#36 Lyndon Baines Johnson: A Tough SOB Who did Great and Terrible Things (1963 – 1969)

"Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President" by Robert Dallek, 2004.

After two documentaries, a biography and a trip to the LBJ National Historic Site, you would think I knew this president pretty well… you would be absolutely wrong.  LBJ is a larger than life figure, human dynamo, consummate wheeler dealer and both saint and sinner. With LBJ, I learned to admire the accomplishments but not so much the methods and man behind them.  Yet there is some achievement from his presidency that touches the lives of every one of us today.  He is the first president I really wish I could have spoken to personally. But I would definitely cave under the “Johnson Treatment”—explained later. 

Birthplace of LBJ

LBJ was born in west Texas hill country near Johnson City- named for his grandfather who founded it.  His family was sort of local celebrities but not at all wealthy.  His mother was the only college educated woman for many miles.  His father was elected to the state legislature and often took LBJ with him to campaign or to the state house.  LBJ loved the campaigning and was a master at it from an early age.  He was very outgoing but a marginal student.  LBJ was sort of wild as a teenager and spent some time knocking around California and various laborer jobs after high school. Eventually he went to Southwest Texas State Teacher’s College in San Marcos. He worked as the school janitor to pay his way and earned mainly C’s in school.  LBJ disliked studying. too much energy to focus on books, so he decided to finish as quickly as possible.  At 6”4 with a tall thin frame, large ears and an outgoing, assertive personality, he made a big impression and became very good at sucking up to teachers. 

  "I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor.

And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this Nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American."-- LBJ

His first teaching job was at a dirt poor border town because the pay was higher. He threw himself into it, setting up extracurricular events, sports teams, and the PTA.  LBJ was permanently touched by the poverty and struggles in his students lives.  His hard work led to a better job at a Houston High school where he once again worked like “a steam engine in pants.” However, he soon left this position when he was offered a job as the secretary to a US Congressman, thanks to some connections from his Dad.

LBJ loved living and working in Washington.  Working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, doing everything for his congressman… who was pretty lazy actually.  After 3 years he received an appointment from FDR to run the NYA (National Youth Administration) for all of Texas. With his energy and drive, his program became the shining star of the NYA program and found employment for 20,000 teens.. drawing praise from FDR and a visit from Eleanor Roosevelt.

During this time, he also met and married Claudia Alta Taylor (Ladybird) who had just graduated college.  They met and married within 10 weeks.  She found him “a little bit scary- so dynamic and insistent.”  He proposed 24 hours after they met.  But she was interested in going somewhere big with her life and they had that in common.  They eventually had 2 daughters and one of the strongest political marriages ever.  She participated in the running of their TV and radio empire and helped soften his “hard scrabble” image.

Mom in front of the Texas White House

In 1937, he ran for the 10^th congressional district - campaigning so long and hard that he had to accept his victory from the hospital. He won by tying himself to FDR’s popular New Deal ideas, using Ladybird’s money and employing some suspicious campaigning tactics. FDR visited Texas shortly after the election and was so impressed by LBJ that he stated he could be “the first Southern President since reconstruction.” With all the government contracts pouring money into Texas, it was easy for LBJ to steer a big chunk to his biggest political donor, the Brown brothers. He also became very close with Sam Rayburn, speaker of the house.  He worked hard to raise campaign funds for all the democratic congressmen… a position which indebted most of them to LBJ. 

In 1941 he ran for the Senate. With the Brown brothers bankrolling him and FDR endorsing him, he just had to beat the popular Governor Pappy O’Daniel.  But he lost an extremely close election due to shady vote tampering by local bosses under O’Daniels control-a lesson in Texas politics that LBJ never forgot.  During the war, LBJ continued to serve as a congressman and joined the Navy Reserve… supervising war production in Texas. He was sent by FDR on a fact-finding mission to the south pacific where he participated with some bombing squads in combat and met with Macarthur.  

1947 Senate Campaign

After FDR’s death and the rise of conservatism in Texas, LBJ began distancing himself from liberal ideals … consistently opposing civil rights legislation and desegregation. He also became a hawk fighting for defense spending and continuing to gain contracts for the Brown Brothers.  In 1947 he decided to run for the Senate again. This time he pulled every trick in the Texas campaign playbook- free food, booze and shows at his campaign stops.  Covering the state in a helicopter and working 20 hrs a day, LBJ at one point was so tired he could not stand up. But he was always at his best shaking hands and talking with folks. Once again it was virtually tied when some mysterious “extra votes” were found in a precinct that LBJ knew well.  He was eventually declared the winner but his career was always tainted by that race.

