"You judge me too harshly. Maybe I am seeking to regain my former position, one which I earned, through hard work, dedication and sacrifice. But redemption is not my sole motivation. I care about my people... I'm a much more complicated man than you give me credit for." - Gul Dukat - Star Trek Deep Space Nine
"I liked him when I was with him more than I did when I was thinking about him." - Ronnie Dugger
When I was in about first grade, and was just starting to be aware of presidents at all, I asked my mother a question: "Is our president a bad president?" My mother knew if she said yes, with my absolute black and white mentality, I would take it to mean that the president was the devil incarnate. So she found herself in the awkward position of first defending a man she did not vote for, and later defending a man she had protested against.
Just as difficult a question to answer would be "What kind of a president was Lyndon Johnson?" On the one hand, he's a hard man to love. He had no shame. He had no problems steamrolling people in his way or using people. He was crass, and sometimes abusive. On the other hand, he could be generous and charming. He was a brilliant politician, particularly in Congress. He also had in his life, a few moments of absolute glory and beauty. However with Johnson love him, hate him......or in my case feel totally ambivalent and frustrated about him.....if you live in the United States today, odds are pretty good that he has somehow affected your life.
Even though he was born on August 27, 1908, it was November before Sam and Rebekah Johnson agreed on a name for their firstborn son. Finally Sam suggested "Linden" after a lawyer that he knew. Rebekah agreed as long as the spelling was changed to "Lyndon." Rebekah Baines Johnson came from a somewhat more privileged background before she married Sam Johnson. Life near the Pedernales River was rough and had not changed a heck of a lot in decades. I think a combination of the toll of the physical labor being too much, and probably depression, incapacitated Rebekah at times. It wouldn't be uncommon for Lyndon and siblings to have rumpled clothes, because Rebekah had not ironed them or to go without a meal because Rebekah had not cooked. Sam Johnson, while a successful politician in Texas, proved to be an unsuccessful businessman.
As a child Lyndon worshiped his father, following him around like a sort of "mini-me." However as a teenager as an adult, he never really forgave his father for his business failings. LBJ would write off his father as a drunk and a failure. So it was a surprise to a couple of LBJ's associates, who came to Sam Johnson's funeral thinking they'd pad out a thin crowd. In Caro's "Path to Power" he states "...the bank of the Pedernales was covered with people as far as the eye could see."
Little Lyndon began running away from his Texas family home, almost as soon as he was able to walk. It wasn't uncommon for Rebekah to turn her back for a minute, and find Lyndon had wandered off outside. He began school early, at age 4, mainly because he kept showing up. This was one of his main places to run off to. He was a little shy, however, and would not speak up unless he was sitting in his teacher's lap. This same teacher later sat next to LBJ in 1965 on the day he signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law. In his adolescent rebellion, after high school at first he absolutely refused to go to college. He ran off to California for a while. (One reason he later felt a kinship to the hippies, even though they most certainly did not feel a kinship to him.) Finally LBJ realized college was his best option and went to the Southwest Texas State Teachers' College. He became involved in campus politics, and this was the site where he stole his first election.
In 1927 Johnson took a year off of college to work as a teacher/principal at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas. It was a primarily poverty-stricken Mexican-American community. While there LBJ worked hard to improve the conditions of the school, including getting volleyball equipment and organizing the parents to take the team to tournaments, as no funding was available for a bus. He worked hard and was well liked, although when he went back to college the following year, the school pretty much returned to how it had been before.
After graduation LBJ taught high school for a year in Houston. He also was the debate/speech coach. It's also interesting that while public speaking was never his strongest suit as a politician, he was a strong suit. A few of his students would later work for him in Washington. One student, Gene Latimer, had this to say about Johnson's coaching style:
"In competition he sits in the back of the auditorium and has an unsettling habit of frowning and ruefully shaking his head just when I think I am on the right track. But once in a while he opens his mouth in amazement at how clearly I am making a point. He sits up very straight and looks around in wonderment at the audience to make sure they're not missing this. And it is then that he makes me think I have just personally thought of, and am in the process of enunciating, an improvement of the Sermon on the Mount." ("Path to Power p. 208)
Johnson was hired as legislative secretary to Congressman Kleberg the following year. Kleberg wasn't a particularly motivated congressman. This gave LBJ the opportunity to learn in depth just how the Washington political machine worked, and was in a lot of ways a practice run before he was in Congress himself. He also took advantage of the situation to networking. One way he did this was through the "Little Congress". The Little Congress was largely a social club for congressional staff. LBJ became president of it. (In another stolen election...) And used the opportunity to bring in prominent speakers....which of course meant the prominent speakers now knew HIM as well.
