Lyndon B. Johnson

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Lyndon B . Johnson

Lyndon B Johnson was the thirty sixth president of the United States having succeeded John F Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 up to 1969 . Like those immediately before him , his presidency had its lows and highs . He had notable achievements during his tenure in office he oversaw the passing of a momentous legislation whose fruits continues to be reaped up to date . His downfall arose from his overly domineering personality and the engagement of troops in Vietnam

Before

becoming the president of the United States , Lyndon Johnson had a long career in politics . He was born in to a family with a long history in politics . He was able to push his way through the hierarchy of the Democratic Party eventually becoming a senator in 1952 and going ahead to become the party leader . He was an effective leader who was able to influence senators across the divide with what came to be known as The Treatment . He was the JF Kennedy 's running mate and went ahead to become the vice president . He took over the mantle of leadership after his death and went ahead to win by a landslide in the 1964 presidential elections

The hall mark of Lyndon Johnson achievement was the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act together with the 1969 Voting Rights Act . This would remain the gold line in his presidency that would put him amongst the most vocal crusaders for human rights . There are those however who saw his great concerns for civil rights as more of a gimmick in his bid to secure the blacks votes . It should be understood however that he was an avowed idealist who believed in the Great Society (Berman , Larry , 18

It has to be noted that the passing of the Civil Rights Act was being faced with stiff opposition from the southern whites where the issue of racism was rather rampant . The passage of this bill and its ascent into law was seen to have a negative implication to the southern whites voters . Johnson himself expected this when he said that south might be lost by the Democratic Party for a generation . It is the southern whites that had been acting as the biggest impediment to the passage of any legislation favoring the blacks . With the Civil Rights Act in place , all forms of racial segregation were outlawed in all public places . It is a law that has helped shape the destiny of the black population and other minority groups in the United States as it gave equal access to public services and single handedly revoked the Jim Crow laws that had reigned for a number of decades and reinforced prejudice and racism in the southern states (Banta , Joseph , 26

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is another achievement of Lyndon Johnson that greatly endeared him to civil rights activists , this act sought to bring on board the disenfranchised lot especially the black population in the...