The Johnson Treatment

In 1949, LBJ entered the senate at the age of 40. He became a master of studying fellow senators to find their likes, needs, weaknesses etc. Just like with his teachers, he was good a sucking up to those in power and became the majority whip after just one year and then majority leader in 1952. Using the “Johnson Treatment”, he was able to drive almost any legislation he wanted. Johnson would dominate by leaning over people, grabbing them by the arm or shoulder, sitting higher than them, leaning into their face within inches and talking louder and longer- often with crude language. With his intimate knowledge of each senator and a system of personal debts to him, he is often considered the strongest majority leader ever.  LBJ began to push for more moderate ideals as he realized the southern conservatism ideals would never help him become president.

 But the constant stress, work, and a 3 pack a day smoking habit led to a major heart attack in 1955.  He almost died but slowly returned to health, losing weight and quitting smoking. LBJ considered running for president in 1956 but knew that Eisenhower would be reelected and that his health could be used as a campaign issue against him. In 1957 he drove through a Civil Rights law- a very weak one but enough to get his name national attention. He also became the major force behind the creation of NASA.

In 1960, LBJ ran for the democratic presidential nomination.  From the start he was worried about losing to Kennedy but knew that Kennedy would need him to win the south.  So Kennedy asked him to become VP.  LBJ considered turning it down since he knew it was such a “do nothing” position and he was definitely not a “do nothing” guy. But he campaigned hard for Kennedy even though their personalities and backgrounds were totally different. Kennedy sent his VP Johnson on many goodwill trips-but LBJ struggled following scripted diplomatic protocols, often jumping out of motorcades to shake hands and give out souvenirs.  Kennedy kept him at arm’s length most of the time but gave him the lead with NASA and some areas of civil rights.  Due to a lot of friction between LBJ and Bobby Kennedy, rumors circulated that Kennedy would replace him in 1964.  But LBJ continued to campaign, including participating in a motorcade in Dallas with JFK… where he was assassinated.

After Kennedy’s death, LBJ felt an obligation to continue some of Kennedy’s visions—including civil rights legislation and a refusal to let Vietnam fall to communists.  He was not above using the martyred Kennedy image to push through these programs. He also added his own emphasis on a “war on poverty” and his vision for “a great society”.  He returned to his original FDR and New Deal ideas.  In fact he passed more legislation in his 5 years than any other president- except FDR.  Johnson pushed through some amazing social legislation such as Medicare, Medicaid, college financial aid, HUD, EPA, civil rights act, voting rights act, job corps, AmeriCorps, clean air act, food stamps, vocational education, national parks and so many others. He truly wanted more equality for all--poor, black, and uneducated.  Ironically a man who was completely against desegregation as a representative, led the biggest changes for American blacks since Abraham Lincoln. LBJ always said that he remembered those poor students from the border town he taught in and how they just needed a level chance at life. When he ran for reelection in 1964 against the wacko conservative Barry Goldwater, he won by the greatest margin of any president up until that time.  But the good times were about to end.

Kennedy had escalated the number of military advisers in Vietnam and all of his military advisers told LBJ that if Vietnam fell, communists would take over southeast Asia then the world.  Johnson had to appear tough on communism to beat back the challenge from Goldwater but he also believed we could win in Vietnam.  His Sec of Defense McNamara was consistently providing data that showed with just more increases in bombing, manpower, funding etc that the North Vietnamese would give up. LBJ constantly worried about doing too much in Vietnam- angering the Soviets and Chinese- or doing too little, letting the south Vietnamese govt. fall to the communist north.  This balancing act and his own desire to only view the data that showed improvements in the war, led to bigger and bigger increases. And his own vanity to not be “the first president to lose a war” just fueled a mess.  Even when advisers like McNamara began telling him that Vietnam could never be won, he felt it would be abandoning the sacrifice made to “cut and run” .

 By 1967, LBJ had no time, energy or money for anymore “great society” legislation. Consistently, LBJ withheld information on the war or painted a rosy picture that all Americans could see was not true when they watched the evening news.  Consumed by the war, protests, and a growing paranoia about the press, LBJ’s popularity plummeted.  He decided not to run again in 1968- because he knew he would lose and wanted to put all his energy into finishing the war before he left. LBJ only marginally supported Hubert Humphrey as the democratic candidate.  He actually did more behind the scenes to help Nixon because he thought Nixon would carry on the war in Vietnam better.  Little did he know that Nixon sabotaged the Paris treaty talks behind his back.

LBJ plane at his ranch

After Nixon’s inauguration, as soon as LBJ got on the plane leaving the White House to return home to his Texas ranch, he lit up a cigarette after 15 years without one.  He told everyone he had done his best and was now going to do “whatever the hell he wanted”.  He kept a low profile, setting up his presidential library, writing a book, getting his finances in order, working on his ranch and donating a large portion of it as a park. He gained a lot of weight, let his hair grow long and unsurprisingly began to have major heart issues again.  He died in January 1973 and is buried on his beloved ranch next to Ladybird who died in 2007.