#36 Lyndon B. Johnson- Great Society Architect

#36 Lyndon B. Johnson- Great Society Architect

LBJ got into teaching and politics early on before joining the U.S. Navy reserves (1940-1964) only serving active duty for 2 years (1941-1942), the rest were spent in political positions; Texas House of representatives member  (1937-1949), Senate majority whip (1951-1953), Senate minority leader (1953-1955), Senate majority leader (1955-1961), before serving as VP (1961-1963)

1963;

• Following Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson becomes the 36th President of the United States at the age of 55.
• Johnson addresses a joint session of Congress calling on legislators to fulfill Kennedy’s legacy and pass civil rights and tax legislation
• LBJ creates a special commission chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the Kennedy assassination

1964;

• The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, abolishing poll taxes
• Jack Ruby is convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and sentenced to death.

• In a speech at the University of Michigan, Johnson announces his intention to create a Great Society by extending American prosperity to all its citizens.
• LBJ signs The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Former President Hoover is laid to rest in West Branch Iowa

HOOVER GRAVE

• Three civil rights workers are found dead in Mississippi, they were all participating in the Mississippi Freedom Summer
• Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President power to pursue military action in Vietnam
• LBJ signs the Economic Opportunity Act, beginning the War on Poverty
• The Warren Commission releases its report, rejecting the notion that Kennedy was assassinated as part of a conspiracy
• Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

MLK WITH HIS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

• Nikita Khrushchev is forced to resign as leader of the Soviet Union and is replaced by Leonid Brezhnev

1965;

• Johnson wins a full term for Presidency, Hubert Humphrey is his new VP
• LBJ begins the bombing on North Vietnam after nine American soldiers are killed in an attack on the U.S. barracks; Camp Holloway, in Pleiku, Vietnam
• Malcolm X is assassinated by other black Muslims in New York City
• Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama

SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH

• LBJ signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
• Johnson sends U.S. marines to the Dominican Republic to protect U.S. citizens after a military coup during the Dominican Civil War
• The U.S. Supreme Court finds a Connecticut law banning the use of contraceptives unconstitutional
• Martin Luther King Jr. leads a demonstration in Chicago in an attempt to bring the Civil Rights Movement to the North
• Johnson increases the number of troops sent to Vietnam, indicating his determination to engage in a ground war

MARINES ARRIVE AT DA NANG

• LBJ signs Social Security amendments creating Medicare and Medicaid
• Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law
• The Watts Riots break out in Los Angeles

NATIONAL GUARD WALKS TOWARDS SMOKE FROM BURNING BUILDINGS

• Fearing that American involvement in Vietnam will draw France into a world war, French president Charles De Gaulle announces that France will withdraw from NATO
• The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upholds the Voting Rights Act of 1965

1966;

• The White House Conference on Civil Rights urges Congress to pass further civil rights legislation
• James Meredith is shot in a March from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi; civil rights leaders organize to complete his march. During this demonstration, Stokely Carmichael makes a statement in support of “black power.”

JAMES MEREDITH SHOT AND WOUNDED

• the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the constitutional provision against self-incrimination applies to police interrogations, in Miranda v. Arizona
• Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale found the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California

1967;

• A launch pad fire during tests for the Apollo I program kills three astronauts.

• The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, providing rules of succession upon the death of the President, and enabling the President to appoint a new vice-president in the case of a vacancy.
• The Eternal Flame memorial is added to Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National cemetery

ETERNAL FLAME MEMORIAL AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

• The Six Day War breaks out between Israel and several Arab nations

• Riots break out in Newark, New Jersey

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY RIOTS

• Riots spread across the city of Detroit, Michigan.

DETROIT RACE RIOT

• Anti-war demonstrators March to the Pentagon in an attempt to shut it down

ANTI-WAR PROTEST AT PENTAGON

1968;

• North Korean forces capture the U.S.S. Pueblo

• North Vietnamese troops surprise South Vietnamese and American troops by attacking during the Tet holiday, known as the Tet Offensive

• U.S. forces in Vietnam commit massacre in the hamlet of My Lai; hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children are killed.

HUEYS DROPPING OFF U.S. FORCES IN VIETNAM

• LBJ announces a partial bombing halt and his unwillingness to seek reelection to the presidency
• Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee

• Students at Columbia University take over several buildings on campus
• The United States and North Vietnam begin peace talks in Paris
• Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated after winning the Democratic primary in California
• The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to end the movement toward greater freedom and independence

SOVIET INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

• Leonid Brezhnev announces that the Soviet Union has the right to intervene anywhere in its sphere of influence. This “Brezhnev Doctrine” becomes central to Soviet foreign policy

Antiwar protests caused Johnson to drop a reelection bid. He retired to his ranch in Texas and worked on books and memoirs, occasionally getting involved with politics.

Famous quotes;

“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “President Can’t Swim.”.”

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”

“Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time.”

“A man without a vote is man without protection.“