209 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
209 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ
|
|
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßÛßßßßßÛÛÜ ÜÜßßßßÜÜÜÜ ÜÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÛßß ßÛÛ
|
|
ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÝ Ûß
|
|
ßßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÞÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßßÛÜÞÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÞß
|
|
Mo.iMP ÜÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ßÛß
|
|
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛ
|
|
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ß ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛ
|
|
ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß
|
|
ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
|
|
ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛ Ü ÛÝÛÛÛÛÛ Ü
|
|
ÜÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ßÛÜ ßÛÛÛÜÜ ÜÜÛÛÛß ÞÛ ÞÛÛÛÝ ÜÜÛÛ
|
|
ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÜÜÜß ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛß
|
|
ßÛÜ ÜÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÜÜ ßßÜÛÛßß ßÛÛÜ ßßßÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
|
|
ßßßßß ßßÛÛß ßßßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßß
|
|
ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
|
|
|
|
Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
|
|
[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [Full report on Lyndon ]
|
|
[x]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [B Johnson. ]
|
|
[ ]11-12 [x]Essay/Report [ ]
|
|
[ ]College [ ]Misc [ ]
|
|
|
|
Dizzed: 06/94 # of Words:1511 School: ? State: ?
|
|
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>Chop Here>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
|
|
LYNDON B JOHNSON
|
|
================
|
|
|
|
Early Life.
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
Johnson was born on Aug. 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Tex., the eldest
|
|
son of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father, a
|
|
struggling farmer and cattle speculator in the hill country of Texas,
|
|
provided only an uncertain income for his family. Politically active, Sam
|
|
Johnson served five terms in the Texas legislature. His mother had varied
|
|
cultural interests and placed high value on education; she was fiercely
|
|
ambitious for her children.
|
|
|
|
Johnson attended public schools in Johnson City and received a B.S.
|
|
degree from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. He then
|
|
taught for a year in Houston before going to Washington in 1931 as
|
|
secretary to a Democratic Texas congressman, Richard M. Kleberg. During
|
|
the next 4 years Johnson developed a wide network of political contacts in
|
|
Washington, D.C. On Nov. 17, 1934, he married Claudia Alta Taylor, known
|
|
as "Lady Bird." A warm, intelligent, ambitious woman, she was a great asset
|
|
to Johnson's career. They had two daughters, Lynda Byrd, born in 1944, and
|
|
Luci Baines, born in 1947. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the
|
|
White House. Johnson greatly admired the president, who named him, at age
|
|
27, to head the National Youth Administration in Texas. This job, which
|
|
Johnson held from 1935 to 1937, entailed helping young people obtain
|
|
employment and schooling. It confirmed Johnson's faith in the positive
|
|
potential of government and won for him a group of supporters in Texas.
|
|
|
|
In 1937, Johnson sought and won a Texas seat in Congress, where he
|
|
championed public works, reclamation, and public power programs. When war
|
|
came to Europe he backed Roosevelt's efforts to aid the Allies. During
|
|
World War II he served a brief tour of active duty with the U.S. Navy in
|
|
the Pacific (1941-42) but returned to Capitol Hill when Roosevelt recalled
|
|
members of Congress from active duty. Johnson continued to support
|
|
Roosevelt's military and foreign-policy programs. During the 1940s,
|
|
Johnson and his wife developed profitable business ventures, including a
|
|
radio station, in Texas. In 1948 he ran for the U.S. Senate, winning the
|
|
Democratic party primary by only 87 votes. (This was his second try; in
|
|
1941 he had run for the Senate and lost to a conservative opponent.) The
|
|
opposition accused him of fraud and tagged him "Landslide Lyndon." Although
|
|
challenged, unsuccessfully, in the courts, he took office in 1949.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senator and Vice-President.
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
Johnson moved quickly into the Senate hierarchy. In 1953 he won the job
|
|
of Senate Democratic leader. The next year he was easily reelected as
|
|
senator and returned to Washington as majority leader, a post he held for
|
|
the next 6 years despite a serious heart attack in 1955. The Texan proved
|
|
to be a shrewd, skillful Senate leader. A consistent opponent of civil
|
|
rights legislation until 1957, he developed excellent personal
|
|
relationships with powerful conservative Southerners. A hard worker, he
|
|
impressed colleagues with his attention to the details of legislation and
|
|
his willingness to compromise.
|
|
|
|
In the late 1950s, Johnson began to think seriously of running for the
|
|
presidency in 1960. His record had been fairly conservative, however.
|
|
Many Democratic liberals resented his friendly association with the
|
|
Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower; others considered him a tool
|
|
of wealthy Southwestern gas and oil interests. Either to soften this image
|
|
as a conservative or in response to inner conviction, Johnson moved
|
|
slightly to the left on some domestic issues, especially on civil rights
|
|
laws, which he supported in 1957 and 1960. Although these laws proved
|
|
ineffective, Johnson had demonstrated that he was a very resourceful Senate
|
|
leader.
|
|
|
|
To many northern Democrats, however, Johnson remained a sectional candidate.
|
|
The presidential nomination of 1960 went to Senator John F. Kennedy of
|
|
Massachusetts. Kennedy, a northern Roman Catholic, then selected Johnson as
|
|
his running mate to balance the Democratic ticket. In November 1960 the
|
|
Democrats defeated the Republican candidates, Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot
|
|
Lodge, by a narrow margin. Johnson was appointed by Kennedy to head the
|
|
President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, a post that enabled
|
|
him to work on behalf of blacks and other minorities. As vice-president, he
|
|
also undertook some missions abroad, which offered him some limited insights
|
|
into international problems.
|
|
|
|
Presidency.
