Johnson
Zach Price
Johnson's Presidency
Johnson's' Presidency
- Johnson became president in 1963 after Kennedy's assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald
- Republican: Barry Goldwater
- Democrat: LBJ
- LBJ won by a massive margin, winning 486-52 of the electoral votes and carrying 44 states to Goldwater's 6
- The Great Society was a set of domestic reforms that were promoted and passed by LBJ and his fellow Democrats in the Senate. They are the biggest domestic reforms since the New Deal, and Kennedy's assassination presented LBJ with a unique opportunity to promote and pass them.
- The important piece of legislation passed was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that forbade segregation of public accommodations and job discrimination.
- The Twenty-Fourth Amendment prevented Congress & the states from making the right to vote conditional on a 'poll' tax or any other kind of tax or preventative measure. It was a response to the Jim Crow laws in the South after Reconstruction where Southern governments went all-out to find ways to prevent African Americans from voting.
- It was a joint resolution passed by US congress in response to the Tokin Gulf Incident. It allowed LBJ to use conventional military force without the declaration of war from Congress in Southeast Asia.
- Johnson joined the war because he believed the US had to join in the fight to stop the spread of Communism.
- Operation Rolling Thunder was one of the earliest campaigns of the war, and it was an aerial campaign where North Vietnam was continually bombed from the 2nd of November 1965-2nd of March 1968.
- Tet Offensive led to mass casualties of American soldiers and allies, as well as unarmed civilians and Viet Cong troops.
- Forbade segregation of public accommodations and prevent job discrimination.
- It was passed to protect the voters rights.
- It was passed during the height of the Civil Rights movement, and has since been amended and expanded upon 5 times.
- It allowed for federal oversight of the voting process in order to prevent any prerequisites states might set in place to prevent citizens from voting.
- In January 1968, the Viet Cong attacked 26 key S.V. cities
- The Tet Offensive ended in a military defeat for the VC, but it caused the American public to demand an immediate end to the war.
- On March 31st, LBJ decided to freeze American troop levels, and begin to reduce them. The bombings would also be scaled down, and the responsibility of the war would fall to the S.V.
- On June 5th, Robert Kennedy was assassinated by an Arab immigrant angry about his pro-Israel views.
- Assassination of MLK Jr.