Basic Information
Name: Lyndon Baines Johnson
Nickname: LBJ, The Reluctant Warrior, Scourge of Vietnam
Born: August 27, 1908
Died: January 22, 1973
Nationality: USA
Hometown: Stonewall, TX
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: President of the United States, Vice President, Congressman, Teacher
Education: Texas State University
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr., Rebekah Baines
Siblings: Sam, Rebekah, Josefa, Lucia
Spouse: Lady Bird Taylor
Children: Lynda Bird, Luci Baines
Friends: John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, General Westmoreland, Civil rights activists, Americans who didn't care about Vietnam, Rolling Thunder pilots
Foes: Ho Chi Minh, Barry Goldwater, War protesters, the Viet Cong, most of Vietnam, history textbook writers
Analysis
To sum up Johnson's presidency in one word: sigh.
This guy was on track to be remembered as one of the best presidents the country had ever seen—and not just for his mad pointing skillz. But that all came crashing down thanks to a little thing we know as the Vietnam War.
Vietnam overshadowed all of the great things LBJ did for America. By signing and approving the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, Johnson became the #1 Bad Guy in many people's minds, because he was in charge of all military actions.
Not that the poor guy really wanted to blow Vietnam to smithereens, but he did anyway. In a private meeting with one of his advisors he even said:
"I don't think it's worth fighting for and I don't think we can get out. And it's just the biggest damn mess that I ever saw." (Source)
Talk about a catch-22.
The Good…
On the other hand, he pushed through incredible changes in American society, many of which go unrecognized thanks to the disaster that was Vietnam. His achievements include:
- Johnson coined the term "Great Society," challenging Americans to rise above poverty and make the U.S. a stronger country.
- He waged a "War on Poverty," focusing on using government money to assist the poor.
- He signed an incredibly important piece of legislation called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (boring name, huge impact), which made any and all discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin completely illegal. In fact, this law is still being brought into play routinely in American society today.
- He signed another racism-defeating document called the Voting Rights Act which got rid of shady obstacles people were placing to stop minorities from voting (like the infamous Louisiana literacy test).
- He pushed through the program called Medicare, which uses government money to help older people pay their hospital bills.
What a guy, right? Some historians even say he made the most social changes to American society since FDR's New Deal. (Source)
But then there's Vietnam.
…The Bad And The Ugly
Johnson approved the Tonkin Gulf Resolution (and gained a ton of power from it), getting America formally involved in Vietnam, but things were going south even before that. LBJ was sucked into the conflict early on, as his predecessors JFK and Eisenhower had been sending military advisors to the area since the '50s. Johnson knew the situation in Vietnam was bad, and he knew he had to make a decision about America's involvement. The problem? Any decision he chose would be the wrong one.
And he knew it.
On the one hand, Johnson could keep America out of Vietnam and let the country deal with its own problems. The backlash? If communism spread to all of Vietnam, it could easily spread to neighboring Cambodia and Laos, and then to Thailand, and then to India and Indonesia…and then before you know it, all of Asia is communist (starting with Russia and China, the two communist superpowers).
As America was wrapped up in fear of communism in the '60s, this was probably not a stellar choice.
Okay, so what about going in to Vietnam and invading? Well, that's exactly what Johnson chose to do by approving the Tonkin Gulf Resolution—even though he knew he was sending Americans to their deaths. He said:
"I just thought about ordering all those kids in there. And what in the hell am I ordering them out there for? What in the hell is Vietnam worth to me?" (Source)
President LBJ leaves us with a complicated legacy. He left his mark on American history and society, for better or worse. Sometimes, there are no easy answers.