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, elevated
|
|
Johnson to the White House, where he quickly proved a masterful, reassuring
|
|
leader in the realm of domestic affairs. In 1964, Congress passed a
|
|
tax-reduction law that promised to promote economic growth and the Economic
|
|
Opportunity Act, which launched the program called the War on Poverty.
|
|
Johnson was especially skillful in securing a strong Civil Rights Act in
|
|
1964. In the years to come it proved to be a vital source of legal
|
|
authority against racial and sexual discrimination. In 1964 the
|
|
Republicans nominated Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona as their
|
|
presidential nominee. Goldwater was an extreme conservative in domestic
|
|
policy and an advocate of strong military action to protect American
|
|
interests in Vietnam. Johnson had increased the number of U.S. military
|
|
personnel there from 16,000 at the time of Kennedy's assassination to
|
|
nearly 25,000 a year later. Contrasted to Goldwater, however, he seemed a
|
|
model of restraint. Johnson, with Hubert H. Humphrey as his running mate,
|
|
ran a low-key campaign and overwhelmed Goldwater in the election. The
|
|
Arizonan won only his home state and five others in the Deep South.
|
|
|
|
Johnson's triumph in 1964 gave him a mandate for the Great Society, as he
|
|
called his domestic program. Congress responded by passing the MEDICARE
|
|
program, which provided health services to the elderly, approving federal
|
|
aid to elementary and secondary education, supplementing the War on
|
|
Poverty, and creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It
|
|
also passed another important civil rights law--the Voting Rights Act of
|
|
1965.
|
|
|
|
At this point Johnson began the rapid deepening of U.S. involvement in
|
|
Vietnam; as early as February 1965, U.S. planes began to bomb North
|
|
Vietnam. American troop strength in Vietnam increased to more than 180,000
|
|
by the end of the year and to 500,000 by 1968. Many influences led Johnson
|
|
to such a policy. Among them were personal factors such as his
|
|
temperamental activism, faith in U.S. military power, and staunch
|
|
anticommunism. These qualities also led him to intervene militarily in the
|
|
Dominican Republic--allegedly to stop a Communist takeover--in April 1965.
|
|
Like many Americans who recalled the "appeasement" of Nazi Germany in the
|
|
1930s, Johnson thought the United States must be firm or incur a loss of
|
|
credibility.
|
|
|
|
While the nation became deeply involved in Vietnam, racial tension
|
|
sharpened at home, culminating in widespread urban race riots between 1965
|
|
and 1968. The breakdown of the interracial civil rights movement, together
|
|
with the imperfections of some of Johnson's Great Society programs,
|
|
resulted in Republican gains in the 1966 elections and effectively thwarted
|
|
Johnson's hopes for further congressional cooperation.
|
|
|
|
It was the policy of military escalation in Vietnam, however, that proved
|
|
to be Johnson's undoing as president. It deflected attention from domestic
|
|
concerns, resulted in sharp inflation, and prompted rising criticism,
|
|
especially among young, draft-aged people. Escalation also failed to win
|
|
the war. The drawn-out struggle made Johnson even more secretive,
|
|
dogmatic, and hypersensitive to criticism. His usually sure political
|
|
instincts were failing.
|
|
|
|
The New Hampshire presidential primary of 1968, in which the antiwar
|
|
candidate Eugene McCarthy made a strong showing, revealed the dwindling of
|
|
Johnson's support. Some of Johnson's closest advisors now began to counsel
|
|
a de-escalation policy in Vietnam. Confronted by mounting opposition,
|
|
Johnson made two surprise announcements on Mar. 31, 1968: he would stop
|
|
the bombing in most of North Vietnam and seek a negotiated end to the war,
|
|
and he would not run for reelection.
|
|
|
|
Johnson's influence thereafter remained strong enough to dictate the
|
|
nomination of Vice-President Humphrey, who had supported the war, as the
|
|
Democratic presidential candidate for the 1968 election. Although Johnson
|
|
stopped all bombing of the North on November 1, he failed to make real
|
|
concessions at the peace table, and the war dragged on. Humphrey lost in a
|
|
close race with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon.
|
|
|
|
Retirement.
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
After stepping down from the presidency in January 1969, Johnson returned
|
|
to his ranch in Texas. There he and his aides prepared his memoirs, which
|
|
were published in 1971 as The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the
|
|
Presidency, 1963-1969. He also supervised construction of the Johnson
|
|
presidential library in Austin. Johnson died on Jan. 22, 1973, 5 days
|
|
before the conclusion of the treaty by which the United States withdrew
|
|
from Vietnam.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bibliography
|
|
------------
|
|
|
|
Evans, Rowland, and Novak, Robert, Lyndon B. Johnson, The Exercise of
|
|
Power: A Political Biography (1966);
|
|
|
|
Geyelin, Philip, Lyndon B. Johnson and the World (1966);
|
|
|
|
Goldman, Eric F., The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (1969);
|
|
|
|
Johnson, Lady Bird, White House Diary (1970);
|
|
|
|
Kearns, Doris, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (1976);
|
|
|
|
Schandler, Herbert, The Unmaking of a President: Lyndon Johnson and
|
|
Vietnam (1977);
|
|
|
|
White, Theodore, The Making of the President--1964 (1965);
|
|
|
|
Wicker, Tom, JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality Upon Politics
|
|
(1968; repr. 1970).#
|
|
|