Johnson
November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1969
Important Events of Presidency
- Succeeded to presidency after assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
- Vietnam conflict continues - 1963-1969
- Civil Rights Act - 1964
- Twenty-fourth Amendment ratified outlawing the poll tax - 1964
- Medicare and Medicaid - 1965
- Twenty-Fifth Amendment ratified; order of succession for the presidency - 1967
- MLK, Jr. assassinated - 1968
- Robert Kennedy assassinated - 1968
- Pueblo Incident - 1968
Election of 1963
- Won with 43,129,566 votes VS 27,178,188 votes, and Electoral College was 486 to 52
- After Kennedy's Assassination
- LBJ- Democrat
- He won by a massive margin
- Carried 44 States
- Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson beats five-term Senator of Arizona Barry Goldwater
- Goldwater voted against the civil rights act
- Goldwater was a strong conservative Republican
The Great Society
Congress passed tons of legislation under Johnson → Great Society
There was an escalating War on Poverty- doubled funding of the Office of Economic Opportunity $2 Billion
Big 4 legislative achievements
1- aid to education
went straight to students
2- medical care for eledery & poor
1965- Medicare (old) & Medicaid (poor)
3- immigration reform
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965-
abolished quota system
Doubled # of immigrants allowed to enter country anually
shifted immigration from Europe → Latin America & Asia
- 4- new voting rights bill
- National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities- designed to ^ level of US cultural life
created 2 new cabinet offices
Department of Transportation
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The 24th Amendment (ID)
- Passed- January 23, 1964
- Proposes the idea that all American citizens, no matter race nor ethnicity, has the right to vote.
- Johnson was the president at the time during ratification
- No government officials can deny the right
African Americans continued to be targeted… bombs exploded in in churches,etc. Hard for them to vote still.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution (ID) and Vietnam War
- August 7, 1964
- Military had designed major attacks on the North, Johnson thought the public would not support expansion of war
- Gave broad congressional approval for expansion of the Vietnam War
- Goldwater, Republican nominee, criticized Johnson for not taking action
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (ID) and Voting Rights Act (ID)
- Civil Rights Act signed into law by Johnson on July 2nd, 1964
- Created Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- Outlawed discrimination on race, ethnicity, sex, etc.
- Ended racial discrimination in schools and unequal application of voter registration requirements
- Landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the US
- Voting Rights Act signed into law by Johnson on August 6th, 1965
- Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments
1968- "A Watershed Year"
It was called a watershed year because of the flow of events that occurred
- President Johnson Renounces Bid for Re-Election -
- President Johnson's announcement –"I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party as your President"
- USSR Invades Czechoslovakia
- Robert Kennedy Announces Candidacy for President
- Students Protest Against Dow Chemical Recruiters - March 6, 1968
- TET Offensive Begins
- Eugene McCarthy Gets 40% of Vote - In the New Hampshire primary
- Nixon Protest
- NYU "International Student Faculty Strike to Bring Troops Home"
- Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated - April 4, 1968
- NYU Adopts New Minority Recruitment Policy
- Marijuana Survey Taken
- North Vietnam attacks 27 major south Vietnam cities
- Columbia University Shut Down By Student Strike - April 23, 1968
- Paris Student Protest Triggers Nationwide Crisis
- Robert Kennedy Assassinated
- Anti-War Protesters & Police Battle in Chicago During Democratic National Convention
- Chi-Reston Incident
- NYU Suspends Students for Chi-Reston Incident
- General Strike
- Nixon Defeats Humphrey By the Thinnest Margin In History
- King Center Independent
- The Hatchett Controversy - mid-September 1968
- Hatchett Fired - October 11, 1968