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| Source: Smith, Carter. 2004 |
But Vietnam ruined everything.
LBJ had little interest in getting involved in a foreign war. His reason for being in politics was to help people. But he knew the challenges and opportunities of opposing Communism in Vietnam. He once told John F. Kennedy, “I cannot stress too strongly the extreme importance of following up this mission with other measures, other actions and other efforts … we must decide whether to help these countries to the best of our ability or throw in the towel in the areas and pull back our defenses to San Francisco and a ‘Fortress America’ concept.” He supported the concept of aiding South Vietnam but he couldn’t decide whether to be hawk or dove. He said later as president, “I was bound to be crucified either way I moved.”
In response to actual and alleged attacks by the North Vietnamese navy in the Gulf of Tonkin, Congress on August 6, 1964, authorized Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel” attacks and come to the aid of South Vietnam.
But complicating matters was the election of 1964 for which Johnson had to campaign soon after he entered office in late November 1963. He was running against ultra-conservative Republican Barry Goldwater. So, Johnson needed to appear tough on Communism.
In fact, even in the short time he was in office, Johnson was so burned out by the war, that he contemplated not running for a term of his own. But Lady Bird pushed him into running. She said, “I can see nothing but a lonely wasteland for your future. Your friends would be frozen in embarrassed silence…” (Goodwin, 1976)
So, Johnson ran and won the greatest victory in presidential history -- winning by 15 million votes and gaining 61% of the vote. His electoral margin was 486-52 and he lost only five states (all Southern). In addition, the Democrats won control of the House and Senate by large margins.
Soon after his inauguration, the United States began the “Rolling Thunder” air strikes in response to an attack on Plaiku military base. By April 1965, the United States had 50,000 troops in South Vietnam. And by June these troops were authorized to conduct combat operations. Troop strength was quickly increased to 200,000 and eventually to 500,000. Throughout the war, the public and Congress were given minimal information. And Johnson avoided requesting federal taxes to pay for the war so as to not antagonize the public. But doing so was inflationary and hurt the economy.
* * *
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| The Vietnam War Memorial |
With the delta variant of COVID still raging, especially in Johnson’s native Texas, we decided to stay local to cover his life. We visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, better known as “the Wall,” to highlight the war that bedeviled Johnson throughout his presidency and prompted him not to seek re-election in 1968.
In the late morning, we walked down the incline next to the black granite wall until it towered over us — a tableau filled with the names of the more than 58,000 people killed in the war.
Volunteers clad in pale yellow golf shirts and khaki pants/shorts/capris chatted with the few dozen visitors young and old about the war, helping them look for names, and explaining how the names are listed.
A smattering of flags and roses lay against the bottom of the wall, some with messages.
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| Vietnam Women's Memorial |
Close to the wall is the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, a large bronze statue surrounded by trees and benches. A plaque at the statue says more than 265,000 women served during the Vietnam era, mostly as nurses. They tended to 300,000 soldiers, saving 98% of those who went to the hospital.
* * *
LBJ’s path to the presidency was in many ways inspired by his father, Sam Johnson. He was a progressive Texas politician who looked out for the less fortunate. Sam fought the Klu Klux Klan and defended the civil liberties of minorities. He would bring needy strangers to the house for dinner.
Young Lyndon loved to join his father on his campaign trips.
Johnson’s mother was also a strong influence on his life. She loved her son but would use her love as a reward, and she would freeze him out if he didn’t do as she wanted. She spent a lot of time with him while he was at college, helping him with his studies.
Johnson met and married Claudia Taylor while visiting Austin in 1934. He proposed to her the day they met. She turned him down, but they ended up marrying within months. He called her “Lady Bird.” Having no career of her own, she was his ardent supporter throughout his life. When Johnson became president, she became known for her efforts to beautify the nation’s highways.
Johnson was never popular and was somewhat of a loner. But he learned at a young age that befriending powerful people was a path to success. When he went to Southwest Texas State Teachers College, he went out of his way to become known to the college president, who soon asked Johnson to be his assistant. Later Johnson would use that strategy to rise in the House and then the Senate.
Johnson shared his father’s progressive views. He thought teaching was the best way to help people. After graduation, he became a history teacher at Sam Houston High School in Cotulla, Texas. Most of the students were children of Mexican migrant workers. He became the debate coach, softball coach, volleyball coach and song leader. He even used his salary to buy sports equipment. He encouraged his students to avoid speaking Spanish so they could learn English faster. Later he would say, “I swore when I was teaching those kids that if I ever had the power, I would help them. And now I have the power and I mean to use it.” (Rubenstein, 2019).
* * *
In 1931, he was asked by Rep. Richard Kleberg to become an aide. LBJ was on his way to Washington, D.C.
Johnson stayed at the Dodge Hotel, where many of the other aides stayed. Johnson worked hard at networking with the other aides, going so far as to visit the bathroom multiple times to meet the other aides. In fact, on some days, he took four showers and brushed his teeth five times! He knew that relationships would help him turbocharge his career. Knowing that information was power, he would also read everything related to congressional activities. He was busy and only slept about 4-5 hours a night.
