as an attempt at Cuban-led communist subversion. Known as the Johnson Doctrine, his justification for participation in hostilities stated that the United States must protect its citizens everywhere (May 2, 1965). American-German relations were increasingly burdened by the problem of foreign exchange compensation. Johnson's rejected demand that the federal government under Ludwig Erhard, as a reward for the deployment of American troops, increase the purchase of weapons in the United States in order to stabilize the exchange rate between dollars and the West German mark, contributed to the overthrow of the chancellor in the fall of 1966. In the Six Day War (June 5-10, 1967), the Johnson administration sided with Israel and thus deviated more than the Kennedy administration from the neutral line that Eisenhower tried to adhere to in the Middle East conflict.

His ossified friend-enemy mentality and fear that he was opposing a global communist conspiracy proved fatal for Johnson. Not social, but foreign policy became the center of his presidency. Screaming misjudgments and information policies that deliberately concealed the scale of American activity in Vietnam resulted in 1967 and 1968. in a severe crisis of society with chaotic and bloody clashes. After the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963 by the Vietnamese military, who were in contact with CIA agents, the internal political situation in South Vietnam worsened. The National Liberation Front (NLF), an alliance of communists and reform-oriented bourgeois forces, could take power by political and military force and threatened to take control of a country ruled by successive military juntas. Johnson responded to this by sending away more military advisers and arming the South Vietnamese troops. The still unresolved military incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, in which American warships were fired upon by North Vietnamese naval forces, he used August 7, 1964 as a pretext to push the already prepared Gulf of Tonkin resolution through Congress without any opposition. This decision gave the president the authority to use “appropriate means” to repel attacks on American troops. Understood by Congress as a defense decision on a case-by-case basis, the Tonkin Resolution provided Johnson and his top advisers, Foreign Secretary Dean Rusk, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, and Security Adviser McGeorge Band with a kind of “blank authority.” ” and the functional equivalent of a declaration of war. The number of American soldiers in South Vietnam grew steadily in subsequent years and reached 550,000 in the spring of 1968, although at the end of 1964 there were 23,000 American troops there. The South Vietnamese Civil War became international in scope and became a war by the United States against communist North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and his collaborators in the South. Massive bombing, in which three times more explosives were dropped on North and South Vietnam than in the Second World War (7.5 million tons in total), was supposed to bring victory over the communists. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, the infrastructure and economy of the North were completely destroyed, but against the guerrilla tactics of the NLF and the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, as well as against the mistrust of the rural population, the means of conventional warfare were powerless.

Since 1966, the war has dominated the American media. Day after day, television broadcast images of terrible events into millions of American apartments. Its own losses were increasing (up to 1969, more than 23,000 dead), and Johnson’s assertion that the United States was walking down winner’s street sounded like a mockery. Confidence in the president's optimistic statements completely collapsed in the spring of 1968. If shortly before this, Commander-in-Chief General William Westmoreland still saw “light at the end of the tunnel,” then the offensive in February 1968 proved the enemy’s unyielding fighting strength. Fierce battles lasting for weeks for cities previously held by American and South Vietnamese troops, and primarily battles on the protected territory of the American embassy in Saigon, deeply shocked the American population. For the NLF, the offensive was a military failure - the expected uprising in the cities did not take place, the losses in manpower were enormous, and from then on the war was coordinated exclusively by North Vietnam. The political impact on the United States, however, was very serious. Senator William Fulbright's apostrophe "You are the arrogance of power" undermined the authority of the United States in the world, Americans' self-confidence, and dashed Johnson's desire to go down in history as a great president.

After Democratic war opponent and critic of Johnson, Eugene F. McCarthy, unexpectedly won the Hampshire primary on March 12 and the promising Robert Kennedy entered the race for the presidency four days later, on March 31, 1968, Johnson announced an end to the bombing of North Vietnam and on refusal to participate in elections as president. His hope, despite the war, to move forward and finance the “great society” turned out to be deceptive and dangerous. In the eyes of many Americans, Johnson has become untrustworthy. For them, fighting against poverty in their own country and fighting against a poor country far from America were no longer consistent. In the radicalized political climate of 1968, a middle position was no longer possible. Johnson was criticized from all sides. Some considered him a waste of public money, which would have been better spent on overcoming poverty; for others, his military policy in Vietnam was too indecisive and cowardly.

