Introduction Jacqueline Kennedy right and Lady Bird Johnson stand by Lyndon B Johnson as he takes the oath of office aboard Air Force One after the assassination of President John F Kennedy on November 22 1963 6
At 2 38 PM on November 22 1963 Lyndon B Johnson took the oath of office as the 36th president of the United States On his right stood his wife Lady Bird On his left stood Jacqueline Kennedy stony-faced with shock Less than two hours earlier President John F Kennedy had died in a Dallas hospi tal from an assassin’s bullets He had been shot while riding in a motorcade through downtown Dallas Johnson riding two cars behind Kennedy was unhurt As vice president of the United States Lyndon Johnson immediately became presi dent He was the fourth vice president to be thrust into the nation’s top office by the assassination of his predecessor The new president’s first message to the nation televised the evening of that fateful day on his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington D C was brief I will do my best That is all I can do I ask for your help and God’s Johnson immediately went to work passing legislation that had been proposed by the Kennedy Administration Having been the Senate majority leader before his election as vice president he was skilled at negotiating with congressmen to achieve 7
Lyndon B Johnson desired results The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most important of these mea sures passed in his first year as president Johnson as a Texan may have seemed to be an unlikely champion of civil rights given that the Southern states were the most likely to institutionalize racial dis crimination However as a young man Johnson had taught impoverished Mexican American children and this experience partly inspired his commitment to anti poverty and civil rights programs On November 3 1964 the voters of the nation elected Johnson to a full term He overwhelmingly defeated Republican Senator Barry M Goldwater of Arizona Johnson called his landslide victory a trib ute to the program that was begun by our beloved president John F Kennedy Johnson referred to his administra tion’s programs as the Great Society by which he aimed to improve life for Americans of all races and economic backgrounds Other landmark legislation enacted during his presidency included the Voting Rights Act the Immigration and Nationality Act and an amendment to the Social Security Act that established 8
Introduction Medicare and Medicaid Unfortunately the Vietnam War would eventually over shadow his domestic agenda After the bombing of a U S ship in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 Johnson greatly expanded the U S role in Vietnam However the North Vietnamese found success with their guerrilla tactics Johnson sent more troops in hopes of turning the tide of the war but this escalation was extremely costly not only in dollars but also in American lives and public support As antiwar protests grew so did dissatisfac tion among poor African Americans who felt that the promises of the Great Society had gone unfulfilled Beginning in the mid 1960s race riots erupted in cities across the country On March 31 1968 the embattled presi dent made a shocking announcement he would not run for reelection in November Under the Twenty-second Amendment of the U S Constitution he was eligible to run for a second full term because he had served out fewer than two years of Kennedy’s term But the challenges both at home and abroad convinced Johnson that the country needed new leadership In the 9
