Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson was born in rural Texas in 1908 and rose through Congress as a master of legislative power. After serving in the House and Senate, including as Senate majority leader, he became John F. Kennedy’s vice president in 1961. Johnson assumed the presidency on November 22, 1963, after Kennedy’s assassination, and used the moment to push for legislation Kennedy had proposed.

Johnson’s domestic record was one of the most consequential in American history. He secured passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, then won a landslide election that year over Barry Goldwater. His Great Society agenda produced Medicare, Medicaid, federal education aid, anti-poverty programs, public broadcasting support, arts and humanities endowments, and environmental and consumer protections.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 became a landmark achievement, attacking racial discrimination in voting and reshaping American democracy. Johnson also appointed Thurgood Marshall as the first Black Supreme Court justice. Yet his domestic ambitions increasingly competed with the Vietnam War, which consumed money, attention, and public trust.

Johnson escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, sending more than 500,000 troops by the late 1960s. The weight of the war effort and the cost of simultaneously pursuing the most ambitious domestic agenda since the New Deal led Johnson to announce in March 1968 that he would not seek reelection. He retired to Texas and died in 1973.