In foreign policy, the United States found itself in a difficult position due to the international political responsibility it assumed - in Vietnam, American power came up against its limits. The “globalization” of American foreign policy significantly limited the actions of the United States in suppressing the Prague Spring to the search for the Warsaw Pact (August 21, 1968). Internally, 1968 was characterized by severe unrest. Following the assassination of Martin Luther Book on April 4, 1968, severe racial unrest occurred in 125 cities in the United States, shaking the foundations of American society to its core. Demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of Americans were combined with the protest movement of African-Americans and eventually resulted in a general critique by the younger generation of social shortcomings, social norms and “the system” as such.

Johnson tried to politically protect his legacy by supporting the nomination of his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, who, after the death of Robert Kennedy, wanted to win the election with a ridiculous campaign of “joy politics.” Five days before the presidential election on October 30, 1968, Johnson announced the start of peace negotiations with North Vietnam. By this he wanted to attract numerous voters to Humphrey, but this was not enough for the Democrats to win the elections.

Johnson and his popular wife, “Lady Bird,” who also vigorously advocated for improvements in the living conditions of poor Americans during the successful years of the Great Society, returned to their Texas ranch in January 1969. Physically tired, without illusions and mentally broken, Johnson almost did not appear on the public stage until his death on January 22, 1973.

Historical descriptions are now trying to fairly assess his personality and his life’s work. As a social reformer, Lyndon B. Johnson ranks with Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt among the great presidents of the United States. However, the man who for almost twenty years as a senator, vice-president and president largely shaped the destiny of his country will forever remain an unloved figure. His name will remain inextricably linked with the American disaster in Vietnam. Like the Vietnam War, Johnson was long pushed out of America's collective memory, and even his achievements were criticized in conservative America in the 70s and 80s.

In preparing the material, I used Mark Frey’s article “The Great Society and Vietnam Trauma.”

Date of birth: August 27, 1908
Date of death: January 22, 1973
Place of birth: Texas, USA

Johnson Lyndon Baines- one of a galaxy of prominent American figures of the twentieth century. Also Lyndon Johnson known as the former President of the United States.

Lyndon was born in Texas, into a farmer's family near Stonewall. He studied at a regular school, and then went to receive further education at the Teachers College, which was part of the University of Texas. Soon the former student himself became a teacher in the field of rhetoric.

His talent for speaking in front of the public was noticed, and the young man was invited by Congressmen Kleberg to the position of personal secretary.

Lyndon became interested in politics and joined the Democratic Party. Soon the talented young man was promoted to the level of commissioner of the national administration dealing with youth affairs in Texas.

The next career step soon followed - the young politician reached the federal level and took a seat in the House of Representatives, representing, naturally, Texas. Soon he had appointments to all the Congressional committees that had the greatest influence. A direction was taken for the New Deal.

Lyndon soon decided to run for the Senate. He was supported by Roosevelt, who provided the majority of the resulting three dozen percent. Perhaps his next appointments were related to the US building up its military power.

The politician took seats on the House Committee, first on Navy Affairs, and then on the entire Armed Forces. In addition, he was directly involved in a committee related to research in the field of nuclear energy.

Soon the politician managed to become a senator. Using his instincts, he made the acquaintance of the Democrat R. Russell, who had great influence in the highest political circles, and received two chairs on two committees.

One was the Armaments Committee, the other was the Trade Committee. This allowed Lyndon to rise almost to the very top of his political career - first he became a deputy, and then the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate.

Soon the finest hour of the already famous politician came - he decided to take the chair of the head of state. He was supported by the Democratic Party, but despite this, he lost both rounds of the primary elections.

As a result, the politician got the role of vice president. But soon everything changed - the president was killed, and his seat suddenly became vacant. The decision was made with lightning speed,

Lyndon, literally a few hours after the assassination attempt, already took the oath and became acting leader. O. head of state. Due to the death of the previous president, the politician was able to run for a second term and won the election.

Entry into the Vietnam War significantly reduced the president's ratings, and he did not go to the next elections. He returned to his homeland, Texas, began writing his memoirs and sometimes gave lectures at the local university. In 1973 he died of a heart attack.

Achievements of Lyndon Johnson:

Was President of the United States for six years
Legislatively abolished racial inequality
Introduced one of the health insurance systems
Approved several significant laws on motor vehicles
Entered the war with Vietnam

Dates from the biography of Lyndon Johnson:

1908 was born
1931 became secretary of R. Kleberg
1937 Became a member of the US House of Representatives
1941 Senate campaign begins
1948 became a senator
1954 Re-elected to another term in the Senate
1961 became vice president
1963 Became President of the United States
1969 resigned as president
Died 1973

Interesting Lyndon Johnson Facts:

Took over as president after Kennedy. Several hours passed from the assassination attempt to the taking of the oath of office as head of state.
He paid great attention to the problems of assassinations - both of presidents and ordinary people.
One of the first problems on which the presidential work began was the fight against poverty.
Became Nixon's predecessor.
Died of a second heart attack caused by smoking habit
Served in the United States Navy for a year as a lieutenant commander.

