Presidential Library Johnson
By: Lindsey Maeshima
How Johnson Became President
- After JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president in 1963
- In the next election of 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat) would be running against Barry Goldwater (Republican)
- Johnson won against Goldwater by a great majority
The Great Society
- The Great Society; period where Congress passed a lot of new legislation
- Increased funding of Office of Economic Opportunity to $2 billion
- Created the Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities
- Achievements: aid to education, medical care for the elderly and poor, immigration reform, and a new voting rights bill
- Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965; eliminated quota system and doubled the number of possible immigrants
- Poverty decreased in 1970s
24th Amendment
- 24th Amendment: Passed in 1964, prohibited poll taxes since the right to vote shouldn't be affected based on the paying of a tax
Tonkin Gulf Resolution and Vietnam War
What happened while Johnson was in office
- USS Maddox was fired on and in response Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964
- Gave unlimited power to the president in sending troops to Vietnam to protect against North Vietnam
- Johnson resulted with political gains from this problem
- Operation Rolling Thunder occurred in March 1965 where bombings were frequent against North Vietnam
- Americans began to become anti war as soldiers were dying in Vietnam, Johnson agreed that America would become less involved and would gradually hand over responsibility South Vietnam
- Despite promptings Johnson didn't result in an easy victory through massive bombing
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act (Johnson’s Civil Rights)
- Civil Rights Act of 1964; stated that public areas were not allowed to have segregation and that no one would be denied access based off their race
- Also the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created for the purpose of stopping persecution in employment
- Voting Rights Act of 1965; Congress passed in 1965, African Americans could be registered to vote even if they weren't allowed to before because of literacy tests
1968
- Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a sniper on April 4, 1968
- March 31, 1968 Johnson stated in response to the strong anti war feelings about the Vietnam War that they would stop bringing more troops in and would gradually hand the responsibility to South Vietnam
- Robert Kennedy was assassinated by an Arab immigrant who was against his pro-Israel perspective
- In the election of 1968 Richard Nixon won the election