preview

Lyndon Johnson Essay

Good Essays

Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon Johnson led the country for five years (1963-1968) after
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy died of gunshot wounds on November 22, 1963.
He formulated many policies and carried out many others that Kennedy could not finish. He faced many foreign problems as well, including the Vietnam War and the Cold War. How he dealt with foreign problems put him near last if not last in foreign affairs, when compared to other presidents. Johnson always talked to tourists and met reporters informally. He entertained many distinguished guests at his ranch in Texas. Also, Lyndon and his wife Claudia (Lady Bird) Johnson held formal and informal dances at the white house. His presidency left added a lot in the history …show more content…

Also, Congress passed a voting rights law that ensured voting rights for Negroes and outlawed literacy tests as a voting requirement. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 ended racial discrimination in the sale or rental of houses and apartments. To add the civil rights developments by Johnson, he appointed the first Negro cabinet member and first Negro Supreme Court judge. Robert C. Weaver was selected to be the secretary of housing and urban development. (Peter Lisagor, 149-151) Thurgood
Marshall was set as the first Negro Supreme Court justice(Robert S. Summers, 2).
The Railroad Crisis, in April of 1964, plunged Johnson into on of America's toughest labor disputes. After years of disputing between union workers and train companies over work rules the companies announced new rules that resulted in a union strike. Johnson arranged a fifteen-day delay of the strike and put company and union leaders in a White House room and under pressure from Johnson the dispute was settled in only twelve days.(Peter Lisagor, 149)

During his first full term he used even more policies and passed even more laws. In May 1964 Johnson stated ". . . we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society, but upward to the Great Society." The term Great
Society was used to describe many of his domestic programs. Congress passed his
Appalachia bill which improved the living standards in the Appalachian Mountain region. It also passed his

Get Access