Lyndon B. Johnson
By: Ashrith Reddy
Inaguration of Johnson
- Sworn in as president after assassination of Kennedy
- Ran as a Democrat against Senator Barry Goldwater for Republican in 1964
- Won with 486 electoral votes and 42,825,463 votes against 52 electoral votes.
- Received 44 of 50 states.
The Great Society
- Doubled economic opportunity to $2 Billion
- Created 2 new cabinet offices: Department of Tranpostation and HUD.
- First black cabinet secretary
- Main 4= Aid to Education, Medical Care for Elderly, immigration reform and a new voting rights bill.
- Great Society similar to New Deal
- New Deal was Johnson's political agenda
24th Amendment
- Ratified in January of 1964,
- Abolished the poll tax in federal elections
- Not really successful.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution and Vietnam War
- Tonkin Gulf Resolution gave president authority and blank check for military in SE Asia.
- Vietnam became most costly and longest war
- Operation Rolling Thunder was in full swing with fbombing attacks on the North Vietnamese.
- Americans wanted end to war due to Tet Offensive, victory over VietCong.
- In 1967, Johnson ordered the CIA to spy on domestic antiwar activists.
- On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced brakes to the war
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act
- Civil Rights Act gave government power to enforce school desegregation.
- Government could prevent racial discrimination in South.
- Extended for women.
- Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests for voting.
1968- A Watershed Year
- Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy(Democrat Nominee) were assassinated
- Nixon wins the Presidential Election of 1968
- Tet Offensive begins bringing the start of the end of the war in January of 1968.
- Riots occurred at the Democratic National Convention.