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Was Lyndon B Johnson An Underrated President Essay

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In 1964 Johnson’s opponent was Barry Goldwater. In 1963 Goldwater appealed to a large branch of the Republican party as a strong leader. Public perception at the time was that Kennedy was a weak leader. Goldwater served in World War II as a pilot assigned to fly aircraft supplies to war zones throughout the world. Goldwater began his political career in 1952 when he won the Senate seat for Arizona becoming the second Republican elected to the Senate in Arizona since its admittance into the union. Goldwater became the leading voice of the conservative wing of the Republican party. He served on the Senate Labor Committee on Public Welfare, Veteran’s Affairs, Education, and Migratory Labor. Goldwater ran his campaign on rigid conservatism …show more content…

Johnson is ranked 12th in his APSA ranking, however, I think he deserves to be higher. Domestically Johnson was a powerhouse and passed some of the most influential legislation of the past century. Johnson revolutionized the Civil Rights debate and argument. Johnson also pushed Medicare through which revolutionized the healthcare industry. Medicare today provides coverage for one in three Americans. Also, while Johnson was revolutionizing many domestic policies he also changed Immigration policy drastically. Prior to Johnson immigration was quota and race-based. With his leadership, Immigration policy took a step towards a meritocracy system rather than based on racial origin. However, with all of his success domestically and in instances internationally, his presidency has been stained by his leadership and decisions in Vietnam. Johnson’s decisions in Vietnam are complex and debated about to this day. Johnson was left with this issue from Kennedy and as a strong proponent of the Domino Theory he believed that going to war with Vietnam was the right decision. The Vietnam war would devolve into disastrous policy and resulted in the loss of life of numerous Americans. However, while his decisions were disastrous he recognized that a continuation of his presidency would only seek to divide the country more. This and other factors led Johnson to not seek reelection in 1968 in hopes of reuniting the country and admittance of his failures. Therefore, I believe Lyndon Johnson is underrated because of his domestic policy that revolutionized the country along with his decision to not seek the presidency in 1968 under the pretense that he was not fit because of the Vietnam

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He tried to become President in 1960 but lost to John F. Kennedy. However, he became vice president for John F. Kennedy. After John F. Kennedy was killed, Lyndon B. Johnson took his place. With previous problems regarding Civil rights, people asked if President Lyndon B. Johnson pass the Civil Rights bill because he wanted the majority vote for the presidential election, or because it was morally right?

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Before the start of the Vietnam War, Johnson was in a difficult position in regards to Vietnam. He knew that increased aid for South Vietnam would decrease funding for his domestic programs, which were among his top priorities. He also knew that if he decreased support, that the nation would most likely fall under the Communists and this would be perceived as a loss for the United States and the Democrats. One of the factors that contributed to the start of the Vietnam War was when the North Vietnamese attacked U.S. warships in the Gulf of Tokin on August 2nd and 4th 1964. This was a small engagement in which North Vietnamese Torpedo boats caused light damage to the USS Maddox, and light North Vietnam casualties.

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Lyndon B. Johnson was the thirty-sixth president of the United States, he became president in 1963. Johnson was born in Texas and he graduated from Southwest State Teachers College. According to history .com during Johnson’s college career, he taught disadvantaged children to help pay for his education”. “This experience helped shaped Johnson 's desire to fix problems concerning poverty and discrimination”.

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On March 15, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of the Voting Rights Act and outlined his plans for supporting voting rights. In his speech, Johnson not only advocated policy, he borrowed the language of the civil rights movement, and he represents a key moment in the civil rights movement as well as a culturally significant speech in American letters and he tied the movement to American history. This message was addressed to the presidency and the members of the congress.

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Signing for Civil Rights Civil right are the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality. Civil rights are the reason citizens in our country are able to think whatever they want, feel however they want to, and say whatever they feel should be said. These justified rights to every American citizen were legally granted on July 2, 1964, the day the United States’ 36th president, Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Though signing the act took only moments, it was a necessary and significant moment in history. Did President Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for principle because he was doing the right thing, or was he so insecure in himself that he signed the act for politics, to impress and receive

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Throughout history it was obvious that the key to a good presidential campaign was a good slogan. Each election year something new and unseen came up about the candidates that made them increasingly entertaining, and occasionally impactful. From mud slinging to parades, from taunting to ignoring, each political candidate had an interesting year that is left down in history for all to wonder about what they were thinking. Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (William Henry Harrison 1840) This crazy slogan is actually incredibly influential.

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Johnson was later taught algebra & writing skills from his wife. Jackson did not have the same perspective on issues as Lincoln did, and many people were appalled especially in the concept of the federal power and the political views on the black, but then Many People liked Jackson because he showed his true colors. Jackson made most of government republicans, Also he made it easier to vote by dropping many "qualifications" requiered to vote; ei. religion There was a force Bill-

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There is quite a bit of literature that discusses Goldwater 's loss to President Johnson in the 1964 presidential election. Today, I will discuss two articles in particular, “Vietnam and the 1964 Election” and “The Defeat of a Maverick.” They both conclude different reasons for Goldwater 's loss, but they also make some similar contentions. Both articles make the point of noting Goldwater 's militant rhetoric. In “The Defeat of a Maverick,” this militant style was seen as his central failing: he was rigidly conservative and had an “unrestrained manner,” (Matthews 662).

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Johnson “suffered from a deep-rooted neediness, a desire to be liked by everyone, to outdo his predecessors, and to be known as the best president in American history.” To do so he used deception, charm and persuasion in order to gain support from the mass amounts of people with differing opinions. Achieving political consensus was something Johnson did well, utilizing his term as Senator to sharpen these skills. He always wanted the approval of his advisers and the American public, and he viewed criticisms of his policies as personal attacks which led him to double his resolve and intensify his efforts. A truly tenacious man Johnson’s modest

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Johnson played major key roles during his presidency. He tried to resolve the conflicts of the Vietnam War, he pushed for the passage of John F. Kennedy tax cut, and since his main goal was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice, he declared “War on Poverty”. He challenged the American people to form “The Great Society”, by passing several legislations including the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid Acts and the Civil Right Acts of 1964. In January of 1969 Johnson left

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He never really put much thought into his decisions except for the fact of was he going to be liked. This is the third and final most important reason on why he signing of the Civil Rights Act was based purely on politics. In conclusion, The Civil Rights Act was signed through politics and he did win the election of 1964. America did benefit greatly from the new laws creating equal opportunity for all who lived there. In his new term, Johnson created the Great Society which allowed many unprivileged children have equal footing for school.

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President Lyndon Baines Johnson did many things and created many labels for himself in his lifetime. Johnson took the label as President after President Kennidy was assassinated (“Lyndon B. Johnson.”). I found this relevant because I could imagine Johnson was overwhelmed. Imagine getting a super big promotion with basically no warning. He was the youngest majority leader in history (“Lyndon B. Johnson.”).

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Lyndon’s conservative competitor Governor Pappy Lee O’Daniel had won the election by about 13,011 this devastated Johnson but didn’t keep him from running a second time. This time around he ran extravaganzas to get the people’s attention as well as traveling to campaigns with his helicopter. This showed how he as willing to try different methods in order to get his name out. However, there was some controversy on the 1948 senator’s election between Lyndon and Coke Stevenson. Lyndon had won the election by 87 votes as well as the skeptical name of “Land slide Lyndon”.

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He will forever be recognized by many as one of the worst, if not the worst, presidents ever to serve this country. The second worst president was Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter did not show leadership and control when he needed it most. With hostage crisis in his presence, he attempted to negoti-ate with terrorists rather than showing force (as Reagan did with much success).

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