. In Robert A. Caro's 1989 book Means of Ascent, he argued that Johnson had rigged the election not only there but also at least 10,000 ballots in Bexar County alone.

In the federal court case arising from the election, Johnson hired Abe Fortas to represent him. Many of Johnson's lawyers argued among themselves, but Fortas provided clarity in the situation. Fortas knew that if Johnson lost the next appeal and then further appealed that to the Supreme Court of the United States there would not be enough time for him to be placed on the ballot. In a risky proposition, Fortas proposed moving to the "end game", whereby they would purposely lose the appeal by preparing a terrible draft and choosing a judge that they suspected would vote against them. Fortas then appealed Johnson's case to a justice of the Supreme Court. Fortas persuaded Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black to judge the case. In dramatic fashion, while simultaneously the boxes in question were being opened and examined, Justice Black ruled to dissolve the federal injunction nullifying Johnson's runoff victory. Johnson went on to win the general election, but the Texas media sardonically nicknamed him "Landslide Lyndon", in reference to his bout with Stevenson. Caro notes that while Johnson first acknowledged the nickname, and sometimes used it, he grew weary of it, and grew angry upon its mention. Fortas was later appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by Johnson.

After winning the disputed Democratic nomination, Johnson defeated Republican Jack Porter, 702,985 (66.7 percent) to 349,665 (33.3 percent). Coke Stevenson never forgot his loss to Johnson. In 1960, Coke Stevenson endorsed the Nixon-Lodge electors against the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in Texas. In 1964, Stevenson supported Republican Barry M. Goldwater over Johnson.

Once in the Senate, Johnson was known among his colleagues for his highly successful "courtships" of older senators, especially Senator Richard Russell, patrician leader of the Conservative coalition and arguably the most powerful man in the Senate. Johnson proceeded to gain Russell's favor in the same way as he had "courted" Speaker Sam Rayburn and gained his crucial support in the House.

Johnson was appointed to the Armed Services Committee, and later in 1950, he helped create the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee. Johnson became its chairman and conducted investigations of defense costs and efficiency. These investigations tended to dig out old forgotten investigations and demand actions that were already being taken by the Truman Administration, although it can be said that the committee's investigations caused the changes. However, Johnson's brilliant handling of the press, the efficiency at which his committee issued new reports, and the fact that he ensured every report was endorsed unanimously by the committee all brought him headlines and national attention.

Senate Democratic leader

Vice Presidency

Johnson's success in the Senate made him a possible Democratic presidential candidate. He was Texas' "favorite son" candidate at the party's national convention in 1956. In 1960, Johnson received 409 votes on the first and only ballot at the Democratic convention which nominated John F. Kennedy.

During the convention, Kennedy designated Johnson as his choice for vice president. Some later reports (such as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.) say that Kennedy offered the position to Johnson as a courtesy and did not expect him to accept. Others (such as W. Marvin Watson) say that the Kennedy campaign was desperate to win the 1960 election against Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. and needed Johnson on the ticket to help carry Southern states.

While he ran for vice president with John F. Kennedy, Johnson also sought a third term in the U.S. Senate. His popularity was such that Texas law was changed to permit him to run for two offices at the same time. Johnson was reelected senator, with 1,306,605 votes (58 percent) to Republican John G. Tower's 927,653 (41.1 percent). After the election though, Johnson was powerless. Kennedy and his senior advisors rarely consulted the Texan and prevented him from assuming the vital role that Vice President Richard Nixon had played in energizing the state parties. Kennedy appointed him to nominal jobs such as head of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, through which he worked with blacks and other minorities. Johnson took on numerous minor diplomatic missions, which gave him limited insights into international issues. He was allowed to observe Cabinet and National Security meetings. Kennedy did give Johnson control over all presidential appointments involving Texas, and he was appointed chairman of the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Science. When, in April 1961, the Soviets beat the U.S. with the first manned spaceflight Kennedy tasked Johnson with coming up with a 'scientific bonanza' that would prove world leadership. Johnson knew that Project Apollo and an enlarged NASA were feasible, so he steered the recommendation towards a program for landing an American on the moon.

Presidential campaign

On September 7, 1964 Johnson's campaign managers for the 1964 presidential election broadcast the "Daisy ad." It portrayed a little girl picking petals from a daisy, counting up to ten. Then a baritone voice took over, counted down from ten to zero and a nuclear bomb exploded. The message was that Goldwater meant nuclear death. Although it was soon pulled off the air, the commercial helped escalate the rhetoric of American politics to levels not seen before. Johnson won by a sweeping landslide that defeated many conservative Republican congressmen, giving Johnson a majority that could overcome the Conservative coalition.

