Lyndon Baines Johnson

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Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 in Gillespie County Texas. His career started in 1931 as an aide to Texas Democratic Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, shortly after he relocated to Washington, D.C. In 1936 he became a congressman with personal ties to Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1948 he became senator for Texas. He campaigned to become the Democratic Party's nominee for presidency in 1960. After the Democratic convention John F. Kennedy offered the vice-presidency nominee to Johnson and he accepted. They won the election against Richard Nixon by the smallest of margins. As vice president, Johnson controlled the space program, oversaw discussions on the nuclear test ban treaty, and worked on equal opportunity legislation for minorities. …show more content…
Because of Kennedy’s death, Congress was more sympathetic to the different programs so they were passed under Johnson very easily. With Johnson winning presidency in a landslide, Democrats won firm majority in both houses. President Johnson's administration produced the greatest example of legislation in history. Laws were enacted to end racial injustice and to fight poverty, to provide medical care to the elders, and to increase educational opportunities to the youth. In addition, bills were passed to clean the air and water and reverse the pollution, to preserve valuable land for public recreation and to protect the natural beauty of the continent. Legislation protected the consumer in the marketplace and supported art, music and theater to be brought to every corner of the nation. Although by March of 1968, a poll was recorded that only 26% of the American people approved of his management of the war. He was held responsible for the increase distrust with the government. Under Johnson, the country made remarkable studies of the space program that he had supported since the beginning. On October 22nd, 1968, Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968, which is one of the most extensive gun control laws in history. This dramatic increase of federal power in regulating gun control was largely motivated by the murders of …show more content…
He did not follow through with many events because partially the government was still on high alert after JFK’s assassination. In 1963 President Johnson met with the Martin Luther King Jr. about civil rights issues in the Oval Office of the White House. Also, president Johnson spoke at a Candlelight Memorial Service for president Kennedy. On April 13, 1964, Johnson threw out the first pitch at the Washington Senators game. President Johnson congratulated the U.S. Olympic Medal Winners, “The American people are very proud of there 1964 Olympic team. They are proud of what you have accomplished and, what is more important, they are proud of what you are. You have symbolized for all of us Americans what taking part—a genuine, dedicated, all-out taking part—can produce, and we salute you with a pride that carries the fullest measure of American gratitude for all the people who are privileged to be citizens of the same country that you claim.” In 1968, President Johnson made a toast honoring the members of the Space Program, “Among you, you hold records that have now become legends—most missions in space, most man-hours in space, flights that are the highest, the longest, and the toughest that any men have ever made. And these are all testimony to your courage and to your professional skill, to your Nation’s vision, and to its technology and its determination. And they are a testament to the ability of the man who has directed