In 1934 LBJ married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as "Lady Bird." They would later have daughters Luci Baines and Lynda Bird.....yup, all four of them LBJ. Even one of their dogs was "Little Beagle Johnson." I came to respect Lady Bird the more I read about her. She was a strong woman who, like in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" could sometimes be the neck that turns the head of the husband. No mean feat with such a dominating personality as Lyndon Johnson. Jackie Kennedy wasn't a fan, commenting to Arthur Schlesinger "And any time Lyndon would talk that night, Lady Bird would get out a little notebook--I've never seen a husband and a wife so--she was sort of like a trained hunting dog."
LBJ spent two years of running the New Deal organization the "Texas National Youth Administration." Then the Congressman Buchanan in the 10th congressional district suddenly died. LBJ took advantage of the situation and declared his candidacy before the Congressman's widow had a chance to. He won the election.....finding out about the victory from his hospital bed where he was recovering from an appendectomy. (No lack of draaaamaaaa in the life of LBJ, particularly in a lot of his more important elections he tended to get severely ill.) A good chunk of his platform was being very blatantly supportive of FDR in every way, including the controversial court-packing incident. LBJ even got a chance to chat a bit with FDR....which of course he was not shy about mentioning every chance he got. FDR was impressed by him.
Johnson would serve as Congressman for the 10th district from 1937 until 1949. Probably his biggest accomplishment was bringing electricity to his district, massively improving the quality of life for his constituents. However for the most part, he was not involved with much legislation, made few speeches, and made sure not take a stand on any controversial issues. Pretty much no matter what side of the aisle you were on, if you were chatting with Lyndon Johnson, you were convinced he was on YOUR side.
In 1941, LBJ became part of the Naval Reserves. He largely served as an observer to report to Congress and the president what conditions were. He saw combat all of once and came home. Once FDR decided that he did not want Congressmen to be active members of the military, he quickly resigned from the Naval Reserves.
After a failed run for the Senate in 1941, LBJ won a senate seat in 1948. He by all of 87 votes, and the evidence looks like it's pretty likely he stole the election. The election earned him the sarcastic nickname "Landslide Lyndon."
LBJ was in his element in the senate. Easily one of the strongest Senate Majority Leaders in the history of the United States Senate. What also helped him politically at that stage in the game was President Eisenhower....a moderate, and fairly passive, LBJ found him pretty easy to work with.
In 1960 Johnson made a rather clumsy run for the presidency. Ultimately he became JFK's running mate. Although it is unclear whether JFK actually wanted him on the ticket, or if it was because of a lack of communication among the Kennedy camp. LBJ and JFK actually got along fairly well. But he got off on the wrong foot with Bobby, and they came to loathe each other. (And the more I learn about both of them, not really surprising....both men were very insecure, both needed to be right and be in charge, both had daddy issues....)
The Vice-Presidency was a frustrating time for LBJ. Suddenly he had to be subdued, and kowtow to a party line. Kennedy would send him on the occasional good will mission to another country. While Johnson enjoyed getting to be the center of attention, and the chance to pass out pens with his initials on them...he was so inherently ethnocentric....it was nearly impossible for Johnson to understand any culture that wasn't American. He had a temper tantrum in Thailand when he was informed he'd offend people if he tried to shake their hands. In Vietnam he saw the Mekong River and thought he saw the potential for another Tennessee Valley Authority.
Then came the fateful day of November 22, 1963. Johnson did his best, particularly during the remainder of that first term, to try and fulfill what Kennedy would have wanted. However, brilliant legislator that he was at heart, he also took full advantage of the situation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 most likely would never have actually passed in 1964. Johnson knew he had the opportunity to look earnest and say it was what the martyred president would have wanted....to move things ahead.