Presidency 1963-1969

Policies

Johnson was sworn in as President on Air Force One in Dallas at Love Field Airport after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. He was sworn in by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a very close friend of his family, making him the first President sworn in by a woman.

Johnson's handling of the investigation into the murder of President Kennedy created a controversy that has continued for over 40 years. The accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was murdered by Jack Ruby within a day after being charged with the crime. Oswald denied the charges against him and claimed he was being framed for the murder. To investigate Kennedy's murder, Johnson created a special panel called the Warren Commission. This panel conducted hearings about the assassination and concluded that Oswald shot the President and did not conspire with anyone.

The Warren Commission's credibility started to collapse when various disturbing facts started to leak out. Further secret panels tried to plug the holes in the Commission's conclusions, until finally the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that President Kennedy was probably assassinated by a conspiracy consisting of Oswald and others.

Because Johnson sealed all the evidence collected by the Dallas police department, no further police investigation was pursued by the local authorities. This action and the secrecy of the Warren Commission led to a very low confidence level in the veracity of the Warren Commission's findings. A more recent government panel called the Assassination Records Review Board was formed by federal legislation to collect and publish the government records that relate to the assassination.

The commission noted in 1998 that Johnson became skeptical of some of the Warren Commission findings. See, Final Report Chapter One footnote 17. ^*

In his first year as President, Johnson faced conflicts with everyone from senators to speechwriters who all wanted to honor Kennedy's legacy but were reluctant to support new propositions by Johnson. Johnson used his famous charm and strong-arm tactics to push through his new policies, although detractors called this abusive bullying. In 1964, upon Johnson's request, Congress passed a tax-reduction law and the Economic Opportunity Act, which was in association with the War on Poverty. He nominated civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall to the positions of Solicitor General and later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, making him the first African-American to serve in either capacity. In response to the civil rights movement, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which effectively outlawed most forms of racial segregation. Legend has it that as he put down his pen Johnson told an aide, ''We have lost the South for a generation." ^*

In the 1964 election, Johnson won the presidency in his own right with 61 percent of the vote and the widest popular margin in American history—more than 15 million votes. However, 1964 was also the year that Johnson supported the conservative Democratic delegates from Mississippi and denied the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) seats at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. To appease the MFDP, the convention offered an unsatisfactory compromise, and the MFDP rejected it. In the same year, Johnson lost the popular vote to Republican challenger Barry Goldwater in the Deep South states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, a region that had voted for Democrats since Reconstruction.

The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime, and removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Congress, at times augmenting or amending, rapidly enacted Johnson's recommendations. Millions of elderly people found succor through the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act.

Under Johnson, the country made spectacular explorations of space in a program he had championed since its start. When three astronauts successfully orbited the moon in December 1968, Johnson congratulated them: "You've taken … all of us, all over the world, into a new era …."

Nevertheless, two overriding crises had been gaining momentum since 1964. Johnson's anti-poverty and anti-discrimination programs were met with massive rioting that burned out hundreds of black ghettos. President Johnson steadily exerted his influence against segregation but could not achieve law and order.

The other crisis arose from Vietnam. Despite Johnson's efforts to end the communist insurgency and achieve a settlement, fighting continued. Controversy over the war had become acute by the end of March 1968, when he limited the bombing of North Vietnam in order to begin negotiations.

Vietnam War

Though he often privately cursed the Vietnam War, referring to it as his "bitch mistress," at the same time Johnson believed America could not afford to look weak in the eyes of the world. So he escalated the war effort continuously from 1964 to 1968. The number of American deaths also rose. In two weeks in May 1968 alone, American deaths numbered 1,800 with total casualties at 18,000. Alluding to the Domino Theory he said, "If we allow Vietnam to fall, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week in San Francisco."

Johnson feared that too much focus on Vietnam would distract attention from his Great Society programs. But after the Tet offensive of January 1968, his presidency was dominated by the Vietnam War more than ever. As more American soldiers died there, Johnson's popularity plummeted. College students and others protested, burned draft cards and chanted lines such as, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" By the final year of his presidency, Johnson could not travel anywhere without facing protests.

Then at the end of a March 31 speech, he shocked the nation when he announced he would not run for re-election: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President,"(Text and audio of speech) just days after a poll announced that a mere 29% of the American Public supported the war. Also in what was termed the October surprise, Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1, should the Hanoi Government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the Paris peace talks.

LBJ wasn't disqualified from running for a second term under the provisions of the 22nd Amendment because he had served less than 24 months of JFK's term. Had he stayed in the 1968 race and won, he would have been the longest-serving president since FDR, at 9 years.