His hard work was noticed by Rep. Sam Rayburn, who convinced FDR to appoint Johnson as the director of the National Youth Administration (NYA) in Texas, a New Deal program. In typical Johnson fashion, he worked hard at the job.
In 1937, Texas Rep. James P. Buchanan died and Johnson decided to run for his seat. He put his enormous energy into the race and visited every village in the 10th District. Thirty-year-old Johnson won and was now back in D.C. as a politician in his own right.
Johnson grew closer to Rayburn, who began to regard LBJ as a sort of son. Johnson’s connections with Rayburn helped bring money to Texas, including electrification of his district.
When the United States entered World War II, Johnson was the first congressman to enlist. He served in a non-combat role in the Navy. However, he did participate in one combat mission as an observer on a B-26 bombing run over New Guinea. He was supposed to ride in the Wabash Cannon and was in fact sitting in the plane on the runway. But the takeoffs were behind schedule, so he ran to the bathroom. When he returned, the Wabash Cannon had departed. Instead he rode on the Heckling Hare, which had not yet taken off. That mission saw heavy combat, and his plane was badly damaged. Johnson was awarded a Silver Star for this coolness under fire. It was an obvious political award because none of the actual crew won that award. As a historical footnote, the Wabash Cannon was shot down on that mission and all aboard died.
Johnson ran again for a Senate seat in 1948. But first he had to beat popular former Gov. Coke Stevenson in the Democratic primary. Johnson put in his usual hard work and visited 20 towns a day on some days. The election was a squeaker, with Johnson winning by only 87 votes out of about 900,000 cast. Allegations of cheating came up immediately. A ballot box from Precinct 13 showed up with 200 votes for Johnson. Interestingly, all of the ballots were in same handwriting, same pen and in alphabetical order. The Stevenson campaign accused Johnson of illegalities. They took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, but the court would not review it. Johnson won the subsequent general election in heavily Democratic Texas by a margin of 2 to 1.
As he had with Rep. Rayburn, Johnson found a mentor in the Senate — Sen. Richard Russell. Sen. Russell was a loner bachelor with few friends. LBJ and Lady Bird would have him over often for dinner. LBJ called Russell “one of his daddies.”
Johnson knew that as a senator for the entire state of Texas, he needed to act more conservative. But he only went so far; he did not join the Southern Caucus.
Soon Johnson was elected party whip. By 1953 he was minority leader. When the Senate turned Democratic in 1954, he became the majority leader. It was a meteoric rise.
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| The "Johnson Treatment" |
Johnson was now a political master. His abilities to convince people would be legendary. He said, “Never let a conversation end. There’s always something that someone doesn’t want to tell you. And the longer the conversations goes on, the more likely you are to find out what that is” (Rubenstein, 2019). In what became known as "the Johnson Treatment," he would use his 6’ 4 height to tower over people and intimate them. He also knew he could change legislative power by handing out committee assignments strategically.
In July 1955, his hard-driving, chain-smoking, and heavy-drinking lifestyle caught up with him and he had a heart attack. He was only 46.
One of LBJ’s achievements as senator was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which strengthened voting rights for Blacks. LBJ pushed the bill through the Senate, which approved it on August 7, 1957. It was the first civil rights bill since the late 1800s.
While senator, Johnson bought a Texas radio station, KTBC. This was a controversial move because LBJ sat on the Commerce Committee that oversaw the Federal Communications Commission. The station would eventually become very profitable.
* * *
When 1960 rolled around, Johnson was ready to run for the presidency. He naively thought that as a senator, he had control of delegates from his state, so he did not campaign for the nomination. He thought John F. Kennedy would be an easily beatable opponent because he was nine years younger and sickly. But Kennedy campaigned hard and was quickly nominated at the Democratic National Convention. Basically, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party didn’t want Johnson as their candidate.
JFK was ambivalent about having LBJ as his running mate. He didn’t like him but liked how he operated politically. And of course, Johnson brought Texas’s large cache of electoral votes.
Once in the vice president’s office, Johnson wanted to preside over the Democratic Senate Caucus but Democratic senators would have none of it. He also wanted supervision of some government agencies, but Kennedy was not going to let that happened. Instead, Johnson was given oversight of NASA, the agency he had helped establish in 1958. He was also given oversight of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), which was established to eliminate racial discrimination. He later said that the vice presidency was political death and that he “detested every minute of it” (Goodwin, 1976).
And then came Dallas.
When JFK was killed on November 21, 1963, Johnson kept Air Force One on the ground for an extra hour so that Jackie Kennedy could be on the plane for his swearing in. He thought that having her next to him would lend legitimacy to his presidency.
And he continued JFK’s legislative agenda.
Johnson said, “no memorial or oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy’s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long” (Goodwin, 1976). To work with southern conservatives such as Richard Russell, Allen Ellender, John McClelland and Harry Byrd, Johnson pretended to share their negative attitudes toward Blacks. But in the end, LBJ took a hard stance in favor of civil rights and defeated a Southern filibuster. The bill passed the Senate 73-27 and the House 289-126. On July 2, 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among other measures, it opened public places to Blacks and enforced school desegregation.
