Johnson
Landslide Lyndon
Becoming President
- Took over after Kennedy's death in Dallas
- Johnson (Democrat) ran against Goldwater (Republican)
- Johnson won electoral vote 486 to 52
- Johnson won popular vote 43, 127, 041 to 21,175, 754
The Great Society
- Johnson's domestic program
- Pushed Kennedy's tax bill through congress
- Made billion dollar "War on Poverty"
- Paid special attention to Appalachia
- New Deal-like measures put in place
- The Other America By Michael Harrington aroused support for TGS
- Congress appropriated the Office of Economic Opportunity $2 billion
- Congress granted $1 billion to redevelop Appalachia
- Created the Department of Transportation
- Created the Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Created National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities
- Aid to education
- Medical care to the elderly (Medicare) and poor (Medicaid) in 1965
- Immigration reform (Immigration and Nationality act of 1965)
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
The 24th Amendment
- Ratified January 1964
- Abolished poll tax in federal elections
- "Freedom Summer" of 1964 registered many black voters
- MLK Jr resumed black voting campaign in Selma, Alabama in 1965
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- August 2-4, 1964
- North Vietnamese ships fired on American Navy
- Johnson ordered limited air raid on North Vietnam
- Congress gave Johnson permission to use further force in Vietnam if so desired
Vietnam
- February 1965 Vietnamese troops attacked American Air Base
- March 1965 "Operation Rolling Thunder"
- 1968 more than half a million troops in South Vietnam
- Charles de Gaulle ordered American NATO troops off French soil 1966
- 1966-1967 William Fulbright aired shows that gave antiwar opinions against Johnson
- Johnson announced "Bombing Halts" in 1966 and 1967
- 1968 Johnson tells CIA to spy on antiwar Americans
- 1968 Johnson tells FBI to use "Cointelpro" on antiwar protesters
- January 1968 North Vietnam attacks 27 major South Vietnam cities
- March 31, 1968 Johnson tells Americans that he's shifting responsibility to South Vietnamese
- 1968 Johnson declared he would not be candidate in upcoming election
- North and South Korea agreed to discuss peace in Paris
Civil Rights and Voting Rights
Civil Rights Act of 1964:
- In honor of Kennedy
- Banned racial discrimination
- Strengthened fed power to desegregate schools
- created federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Conservatives tried to add in women's rights
- 1965 issued executive order to take action against discrimination
- Signed into law August 6th
- Outlawed literacy tests
- Sent federal voter registrars to southern states
1968- The "Watershed" year
- 1968 Johnson tells CIA to spy on antiwar Americans
- 1968 Johnson tells FBI to use "Cointelpro" on antiwar protesters
- January 1968 North Vietnam attacks 27 major South Vietnam cities
- March 31, 1968 Johnson tells Americans that he's shifting responsibility to South Vietnamese
- 1968 Johnson declared he would not be candidate in upcoming election
- North and South Korea agreed to discuss peace in Paris
- Hubert H. Humphrey ran as democratic candidate
- Robert Kennedy shot and killed June 5, 1968
- Martin Luther King Jr assassinated
- Chicago 1968 police riots due to angry democratic voters
- August 1968 Republicans met in Miami make Nixon candidate
- Independent party appoints George C. Wallace as candidate
- Nixon won, 301 electoral votes and 31, 785, 480 popular to Humphrey's 191 electoral votes and 31, 275, 166 popular votes
- Wallace won 9, 906, 473 popular votes and 46 electoral votes