Administration and Cabinet

Supreme Court appointments

• Abe Fortas – 1965
  • Fortas was also nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States in 1968, but he withdrew.
• Thurgood Marshall – 1967
  • Marshall was the first African-American to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

Retirement, death, and honors

After leaving the presidency in 1969, Johnson went home to his ranch in Johnson City, Texas. In 1971, he published his memoirs, The Vantage Point. That year, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum opened on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. It is the most visited presidential library in the nation with over a quarter million visitors per year. He donated his Texas ranch in his will to the public to form the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, with the proviso that the ranch "remain a working ranch and not become a sterile relic of the past" .

Johnson died at 4:33 p.m. on January 22, 1973 from a third heart attack at his ranch, at age 64. His health was ruined by years of heavy smoking and stress, and the former President had severe heart disease. He was found in his bed, reaching for his phone. Johnson was honored with a state funeral in which Texas Congressman J.J. Pickle and former Secretary of State Dean Rusk eulogized him at the Capitol.

The final services took place on January 25. The funeral was held at the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., where he worshipped often when president. The service, in which foreign dignitaries, led by former Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato, attended, was the first presidential funeral to feature a eulogy. They came from former White House Chief of Staff, and Postmaster General W. Marvin Watson, and the church's rector, Reverend Dr. George Davis, a very close friend of the Johnsons who officiated the services in Washington. Though he attended the service, Nixon, who presided over the funeral, did not speak, as is customary for Presidents during presidential funerals, but both eulogists turned to him as they spoke and lauded him for his tributes to the former President, as Rusk had the day before.

Johnson was buried that afternoon at his ranch in Texas. The burial service was the first presidential burial to feature a eulogy, and the eulogies were delivered by former Texas Democratic governor John Connally, an LBJ protégé and fellow Texan, and by the minister who officiated the services, Reverend Billy Graham. Anita Bryant closed the services by singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," paying tribute to her friendship with the former President, at his own request. Connally's eulogy gripped millions of viewers around the world, recalling as it did the 1963 Kennedy assassination in which the governor was wounded, an event that elevated Johnson to the presidency. The state funeral, which was the last until Richard Nixon's in 1994, was part of a busy week for the Military District of Washington, which began with Nixon's second inauguration.Elsen, William A., "Ceremonial Group Had Busy 5 Weeks." The Washington Post, January 25, 1973.

The Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, and Texas created a legal state holiday to be observed on August 27 to mark LBJ's birthday. It is known as Lyndon Baines Johnson Day. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac was dedicated on September 27, 1974.

LBJ was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1980.

Trivia

• Lyndon Johnson was 6 feet 3 inches (190 cm) tall and weighed about 216 pounds (98 kg), the second tallest President, behind Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall.
• He was baptized in the Pedernales River as a member of the Disciples of Christ in 1923.
• Johnson was famously frugal. Even as President, White House tapes recorded him asking a photographer to take his family portraits for free, saying he was a very poor man living on a weekly paycheck and had a very great deal of financial debt. In fact Johnson was a multimillionaire, but he still received the photographic portraits gratis. The White House press corps made jokes at his expense regarding his habit of turning off all lights in the White House when the rooms were not in use. Johnson's secretary revealed years later that he would wash and reuse Styrofoam cups. 2002
• His favorite soft drink was Fresca, which he drank constantly. Johnson had a small control box installed in the writing desk in the small personal office adjacent to the Oval Office. This control box contained two buttons, marked "Coffee" and "Fresca". Pushing one of these buttons would summon Johnson's military aide bringing the appropriate drink.

• Johnson, while using the White House bathroom, was known to insist that others accompany him and continue to discuss official matters or take dictation.

• At other times Johnson relieved himself in the White House garden.
• Lake Granite Shoals, a reservoir of the Colorado River in central Texas was renamed Lake LBJ in 1965 in honor of the sitting President.
• He was the only American President to have ever visited Malaysia (1966). In Labu, state of Negeri Sembilan, the village called FELDA L.B. Johnson was named after him during his visit to the village, with Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysian first prime minister.
• He was the first American President to visit Turkey and Australia.
• He had a habit of skinny-dipping and is said to have first discussed the Great Society with advisors nude in a White House pool.
• Robert F. Kennedy greatly disliked Johnson and the feeling was mutual. Kennedy felt that Johnson was not worthy of the vice presidency, while Johnson merely regarded Kennedy as "Jack's Little Brother", a spoiled brat who was riding his older brother's coattails to success. 2004 p 139
• Two Austin, Texas, area broadcast radio stations using the call sign KLBJ, (590 kHz AM and 93.7 MHz FM), were once owned by the Johnson family before being sold to other commercial interests. The Johnsons also owned the first broadcast television station in the Austin area, KTBC (channel 7).
• Born in 1908, he was the first American President to be born in the 20th century (chronologically). However, the younger John F Kennedy (1917) was the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president.
• Johnson was the first U.S. President to dance the Frug. He first danced the famous 1960s go-go dance craze with his daughter, Lucy.

