Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973) was an American politician and statesman. He served as president of the United States, where he also served as a deputy, senator, and vice president for the Democratic Party. He was in charge of taking the reins of the country after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and continued with many of the proposals that his predecessor had promoted.
Johnson was a native of Texas and worked as a teacher until he decided to enter politics in the 1930s. He first reached the House of Representatives and from there he went to the Senate. He tried to get the Democratic nomination in 1960, but settled for entering the race as the vice president of Kennedy, who beat him in the primaries..
After the assassination of the head of state in 1963, Johnson assumed the first national magistracy and the following year he was elected with a wide margin to continue in office on his own merits.
The expansion of civil rights was one of the priorities promoted by the Johnson administration, as well as social security. Similarly, he declared a war on poverty in his nation by promoting urban and rural development, as well as by encouraging education and art..
Among its most outstanding actions was the approval of the Civil Rights Law and the Voting Law, by which racial minorities benefited in their fight for equality.
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Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 near Stonewall in Texas. He was the eldest of the five children of Rebekah Baines and Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. The names of his brothers were Sam Houston, Rebekah, Josefa and Lucía.
The Johnson family had been one of the founders of Johnson City, a town near Stonewall to which the Lyndon family moved in 1913. In that new residence the future American politician studied first grade.
During his early years he was an outgoing young man. In fact, he became president of his class while he was in 11th grade. He graduated from high school at fifteen, after that he decided to go to California with a group of friends.
For a few years he got various jobs, but finally decided to return to his homeland in 1925. In his home state he devoted himself to building roads for a time, but did not see this as a permanent occupation..
In 1927 Lyndon B. Johnson enrolled in the Southeastern Texas Institute of Teachers. Meanwhile he took jobs as a janitor and clerk to pay for his higher education expenses..
During 1928 Johnson momentarily put aside his studies to dedicate himself to the position of principal, as well as a fifth through seventh grade teacher at the Welhousen School in Cotulla. There he met poor children and was sensitized; in addition, it created a strong bond with the Latino community.
He graduated from teaching in 1930 and after teaching for a time at Pearsall, he went to Houston, Texas, where he found a better job opportunity..
From that time he became interested in politics and in 1931 Johnson was appointed legislative secretary to Richard M. Kleberg. From that position it is said that Johnson fulfilled most of the duties of the congressman in office..
Lyndon B. Johnson supported the measures of the New Deal Franklin D. Roosevelt and made friends with people close to the circle of the American president. In 1934 the young secretary took some courses at Georgetown University Law School.
It was also in 1934 that Johnson met Claudia Alta Taylor, nicknamed Lady Bird by those close to her. He was immediately struck by and the young couple married on November 17 of that same year in San Antonio, Texas.
He resigned from his position with Kleberg when Roosevelt offered him the position of program director. National Youth Administration in Texas. After the death of James P. Buchanan, Johnson entered as a candidate for deputy in 1937.
After taking the vacant seat, Johnson dedicated himself to advocating for rural development. He was inducted into the Committee for Naval Affairs at the recommendation of Roosevelt and continued to represent his district for the next 12 years..
On March 19, 1944, the first daughter of the Johnson couple was born, whom they baptized as Lynda Bird. Three years later, Lucy Baines was born, the second daughter of Lyndon Johnson and his wife..
While serving as a congressman, Lyndon B. Johnson was absent from office only in 1941, when he was summoned by the Naval Reserve. He was given the rank of Lieutenant Commander a year earlier and was required to report days after the attack on Pearl Harbor..
Washington D.C. served as their military training base; Upon completion, he was appointed as a port inspector on the East Coast and in Texas. Thus he became the 1st member of Congress to serve actively during World War II..
In 1942 he was sent to collect intelligence in the Pacific Southwest by President Roosevelt. Johnson was supposed to report to McArthur in Australia and during a mission in New Guinea on June 9, the plane in which he was traveling was attacked by enemy fire..
For that event Lyndon B. Johnson received a Silver Star for his Gallantry in Battle. He was asked to return to his country during July 1942, upon returning he was released from his military responsibility.
In 1948 Lyndon Johnson won the Democratic primary to fill the vacancy of Senator W. Lee O'Daniel. In the general elections the contest was against Republican Jack Porter, but Johnson also achieved victory on that occasion.
Upon reaching the Senate, he became famous for his success "courting" other senators, that is, convincing them to vote for a specific measure and negotiating what was necessary to achieve it. Johnson approached in those years the Democrat Richard Russell, leader of the conservative faction.
He became a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee in 1950 and a year later he was appointed majority whip by the leader of this faction: Ernest McFarland. Johnson remained in that position from January 2, 1951 to 1953..
In the 1952 elections they lost the majority in the Senate and Johnson became the minority leader the following year. He was reelected to his position as senator in 1954, on that occasion they again obtained the majority and Johnson became their leader since 1955.
