Lyndon Baines Johnson also served as the 37th Vice President of the United States under John F. Kennedy from 1961 until 1963.
Johnson succeeded to the presidency directly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was elected president during the landslide victory in 1964. He was a major leader for the Democratic Party and was responsible for the "Great Society" legislation which included many civil rights, Medicare, Medicaid, education funding, and the "War on Poverty." He also escalated the American involvement in the Vietnam War, raising the number of troops from 16,000 to 550,000 during his four years in office.
After his 1960 campaign for Democratic nomination for presidency failed, he was selected by JFK to be his running-mate. Once he took office after the JFK assassination, his popularity declined. His reelection bid in 1968 fell short due to the Democratic party opposing the Vietnam War. He withdrew his election bid and concentrated on peacemaking. He was renowned for his personality and the "Johnson treatment," his persuasion techniques of powerful politicians.
Johnson died after suffering his third heart attack, on January 22, 1973.
Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.
A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.
believe the destiny of your generation - and your nation - is a rendezvous with excellence.
I don't believe I'll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn't go to Harvard.
Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one.
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim."
One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.
Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.
I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You've got to just stand there and take it.
I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.