Lyndon Baines Johnson is the 36th President of the United States, a Democrat, who served in office from 1963 to 1969.

early years

Lyndon Jones was born in Texas on August 27, 1908, near Stonewall. As a child, he went to school, then graduated from Teachers College in San Marcos in the same state of Texas. For some time he worked as a teacher of rhetoric and polemics in one of the schools in Houston.

First steps in politics

In 1931, special elections to Congress were held in the United States. The wealthy rancher R. Kleberg, having won this election, hired Lyndon Johnson as secretary. So the young provincial teacher ended up in Washington to begin a dizzying political career.

He was a conscientious assistant to Kleberg, scrupulously delved into the work of Congress, and made useful contacts among the political elite. As a result, in 1935 he received an independent position in his native Texas, becoming the authorized representative of the US government on youth affairs.

Two years later, not without Roosevelt’s support, he entered Congress, worked on its committees, supporting Roosevelt’s new course of policy. Johnson lost his first attempt to be elected to the Senate (1941) by a minimal margin. For several years (1941–1948), Johnson served as a volunteer in the Army and on the Congressional Committees on Military Policy and Atomic Energy.

His goal of entering the Senate was realized in 1948. There he received important appointments in the committees on the armed forces, as well as on foreign and domestic trade. Then - increasingly higher steps on the ladder of a political career: in 1951 - deputy leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, and in 1955 - already leader.

Presidential elections

Johnson lost his bold attempt to become US President in 1960 in the first round. Kennedy was then elected leader. But Johnson was still lucky: Kennedy appointed him, a Democrat, to the post of vice president, which greatly amazed the inner circle of both politicians. Their tandem was quite successful.

During his presidency, on November 22, 1963, tragic news spread around the world: President John Kennedy was assassinated. His successor, Lyndon Johnson, flew to Dallas, to the site of the tragedy, and on board the plane already took the presidential oath. Within five days, at his request, Congress approved a number of laws initiated by Kennedy in his New Frontier program, including laws on tax cuts and civil rights, and also took his own initiative - introducing an anti-poverty law into Congress.

Showing diplomatic wisdom, Johnson decisively and competently resolved several international conflicts, in particular in Panama, Cuba, and Cyprus. But the main events of those years were still. In 1964, as the opposing forces in Vietnam began to win, Johnson sent an additional 5,000 troops there and ensured that Congress would accept any action he took to prevent "further aggression" in the region.

In 1964, Johnson won the next presidential election with a gap of almost 16 million votes. In a short time, he managed to do a lot for US citizens. For example, his Medicare program mandated quality health care for the elderly and poor. He increased the budget for education in the country to four billion dollars. In addition, Congress approved his laws to protect the voting rights of African Americans, as well as more progressive immigration laws.

On his initiative, the Ministry of Housing was created, and then the Ministry of Transport. His programs for housing subsidies for the needy, the environment, social insurance, transportation, medicine and education earned him the trust and sympathy of US citizens.

Decline in popularity

The war in Vietnam was gaining momentum. The size of the American army there increased to five hundred and forty thousand, and more and more money had to be spent on this war. In addition, sending American troops against the communists in the Dominican Republic also took up considerable US resources. All this became the basis for the decline in Johnson's popularity.

His rating increased slightly with A. Kosygin (1967) and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968), but very soon began to decline again. After the difficult and tragic events that occurred in early 1968, Johnson proposed that Vietnam create a joint world conference. The parties did not find agreement for a long time, until the day (10/31/1968) when the United States stopped bombing Vietnam.

03/31/1969 Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for the next presidential term. But in the remaining months of his presidency, he still tried to achieve détente between the two countries in negotiations with the USSR. He was going to visit the Kremlin for this purpose. But on August 20, 1969, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. Negotiations, naturally, were postponed.

Moreover, the Senate refused to sign the ratification of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the Kremlin. After being elected President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson went to his Texas ranch, wrote his memoirs, and occasionally lectured at State University. Johnson died on January 22, 1973 in his homeland.