But voting rights still needed to be ensured. In Alabama, only 19 percent of Blacks were registered to vote. (In Mississippi, the number was only 6 percent.) On March 7, 1965, Blacks marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to advocate for voting rights. As they approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge outside Selma, they were violently attacked by Alabama state troopers. Images of the attack were captured on television. Johnson responded by nationalizing the Alabama National Guard, and later that month the march went forward 25,000 strong. Congress responded by passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 74-19 (Senate) and 333-85 (House). LBJ signed the bill on Aug. 6, 1965.
Johnson was upset that some Blacks had turned to rioting to vent their frustrations. But the riots had nothing to do with him. The riots began with the arrest of a Black motorist in Los Angeles in August 1965. The rioting would continue on and off for three years. It culminated with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968. When the rioting ended, 225 people had been killed and 4,000 had been wounded. And there was $112 billion in property damage.
Johnson had a vision of a “Great Society” that would prosper as a whole and not leave anybody behind. It included Medicare, a higher minimum wage, better unemployment benefits, auto safety, Head Start (free preschool education for the poor), Job Corps (job opportunities in urban areas), Community Action (required minimum participation by the poor in some federal programs), and especially fairness and equality for Blacks.
Johnson signed Medicare on July 30, 1965, in Independence, Missouri, so that former President Truman could attend; Truman had pushed for national health insurance while president.
He also signed the Fair Housing Act in April 11, 1968. The law banned discrimination on the basis of “race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status.”
While president, a side of Johnson’s personality that could only be characterized as twisted came out. He would swim in the White House pool in the nude and mock those on his staff who did not. He continued to work while sitting on the toilet — and his staff was expected to come into the bathroom while he defecated so that work could continue.
Like a lot of the recent presidents, LBJ had affairs on the side. One was with Alice Glass, a socialite, and another with the Helen Gahagan Douglas, an actress, the wife of actor Melvyn Douglas, and a member of Congress. Lady Bird put up with his affairs.
As his first full term was drawing to a close in 1968, Johnson’s poll numbers were rock bottom —somewhere around 36 percent. He was tired and decided against running for a second full term. In a televised address he said “… I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”
* * *
Needing to occasionally escape the White House, LBJ and Lady Bird frequently crossed the Potomac River to reflect on the issues of the day and enjoy the magnificent views of the Washington Monument and Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.
That spot is now marked by a tall granite stone in what is now Lady Bird Johnson Park.
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| Lady Bird Johnson Park |
Four plaques lay around the base of the rock, highlighting four of LBJ’s most important quotations. Visitors can enjoy the views and reflect on his presidency on one of the half-dozen or so benches encircling the site.
The park is off the George Washington Parkway between the Potomac and the Boundary Channel and is along the Mt. Vernon Trail that parallels the river. The trail itself should not be missed. Though frequently crowded, it affords walkers, runners and cyclists amazing views of the Washington skyline, the planes landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Potomac River and nature itself.
With the air a bit chilly but the sun warm. Cathy took advantage of the trail and went for a run (north from the park to Rosslyn, south to Teddy Roosevelt Island, and then back to the parking lot), while Tom took a nap and got a head start reading about the next president on our tour, Richard Nixon.
The park itself is bucolic, full of shady trees and bushes and a walking path that loops around. But if you’re expecting a bunch of flowers—as you should since Lady Bird had had flowers planted to beatify the highway system—you will be disappointed.
The park shares parking with a marina that offers a bar and grill and both inside and outside seating. A very nice way to finish up our visit.
As noted earlier, LBJ could have been reflecting on the Vietnam War as he gazed at the memorials, dedicated to our most notable presidents. Perhaps he was asking himself how they would have handled the conflict, which single-handedly destroyed his presidency.
One of the granite plaques in Lady Bird Johnson Park reads: “I hope it may be said 100 years from now that by working together, we helped to make our county more just for all its people. I believe at least it will be said that we tried.”
Directions
The Vietnam Memorial is located in Washington, DC near Constitution Ave NW and 22nd Street NW.
Lady Bird Johnson Park is located on an island in the Potomac River and can be reached by the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
References
Dallek, Robert. 2003. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Little Brown and Company, New York, NY.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. 1976. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. St. Martin’s Press. New York, NY.
History Channel. 2005. The Presidents: The Lives and Legacies of the 43 Leaders of the United States.
Peters, Charles. 2010. Lyndon B. Johnson. Henry Holt and Company. New York, NY.
Rubenstein, David. 2019. The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians. Simon & Schuster. New York, NY. Robert A. Caro on Lyndon B. Johnson
Smith, Carter. 2004. Presidents: Every Question Answered. Smithsonian. Metro Books. New York, NY.
Websites
Kiger, Patrick, J. 2019. How a Luckily Timed Bathroom Break Saved LBJ's Life During WWII https://www.history.com/news/lbj-world-war-ii-bathroom-break
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2013/02/14/90-letters-in-90-days-the-courtship-of-lady-bird-and-lbj/
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