Lyndon B. Johnson
November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
Democrat
Election
- LBJ succeeded Kennedy after his assassination on November 22, 1963
Election of 1964
- Beats five-term Senator of Arizona Barry Goldwater
- Was a strong conservative Republican
- Goldwater voted against the civil rights act, which hurt him
The Great Society
- Set of domestic programs in the U.S. first announced by Johnson in1965
- Goal was elimination of poverty and racial injustice
- Resembled the New Deal domestic agenda of FDR
- Included Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education
24th Amendment
- 24th amendment was passed January 23, 1964
- Proposes the idea that all American citizens, no matter race nor ethnicity, have the right to vote
- No government officials can deny the right
- Johnson was the president at the time during ratification
Tonkin Gulf Resolution and Vietnam War
- Tolkin Gulf Resolution was August 7, 1964
- Gave broad congressional approval for expansion of the Vietnam War
- Military had designed major attacks on the North
- Johnson believed that the public would not support expansion of war
- Goldwater criticized Johnson for not taking action
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act
- Civil Rights Act signed into law by Johnson on July 2nd, 1964
- Landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the US
- Outlawed discrimination on race, ethnicity, sex, etc.
- Ended racial discrimination in schools and unequal application of voter registration requirements
- 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