Lyndon Baines Johnson. Born August 27, 1908 in Stonewall, Gillespie County, Texas - died January 22, 1973. 36th President of the United States from the Democratic Party from November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969.

Born August 27, 1908 near Stonewall, Texas. He graduated from Johnson City High School and Southwestern Texas State Teachers College at Texas State University at San Marcos. He taught polemics and rhetoric at the Sam Houston School in Houston.

In 1931, Congressman R. Kleberg invited Lyndon Johnson to serve as his secretary. In August 1935, Johnson was appointed Texas commissioner of the National Youth Administration.

In 1937, he was elected to the US House of Representatives from Texas's 10th congressional district. Johnson received appointments to influential congressional committees and became an active champion of the New Deal. In 1941 he launched his first campaign for election to the Senate. Despite the support, Johnson finished second among 29 contenders in the primary.

He became a member of the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1942, and a member of the Armed Services Committee in 1947. He also participated in the work of the special committee on military policy and the joint committee on atomic energy.

In 1948, Johnson entered the Senate. There he became close with the influential Democrat R. Russell from Georgia and received two appointments: to the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Foreign and Interstate Commerce. In 1951 he was elected deputy leader, and in 1955 - leader of the Democrats in the Senate. In 1954 he was re-elected to the Senate.

In 1960, Johnson decided to run for the Democratic nomination for president. He was actively supported by Harold Hunt. Johnson announced his candidacy on July 5, a few days before the party's national convention. In the first round of the primary elections, he suffered a serious defeat, and in the second he lost to John Kennedy and was appointed vice-presidential candidate. Following Kennedy's victory in the 1960 presidential election, Lyndon Johnson assumed office as vice president on January 20, 1961.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated, and from that day Johnson began serving as president. Johnson (riding in the same motorcade as the President) assumed the duties of President, taking the oath of office aboard Presidential Airplane 1 at Dallas Airfield just before departing for Washington.

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President Johnson spoke at the White House and presented grim statistics on murders in the United States. Since 1885, he said, one out of every three American presidents has been assassinated, and one out of every five presidents has been assassinated.

One of President Johnson's messages to Congress stated that every 26 minutes in the United States there is one rape, every 5 minutes there is one robbery, every minute there is a car theft and every 28 seconds there is one theft. The state's financial losses as a result of crime amount to $27 billion a year.

One of Johnson's first initiatives was to create a "Great Society" in which there would be no poverty. Congress has allocated about a billion dollars for these purposes.

Adopted in 1964 The Civil Rights Act ended racial segregation in the American South. National health insurance (Medicare) was established. In the 1964 presidential election, Johnson was elected President of the United States by a significant margin, despite the fact that the South, dissatisfied with the abolition of segregation, voted for a Republican for the first time in 100 years, the famous Cold War hawk Barry Goldwater.

Johnson re-entered office in January 1965, less than 2 years after Kennedy's death, and was therefore eligible to run for another term.

In 1966, Johnson won measures to create a "teacher corps", a housing grant program for needy families, a "model cities" program, new measures to combat water and air pollution, a program to build improved highways, increased social security payments, new measures in medical and vocational rehabilitation. The Johnson administration also took a number of measures to increase road safety - lawyer and political activist Ralph Nader convinced congressmen of the benefits of this project, in particular, in his book “Dangerous at Any Speed: The Design Flaws of the American Car.” In September 1966, Johnson signed two highway transportation bills. Funds have been created for state and local governments to develop traffic safety programs. State safety standards for cars and tires were also introduced.

However, the Great Society program was later curtailed due to US intervention in the Vietnam War.

During Johnson's second term, issues related to the rights of black Americans began to escalate again. In August 1965, riots occurred in the black neighborhood of Los Angeles, resulting in the death of 35 people. The summer of 1967 saw the largest uprisings of the African-American population. 26 people died in Newark, New Jersey, and another 40 died in Detroit. On April 4, 1968, the civil rights leader was assassinated. After this, unrest among the black population began in 125 cities, including Washington.

Due to the Vietnam War, Johnson's popularity had dropped significantly by the fall congressional elections.

The main foreign policy event of Johnson's presidency was Vietnam War. The United States supported the South Vietnamese government in its fight against the communist guerrillas of the MNLF, who, in turn, enjoyed the support of North Vietnam. In August 1964, following two incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam and secured a congressional resolution supporting any action the President deemed necessary to "repel attack on U.S. military forces and prevent further aggression" in the South Vietnamese. East Asia.

