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President Lyndon Baines Johnson (8/27/1908-1/22/1973) Terms: 2 (1963-1969) Vice President: 1963-1965- none, 1965-1969- Hubert Humphrey Party: Democrat

President Lyndon Johnson came into office following the assassination of JFK and really was given no proper entrance into his first term as president. However, despite his unpreparedness he came into office with a few goals and ideas in mind and definitely followed through on them. Johnson deserves a B for his presidency as his actions in his plan for The Great Society were mostly positive even though his involvement in the Vietnam War hindered his presidency slightly.

Johnson's goal for the United States as president was to reach beyond simply a rich and powerful society and upward to a Great Society. Through this goal he wanted to include the war on poverty, civil rights legislation, Medicare and Medicaid as well as environmental protection and consumerism. In a literal aspect, Johnson accomplished all of these goals. He tackled the war on poverty in a multitude of different ways. He first created the Job Corps, which provided vocational training for disadvantaged youth. He also established the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) which was a domestic peace corps that provided volunteers to teach in ghettos along with other programs like the Work-Study Program, the Work Experience Program, and the Community Action Program which were all funded antipoverty programs. In regards to civil rights, Johnson passed a few different Acts throughout his presidency starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which got rid of discrimination in employment and in public places. The Voting Right Act was an Act passed the following year which outlawed discriminatory tests and promoted voter registration. He then passed The Civil Rights Act of 1968 which barred discrimination in the sale and rental of housing and stiffened federal criminal penalties for civil rights violations. He took care of Medicare by installing it for those who were 65 and older and funding it through the Social Security System, and Medicaid by providing medical benefits for any poor person. Additionally, he helped with environmental protection with the Water Quality Act of 1965 and the Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966 as well as the Air Quality Act of 1967. Lastly, to aid in consumerism he passed laws such as the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966, the National Traffic Safety Act, the Highway Safety Act and the Wholesome Meat Act. All of these things benefitted the people of America and were fulfillments of Johnson's goals. Therefore, Johnson accomplished all of his goals set for America during his presidency and this contributed to his grade of a B.

President Johnson had an extraordinary relationship with Congress throughout his two terms as president. Both parts of Congress being highly tilted to the side of Democrat definitely aided in this relationship. He rarely ever had trouble in getting Congress to agree with his proposed laws, which made it much easier for him to accomplish his goals in office. Johnson was a president who proposed a lot of bills and not often if ever did they veto them. He proposed laws very controversial to that time period, especially in Civil Rights yet he had little trouble getting the job done. He made sure to maintain this good relationship with them because he knew that he needed them to get done what he wanted to get done.

Although Johnson did many great things to benefit this country during his presidency, the best thing he did was make improvements with Civil Rights. The time of segregation was finally halted when Johnson put his goals into reality. Through the passing of the Civil Rights Act specifically he was able reduce the discrimination of blacks in many public places and in employment. This was a major step up on the segregation scene and was crucial to racial outlook in the U.S. Even though leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. pushed for the same sort of equality for all races during this time period, President Johnson put it into legislation. This is a crucial piece of American history and changed the country forever; therefore, it is the most important outcome of Johnson's presidency.

Although Johnson did a lot of things right, he did make one pretty big "mistake" in his presidency, and that is the further involvement of the United States into the Vietnam War. After the Northern Vietnamese attacked a U.S. ship, it was appropriate for us retaliate and we did so with air strikes. After the incident, Johnson stated that America would seek no wider war; however, after a few days he proclaimed that they would take any measures necessary to prevent further aggression and began to call for more troops. The number of troops in Vietnam continues to grow and by 1968, it peaked at about 550,000 troops. These actions regarding the war were unliked by the American people and therefore hurt his popularity as a president. The U.S. continued to lose battles as the war went downhill so instead of prevailing with a victory we simply came out with a peace agreement. This was really the only negative part of Johnson's presidency but, it was a big part of it and really hurt his popularity as president.

Many of Johnson's actions influenced future generations; however, the one that affects them the most would be his actions regarding civil rights. Without this, America could easily still be segregated to this day. His want for racial equality and pursuit towards it really affected the people of that time and the people of today. Even though it was not really appreciated that greatly when he first passed it, it still has a lasting effect to this day and is very important towards his presidency.

At the end of Johnson's term the country was clearly far better off in terms of domestic affairs. He had gotten rid of segregation through his actions about Civil Rights, as well as improving other problems such as poverty, Medicare, environmental protection and consumerism. Although foreign affairs weren't in the best of shape due to our involvement in the Vietnam War, President Johnson improved the country in many ways and let it in better shape than it was before. Due to all of these things, President Johnson deserves a B for his presidency.

Bibliography

DeGregorio, William A. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents//. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, Inc., 2009. Print.