Portrayals

Movies

• The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977): played by Andrew Duggan
• King (1978, TV): played by Warren Kemmerling
• Kennedy (1983, TV): played by Nesbitt Blaisdell
• The Right Stuff (1983): played by Donald Moffat
• Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985, TV): played by G.D. Spradlin
• J. Edgar Hoover (1987, TV): played by Rip Torn
• The Early Years (1987, TV): played by Randy Quaid
• JFK (1991): played by Tom Howard and John William Galt (voice)
• Forrest Gump (1994): archive footage, voice-over by John William Galt
• Thirteen Days (2000): played by Walter Adrian
• Path to War (2003): played by Michael Gambon
• The Fog of War (2003): documentary, himself

Fiction

• In Snake Eater, Johnson awards Naked Snake the fictional title of "Big Boss" and the Distinguished Service Cross. In the game, he was voiced by Richard McGonagle.
• The fictional short story Lyndon in Girl with Curious Hair, by David Foster Wallace.
• In the film Bubba Ho-tep, Lyndon Johnson makes a posthumous appearance as a ravenous mummy terrorizing an old folk's home in rural Texas.
• The postmodern novel by Robert Coover, "The Public Burning"

In the film Point Break, one of the bank robbers wears an LBJ face mask to conceal his identity

See also

• History of the United States (1945-1964)
• History of the United States (1964-1980)
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, Texas
• Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

References

Primary sources

• Beschloss Michael R. Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964. 1997. transcribed recordings of LBJ's phone calls
• Califano Joseph A., Jr. The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson., 1991. by a cabinet member
• Gallup, George H. ed, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935-1971, volume 3: 1959-1971. 1972. summary of poll data
• Johnson Lyndon B. The Vantage Point: Perspectives on the Presidency, 1963-1969 1971. LBJ's memoirs
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson. 10 vols. GPO , 1965-70. all speeches and official statements

Secondary Resource

• Trivial Pursuit Inc.

General biographies

• Robert A. Caro. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. 3 volumes as of 2005:

1. The Path to Power (1982),

2. Means of Ascent (1990),
3. The Years of Lyndon Johnson (2002).
   • Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960 (1991)

Presidential years

• Bruce E. Altschuler; LBJ and the Polls University Presses of Florida, 1990
• Bernstein, Irving. Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson 1994.
• Bornet, Vaughn Davis. The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. 1983
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 1: Foreign Policy, the Great Society and the White House. 1981.
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 2: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science. 1987.
• Divine, Robert A., ed. The Johnson Years. Vol. 3: LBJ at Home and Abroad. 1994.
• Firestone, Bernard J., and Robert C. Vogt, eds. Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Uses of Power. (1988), essays
• Gould, Lewis L. Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment. 1988.
• Lichtenstein, Nelson, ed. Political Profiles: The Johnson Years. 1976. biographies of 400+ key politicians
• Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights. 1996.
• Redford, Emmette S., and Marlan Blissett. Organizing the Executive Branch: The Johnson Presidency. 1981.
• Shesol, Jeff. Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud That Shaped a Decade 1997.
• White, Theodore H. The Making of the President, 1964 1965.
• Zarefsky, David. President Johnson's War on Poverty 1986.

Vietnam

• Barrett, David Marshall. Advice and Dissent: An Organizational Analysis of the Evolution of Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam Advisory System, 1965-1968. (University of Notre Dame, 1990)
• Berman, Larry. Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam (1991)
• Brands, H. W. The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (1997)
• Casey, Francis Michael. The Vietnam Policy of President Lyndon Baines Johnson in Response to the Theory of the Protracted Conflict as Applied in the Politics of Indochina: A Case Study of Threat Perception and Assessment in the Crisis Management Process of a Pluralistic Society. (Claremont Graduate School, 1976)
• Cherwitz, Richard Arnold. The Rhetoric of the Gulf of Tonkin: A Study of the Crisis Speaking of President Lyndon B. Johnson. (University of Iowa, 1978)
• Goodnight, Lisa Jo. The Conservative Voice of a Liberal President: An Analysis of Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam Rhetoric. (Purdue University, 1993)
• Kaiser, David E. American tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the origins of the Vietnam War. (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000) ISBN 0674002253
• Logevall, Fredrik Bengt Johan. Fear to Negotiate: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War, 1963-1965. (Yale University, 1993)
• Turner, Kathleen Jane. The Effect of Presidential-Press Interaction on Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam War Rhetoric. (Purdue University, 1978)
• Vandiver, Frank E. Shadows of Vietnam: Lyndon Johnson's Wars (1997)

Endnotes