In 1964, with the support of the United States, the democratic government of João Goulart was overthrown in Brazil.

In 1965, as part of the proclaimed “Johnson Doctrine,” troops were sent to the Dominican Republic. Johnson himself "justified" the intervention by claiming that communist elements were trying to take control of the rebel movement.

In the summer of 1965, Johnson decided to increase the American contingent in Vietnam. The number of American military forces in Vietnam increased from 20,000 under Kennedy to nearly 540,000 by the end of Johnson's presidency.

In June 1967, President Johnson met at the highest level with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, A. N. Kosygin, in Glassboro, New Jersey, paving the way for the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the President had been seeking for three years.

On January 23, North Korea captured the American reconnaissance ship Pueblo with a crew of 82 people near its shores. A week later, guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, supported by the North Vietnamese army, launched the so-called Tet Offensive, simultaneously attacking many military installations and cities in South Vietnam. One of the largest cities in the country, Hue, was almost completely captured; in addition, the partisans managed to penetrate the territory of the American embassy in Saigon, which received wide coverage in the US media. The attack cast serious doubt on the reports of American officials and military commanders about the successes allegedly achieved in Vietnam. General William Westmoreland, the commander of American forces in Vietnam, requested an additional 206 thousand troops there.

Due to his low popularity, Johnson did not run for president. Richard Nixon won. On January 20, 1969, Nixon was inaugurated, after which Johnson left for his ranch in Texas. He left big politics, wrote memoirs and sometimes gave lectures at the University of Texas. He died on January 22, 1973 in his hometown of Stonewall from a third heart attack. Johnson's widow Claudia Alta (known as "Lady Bird") Johnson died in 2007.

The space center in Houston is named after Johnson. August 27 - Johnson's birthday - is declared a holiday in Texas, but government agencies do not interrupt their work, and other employers can choose whether to give employees a day off or not.

1963 - January 20, 1969 Vice President No (1963-1965)
Hubert Humphrey Predecessor John Kennedy Successor Richard Nixon

	37th Vice President of the United States
January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963

The president John Kennedy Predecessor Richard Nixon Successor position is vacant
Hubert Humphrey

	Senator from Texas
January 3, 1949 - January 3, 1961

Predecessor Wilbert O'Daniel Successor William Blackley

	Member of the House of Representatives from Texas's 10th Congressional District
April 10, 1937 - January 3, 1949

Predecessor James Buchanan Successor Homer Thornberry Birth August 27(1908-08-27 ) […]
Death January 22(1973-01-22 ) […] (64 years old)

• Stonewall [d], Gillespie, Texas, USA

Burial place

• Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park [d]

Birth name English Lyndon Baines Johnson Father Samuel Eli Johnson [d] Mother Rebecca Baines Spouse Lady Bird Johnson Children Linda Bird Johnson Rob [d] And Lucy Baines Johnson [d] The consignment

• Democratic Party

Education Religion Restorationism (Disciples of Christ) Autograph Awards Military service Years of service - Affiliation USA Type of army Naval forces Rank captain-lieutenant Battles The Second World War
Invasion of Salamaua - Lae Media files on Wikimedia Commons

early years

Political career

Presidency period

During Johnson's second term, issues related to the rights of black Americans began to escalate again. In August 1965, riots occurred in the black neighborhood of Los Angeles, resulting in the death of 35 people. The summer of 1967 saw the largest uprisings of the African-American population. 26 people died in Newark, New Jersey, and another 40 died in Detroit. On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated. After this, unrest among the black population began in 125 cities, including Washington.

Due to the Vietnam War, Johnson's popularity had dropped significantly by the fall congressional elections. Anti-war sentiment fueled the rise of the New Left youth movement (SDS, Yippies, etc.), which culminated in protests during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968.

Foreign policy

The main foreign policy event of Johnson's presidency was the Vietnam War. The US supported the South Vietnamese government in its fight against the communist guerrillas of the MNLF, who in turn had the support of North Vietnam. In August 1964, following two incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam and secured a congressional resolution supporting any action the President deemed necessary to "repel attack on U.S. military forces and prevent further aggression" in the South Vietnamese. East Asia.

On January 20, 1969, Nixon was inaugurated, after which Johnson left for his ranch in Texas.

After the presidency

After January 20, 1969, Johnson left big politics, wrote memoirs and sometimes gave lectures at the University of Texas.

In 1972, he sharply criticized the anti-war platform of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, although he supported his candidacy, saying that if McGovern had not been a Democrat, he would not have supported his candidacy.