I. Introduction

• •the culmination of the "imperial presidency" and the welfare state



• •both trends brought into question by the Vietnam war

II. Johnson's career

• •Youth



• •early political career
• •member of staff of Congressman from Texas (1931)
• •married Claudia Alta Taylor ["Lady Bird"] (1934)
• •director of National Youth Administration in Texas (1935-1937)
• •House of Representatives (1937-1948)
• •Navy (1941-1942)
• •Senate (1948-1960) - Minority Leader (1954-1956) - Majority Leader (1956-1960)
• •Vice President (1960-1963)



• •President (1963-1969)
• •Public Accommodations Act (1964)
• •Voting Rights Act (1965)
• •"war on poverty" [Economic Opportunity Act (1964)]
• •election of 1964
• •"Great Society"
• •Medicare (1965)
• •federal aid to education (1965)
• •rural development (1965)
• •urban reconstruction (1966)



• •war in Vietnam
• •from 16,000 to 500,000 soldiers
• •casualties and dissent
• •the "credibility gap"
• •inflation and the Great Society
• •the Tet offensive (Jan. 1968)
• •Eugene McCarthy and the New Hampshire primary (Mar. 1968)
• •the decision not to run for reelection

III. Conclusion

• •LBJ inherited a presidency strengthened by the New Deal, World War II, and the cold war



• •He expected that his Great Society would be the largest expansion of federal social welfare programs since the New Deal



• •But he also inherited a war in Vietnam that he didn't understand and couldn't control



• •In the end, the war undermined faith in the presidency and helped to raise serious doubts about the idea of the federal government as the source of social welfare