The politician suffered a heart attack on July 2, since then he stopped smoking and stayed away from cigarettes until he left the presidency of the United States in 1969. He returned to Washington D.C. in late 1955.
In 1956, the State of Texas chose him as a “favorite son” for the 1960 presidential candidacy, that is, they acclaimed him as a candidate without having to hold primaries. Either way, the Democratic winner of the nomination was John F. Kennedy..
Lyndon Johnson accepted to enter the race like candidate to the vice-presidency along with Kennedy. The pair obtained the electoral victory in November 1960.
The Texan had also been reelected to the Senate, so after being sworn in as a senator, he immediately resigned to be able to accept the position of vice president..
Johnson was assigned the leadership of various federal committees and programs. Although he tried to gain more power within the government, Kennedy ignored his requests. In those years, he expanded his knowledge of foreign policy by taking charge of various diplomatic missions..
Lyndon B. Johnson was also one of the main promoters of space exploration and, specifically, of the trip to the Moon. In 1962 he lent his advice to the president during the missile crisis.
John F. Kennedy suffered an attack in which he lost his life on November 22, 1963. Two hours later Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States aboard Air Force One in Dallas, Texas as a quick response to give stability and calm the country.
Lyndon B. Johnson took advantage of the popularity he enjoyed early in his term to pass measures such as a tax cut. He brought other issues back to the fore, such as the Civil Rights Bill, which was approved in March 1964 after 75 hours of debate..
In his presidential campaign that took place in 1964, Johnson faced Republican Barry Goldwater. He chose Hubert Humphrey as his partner and vice-presidential candidate, thereby strengthening the support of his country's industrial Midwest and Northeast..
The project they called "the Great Society" was drawn as a fundamental line of their campaign, with which they tried to promote the internal growth of their country. Although Johnson himself did not trust in being able to win the elections, he did so with a large majority.
He obtained 44 states against 6, which favored Goldwater. Johnson was sworn in on January 20 and from that moment he set as a general objective to carry out the plan that he had promoted during his campaign.
On the outside, Johnson preferred to maintain a peaceful profile of cooperation and reconciliation. On the other hand, in the domestic scene it gave prominence to civil rights with laws such as the Right to Vote, which benefited the black population of the south..
However, his top priority was public education; He was very sensitive to the educational issue and its positive role in society. Strengthened and expanded social security and implemented development plans.
Johnson created the Department of Transportation in 1966 within the context of internal growth and development in the United States. At the end of that year he visited the troops stationed in Vietnam and South Korea..
The treaty on space research was formalized between the United States, the Soviet Union, and 58 other countries in 1967; same year that three astronauts died in a takeoff test.
In June Johnson met with Russian Prime Minister Alexsei Kosygin. The pressures against the Vietnam War began to rise and there was a march to the Pentagon in rejection of the conflict.
During November the Public Boradcast System, better known as PBS, with which the State guaranteed the transmission of information through public media.
One of the main problems that the government of Lyndon B. Johnson had to face was the demonstrations, looting and protests that the Afro-American population started in different parts of the country..
They began in Harlem in 1965, were followed that same year by Los Angeles and were intermittently active until 1971. One of the most serious outbreaks occurred in Newark in July 1967, there after 6 days of looting the figures totaled a total of 26 dead.
The population of Detroit also took to the streets on July 23, 1967, there were sent 7,400 units that were assigned by the governor, but they were insufficient.
The calm came after Johnson dispatched 4,700 federal troops with tanks and machine guns. The final balance of that wave of riots was 43 dead and thousands of people injured.
On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced that he would not be a candidate for reelection. After the assassination of activist Martin Luther King, African-American protests escalated.
At that time, more than 100 cities rose, which led the president to propose a new Civil Rights Act in 1968..
Peace talks to end the Vietnam War began in May 1968 in Paris, France. In the middle of the year Robert Kennedy, brother of the late American president, was also assassinated..
The Treaty to Stop the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed in July 1968 and in October Johnson ordered a halt to the bombing in northern Vietnam..
The new president of the United States was elected on November 5, 1968, Richard Nixon. In January 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson moved to his ranch in Texas to live his retirement.
After his retirement, he began to work on his autobiography and was present at the launch of Apollo 11, a mission that took man to the Moon. He was present when his presidential library opened at the University of Austin, Texas.
He also started smoking again and suffered frequent chest pains. During the final stage of his life, he had to have an artificial respirator nearby, since he could not fulfill the function on his own.
At that time it was discovered that his heart condition would be terminal. His arteries were extremely clogged, but the doctors claimed that if he tried to intervene, he would have died in the operating room..
Lyndon B. Johnson passed away on January 22, 1973 at his ranch in Texas. He suffered a heart attack and although they tried to transfer him to a hospital, upon arrival he was pronounced dead.
He is buried in his family's private cemetery on his Texas ranch, which was donated to the State to be converted into a historic park on the condition that it remain operational as a ranch..
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