Steve+-+LBJ+-+F08

Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Party Term in Office: 1963-1969 Vice President: None after replacing JFK Full Term: Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.

Lyndon Johnson was a fairly good president for the most part in domestic issues, but was a bad President in foreign issues. His Good Society ideas were beneficial to the American people. His decisions concerning the Vietnam War were not so good, cost the U.S. a lot. Overall I give LBJ the grade of B-.

Lyndon Johnson accomplished his goals fairly well. One of his goals was to end segregation. He accomplished this fairly well when he got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. This helped desegregate public areas. He also set up the EEOC to end unfair hiring by color and sex. He even orders affirmative action against discrimination. He also had a goal of putting together a sort of new New Deal for the American people and the War on Poverty. This was somewhat accomplished with the passage of The Big Four. He got Medicare and Medicaid put into place, immigration reform, voters’ rights and aid for education reformed. He did not however achieve his goals of a quick fight in Vietnam. This is why Lyndon Johnson was a fairly good president because he accomplished most of his goals.

Lyndon Johnson’s relationship with Congress was ok for the most part. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. LBJ was able to get his laws for the Great Society and War on Poverty Plan in, but not without protest from Congress. Also, his Voting Rights Act of 1965 was protested by the South, but it was passed. In the election on 1964 LBJ does get the Democratic Party to control Congress. There is so opposition from his party during the Vietnam War era. Congress began to doubt LBJ’s decisions on slowly increasing troops in Vietnam and the whole Vietnam quick win idea. The party decides not to nominate him and LBJ decides to also not run as a write in candidate. Overall his relation with Congress was ok at first, and then it slowly fell apart. The best thing that LBJ did was the Great Society plan and War on Poverty. His Medicare and Medicaid programs gave elderly people as well as people who needed Medical Treatment the ability to get it without medical insurance. Also, this lowered the poverty of the elderly. His help for aid to education allowed college students to get funds for school. Also the Project Head Start gave children who were poor, improved learning opportunities. This also helped in poverty. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 helped to allow fairer immigration policies. It got rid of the Origin Quota limit and just gave immigration a fixed rate. It also limited immigration from the Western Hemisphere. The Immigration Act also allowed families to be brought together in a limitless family unification policy. The Great Society had a big part to do with desegregation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 got rid of the poll taxes and literacy tests for blacks. Also in this time the 24th Amendment was passed doing the same thing. The worst thing LBJ did was his decision to continuously increase military power in Vietnam. LBJ thought that the war would be a quick easy win. It wasn’t. His plan was to increase the pressure on the Viet Cong and North Vietnam and continuous bombing of Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. These increase in force cost the U.S. $30 billion a year. This later drained funding for his Great Society Plan. Also, the casualties of the war were high and LBJ still increased troops to Vietnam to over ½ a million soldiers in Vietnam. LBJ allowed the USSR to expand into the Mediterranean area during the Vietnam War. Not only that, he gets the CIA and FBI involved stopping antiwar protesting. This is indeed a bad decision for LBJ and affects his overall presidency a lot. A precedent that LBJ set for American society is the Civil Rights movement for African Americans. He got African American’s the right to vote in the 24th and Voters Rights Act of 1965. Now African Americans were elected to federal positions more frequently than before. This in turn allowed desegregation in the south to increase. Desegregated schools were more frequent in this time period. He also appointed the first African American as a cabinet member. Robert C Weaver was appointed to the Dept. of Housing and Transportation. This precedent can be seen today as now racism is very low and African Americans as well as other minorities are accepted in society more easily and everyone can vote now as long as you are over 18. In conclusion, LBJ was a fairly good president through his Great Society and War on Poverty Plan to help domestically. His fight for desegregation helped African Americans become equals in society. His relations with Congress were ok at first and died at the end but he did get important laws passed. He was however stubborn on his fight in Vietnam which cost America a lot. This however is due to the idea that had he surrendered and ran from Vietnam, many other countries would fall under communism if America was shown as weak. Overall, Lyndon Johnson was a fairly good president for his domestic reform and that is why he deserves a B- for his presidency.

"Lyndon B. Johnson." __The White House__. 2008. 17 Dec. 2008 . Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. __American Pageant : Advanced__ __ Placement __. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2001.

Microsoft Corporations. "Lyndon Johnson." __Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia__. 2008. 17 Dec. 2008 .