LBJ: What Could Have Been

"I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion. I want to be the President who educated young children... who helped to feed the hungry... who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election." - LBJ¹ 

Lyndon B. Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader whom I mentioned last week, is now the President in 1963 after the tragic assassination of JFK. After losing Wallace and now JFK, it would seem from the quote above, that the United States might have had another great progressive hope that could vastly alter the landscape of U.S. politics. However, the soul of the nation would again be trumped by empire when Johnson became obsessed with Communism abroad. The Great Society would take a backseat to a 'Great Blunder' of Vietnam.

I found these two pictures to be very representative of the soft and hard aspects of Johnson's presidency  Often portrayed as a hardliner, it is important that the Great Society does not go unnoticed.  Both are courtesy of the LBJ Library.

While having to deal with a complicated situation inherited by decades of CIA Intervention and foreign policy making built on Domino Theory, LBJ sought to promote his 'vision' for the soul of America, "The great society rest on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed to in our time."² This vision included the war on poverty, civil rights and other domestic issues such as alcoholism. Some of the pieces of legislation that were passed under Johnson that continue to affect our lives today such as, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 1968, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and The Social Security Act of 1965. These sweeping changes can only be a grim reminder of what could have been had the war in Vietnam not crushed funding for domestic programs, but also the mind, body and spirit of Johnson himself. It is depressing to think what could have been if this great line of progressive outlook starting with Wallace would have not been replaced by the American quest to suppress threats to its hegemony around the world. LBJ would eventually choose to not run for a second term in office and his resignation and flawed American policy making would lead the U.S. down a path which would include fatal mistakes made by Nixon, Reagan and eventually the blow-back related to their actions.

LBJ calls it quits: LBJ Library

"Losing the Great Society was a terrible thought, but no so terrible as the thought of being responsible for America's losing a war to the Communist. Nothing could possibly be worse than that." - LBJ³ 

1. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of The United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), 326

2. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/jan-4-1965-lyndon-johnson-outlines-great-society-plans/

3. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of The United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), 354