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LBJ And The Mexican Americans: 1968: The Paradox Of Power

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LBJ and the Mexican Americans: 1968 1968 is known for being one of the controversial and impactful year for the American society. The Great Society, LBJ referred to his plan on what he wanted the United States to transform into, and for many Mexican-Americans it was starting to feel that way. Julie Leininger Pycior’s LBJ and the Mexican American’s: The Paradox of Power looks at LBJ’s presidency and his interaction with the Mexican American community. Johnson’s Great Society had potential to deliver great justice to Mexican Americans and to many other minority groups. The year 1968 was the year the minority groups were going to get a louder voice with bigger names advocating for them. By the end of the year, there some major unfortunate events …show more content…

Mexican-Americans were never known as a group that got directly involved in politics in the United States. There were a few that did prior, but hardly ever a significant amount. A primary reason for the larger crowd of Mexican-Americans were the leaders that this time provided for them. Never before did the Mexican-Americans had this amount of influential leaders standing up for their cause at the same time period. What makes a bigger impact is that the advocates come from different ethnicities and not only from the same Mexicans. There is the primary Mexican-American leader who is receiving the most media attention at the time Cesar Chavez. There is also help from the man that the book revolves around, Lyndon B. Johnson, and also a key individual in this chapter, Robert Kennedy. Robert Kennedy’s involvement with Cesar Chavez, in my opinion, is what amplified the Mexican-American’s voice. Robert Kennedy was a huge candidate for presidency in 1968, and this outspoken political figure was associated with a …show more content…

It also provided a look at rise and fall of the “Great Society”. Robert Kennedy was supposed to be the one to continue the great society as a favorite to win the primaries and go on to win the 1968 presidential election, but was assassinated soon after Martin Luther King Jr. To me, and understandingly to many other scholars, this was also beginning of the slow death of the “Great Society”. The movement went from “Viva Kennedy!” to “Viva Humphrey!”. Humphrey was not as influential as Kennedy and failed to attract as many Mexican-Americans. The chapter ends on a depressing note, stating that Lyndon Johnson’s hard work for domestic policy was all for nothing as Nixon came into office to reverse all

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