In the 1964 Landslide Lyndon finally got a legitimate landslide vs. Republican Barry Goldwater. Pretty much the main goal for Johnson was to prove that he was tough. So this famous ad got played, exactly once:
I was watching this with a friend who I think hit the nail on the head when he said "Johnson really was a bastard!" This was also proof that Republicans aren't the only ones to use fear to get votes.
1964 was also when the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was passed. Pretty much some North Vietnamese may have attacked an American ship. Or....some mistaken radar readings may have caused American ships to attack each other. In other words, it was the 1960's version of the explosion of the Main....the excuse everybody was looking for to go to war. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a way for Johnson to go to war, without a declaration from Congress. (After Vietnam this would be repealed and the "War Powers Resolution" was passed in 1973, to try and prevent another Vietnam.) In other words, even before Johnson's second term began, he had already sowed the seeds for its destruction.
Following the example of predecessor like FDR and Wilson, in 1965 Johnson helped to push through an amazing amount of legislation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was put into place to end discriminatory practices like the Poll Tax, and to strengthen the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I also think it's one of Johnson's finest speeches:
When the normally stoic Martin Luther King Jr. heard a white Southern president end the words that had been a rallying cry for the Civil Rights movement, he had tears in his eyes. In 1967 Johnson would appoint Thurgood Marshall, attorney from the "Brown vs. the Board of Education" case, to be the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court.
1965 was the beginning of Johnson promoting "The Great Society." The Elementary and Secondary Education Act sent federal money to public schools. Among other factors, there was the Title 1 program for students from low income families, funding for libraries, funding for English as a Second and Bilingual programs. As a former bilingual teacher and current middle school librarian....this act affects me daily.
Part of the Great Society was the War on Poverty. This included initiatives like Head Start, which provides pre-school for children from low income families. Medicare was passed to provide medical insurance for the elderly.
In 1967 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as created because of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. This lead to public television (PBS) and National Public Radio. It's also why we saw the beginning of shows like Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and the Electric Company.
Of course I've barely scratched the surface here. Was some of the legislation that was passed half-baked? Sure it was. But it was certainly the most ambitious series of social programs since the New Deal, and I for one am impressed by how many of the programs are still in action today.
Now it would be great if I could end the story here. Johnson probably would have been remembered as an heir to Wilson and the Roosevelts if the Great Society was the only major part of his administration. But there was also, as he called it, "that bitch of a war."
The first request for intervention in Vietnam actually came in the 1860's. Vietnam was in the process of being colonized by the French, and the emperor appealed to Abraham Lincoln for help. Lincoln of course, had other things on his mind.
During the negotiations for the Treaty of Versaille, a young man who would later change his name to Ho Chi Minh, tried to make an appeal to President Wilson to help gain independence from the French. No luck.
In 1945 Vietnam had a very brief window of Independence between when the Japanese left, and before the French (and for a while the Chinese) took over again. President Ho Chi Minh gave a speech that was mostly based on the American Declaration of Independence. As he gave the speech, a plane flew over with an American flag attached and everybody cheered.
The theory is, had FDR lived, because he was anti-colonial, he would have let Vietnam stay independent. But Harry Truman didn't want to piss off the French. So Vietnam was partitioned with the Northern part under nationalist Chinese rule, and the South ruled by the French. Then the French eventually had the whole colony again.
I'm not going to even attempt to do a play by play of the most complicated war in America history. But I will bring up a few key points. First off, Lyndon Johnson had met his match with Ho Chi Minh. Johnson figured if he could just talk to Ho Chi Minh about bringing in dams and infrastructure to Vietnam, Johnson would ultimately get his way. Bill Moyers pointed out that Johnson thought he was negotiating with somebody like Labor Leader George Meany. He did not understand that what Ho Chi Minh and his supporters wanted was reunification, and independence from all foreign powers including the Soviet Union and China. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara later admitted that a good chunk of the problems they had was "We didn't know them very well."
On the military end of it, too many people lacked the understanding that this was Guerrilla warfare and not World War II. It was an agrarian society, so there weren't really strategic industrial targets. Bridges would be bombed, and just get rebuilt again. It was also nearly impossible to figure out who the real enemy was. Viet Cong, and sympathetic peasants were everywhere.
Johnson had a few opportunities to get out of the war. His mentor, the normally hawkish senator Richard Russell suggested that they set up a situation where the South Vietnamese would ask the Americans to leave. Johnson refused. By the end of his administration, several staff members had left convinced that this was a hopeless cause. The anti-war protests increased in number and included the chant of "Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?" Words that would haunt Johnson until the day he died. Riots were exploding in urban areas all over the country due to racial unrest.
The War also screwed up funding for the Great Society. Johnson tried to hide the numbers, so he could keep the war going and his social programs. Not only did it do a number on the budget, but led to some of the inflation problems of the 70's.
By early 1968 the Democratic party had split. Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy ran as democratic candidates on an anti-war anti-Johnson platform. Johnson announced on March 31, 1968 that he would not be seeking re-election.
Tom Smothers, who had regularly made fun of Johnson on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy" hour was surprised by a speech Johnson made about what it meant to be a democrat. So Smothers wrote the president a note, and was even more surprised by the response:
"To be genuinely funny at a time when the world is in crisis is a task that would tax the talents of a genius; to be consistently fair when standards of fair play are constantly questioned demands the wisdom of a saint.
It is part of the price of leadership of the great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives."
The somber and self-important Richard Nixon was elected by a narrow margin in 1968. Johnson returned to his ranch. He grew his hair long....which in the American Experience documentary they suggest was another way of trying to show he identified with all the young people protesting against him. Johnson died at his ranch on January 22, 1973. It was when Richard Nixon had begun dismantling the Great Society programs, and the day before the treaty was signed that ended America involvement in Vietnam.
When I think of Johnson's legacy, two events in my life stick out the most. The first is, while I was listening to lectures from the presidential libraries about Vietnam, I was taking a walk down the South Pier in my home town. A number of our Asian community were fishing, and some turned and smiled to me as I went past. These were the Hmong refugees and their descendents, allies of the American troops during the Vietnam War.
The other is when I was having a talk with one of my 2nd graders. I said "There are three schools you go to: elementary, middle and high school." The 2nd grader replied "No there are 4!" When I asked which one I missed, he said "Head Start!"
Resources
Lyndon Johnson was a fascinating and infuriating figure....and I found him to be the toughest president to write about since Thomas Jefferson. Here's some of the resources I used if you want to learn about him more in depth:
For the Vietnam War I read "Vietnam: A History" by Stanley Karnow. Which is pretty much the standard book to go to if you want a play by play on the Vietnam War, and an overview of Vietnamese history. PBS has a companion piece miniseries from the American Experience series called "Vietnam a Television History" which can be watched online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/ or rented from Netflix.
The American Experience about Lyndon Johnson can also be viewed online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lbj/
I also cannot recommend strongly enough the "Vietnam and the Presidency" symposium which can be downloaded and seen a bunch of places, including itunes. You get to hear from a number of journalists, presidential aides and even former cabinet members such as Jack Valenti, Henry Kissinger, Al Haig and David Halberstam.
"Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream" by Doris Kearns Goodwin - this is Goodwin's first book, and it does show. I think it's weaker than her other efforts. However it is fun getting to hear about her experiences with LBJ. My favorite part was they spent an evening watching "The Graduate" together, and LBJ was totally horrified. "THAT was your HERO?"
The Robert Caro series is also very well done. Thus far I've read "The Path to Power" and "Means of Ascent" about his childhood and years in the House. There is also "Master of the Senate" about the senate years and "Passage of Power" about his vice-presidency and the first part of the presidency after the assassination. Great attention to detail, and Caro really has Johnson's character down....just wouldn't recommend trying to read them too close together. I have major LBJ fatigue right now.
Finally, probably my favorite has been the Michael Beschloss audiobooks "Taking Charge: The Johnson White House" and "Reaching For Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret Whitehouse." Like Nixon, Johnson had a lot of the Oval Office conversations recorded on tape. Beschloss takes a sample of those tapes and gives the context. The result is like being a fly on the wall in the White House. You also get a much better feel for Johnson's character from the tapes than from his speeches.
And to end on a lighter note....here's some portrayals of LBJ in popular culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj1RY5DGUgA&list=HL1340596741&feature=mh_lolz