Succession aboard
Air Force One at
Dallas Love Field two hours and eight minutes following
Kennedy's assassination as
Mrs. Johnson and
Mrs. Kennedy look on. President Kennedy was
assassinated on November 22, 1963, in
Dallas, Texas. Johnson was sworn in by District Court judge
Sarah T. Hughes and is to date the only president in U.S. history to be sworn in by a woman. Johnson was convinced of the need to make an immediate show of transition of power after the assassination to provide stability to a grieving nation. He and the
Secret Service, not knowing whether the assassin
acted alone or as part of a
broader conspiracy, felt compelled to return rapidly to Washington, D.C.; this was greeted by some with assertions that he was in too much haste to assume power. In response to the public demand for answers and the growing number of
conspiracy theories, Johnson established a commission headed by Chief Justice
Earl Warren, known as the
Warren Commission, to investigate Kennedy's assassination. The commission conducted research and hearings and unanimously concluded that
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination. Although Johnson publicly supported the findings of the Warren Commission, privately he expressed skepticism of its conclusions. In 1967 he told his advisor
W. Marvin Watson that he was convinced the CIA was in some way involved in the assassination, and shortly before his death, he told his speechwriter
Leo Janos "I never believed that Oswald acted alone, although I can accept that he pulled the trigger". Despite his notoriously poor relationship with Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy stayed on as Attorney General until September 1964, when he resigned to
run for the U.S. Senate. Four of the Kennedy cabinet members Johnson inherited—Secretary of State
Dean Rusk, Secretary of the Interior
Stewart Udall, Secretary of Agriculture
Orville L. Freeman, and Secretary of Labor
W. Willard Wirtz—served until the end of Johnson's presidency. Other Kennedy holdovers, including Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara, left office during Johnson's tenure. Although Johnson had no official chief of staff,
Walter Jenkins presided over daily operations at the White House.
George Reedy, who was Johnson's second-longest-serving aide, assumed the post of
press secretary when John F. Kennedy's own
Pierre Salinger left that post in March 1964.
Horace Busby served primarily as a speechwriter and political analyst.
Bill Moyers handled scheduling and speechwriting part-time.
Taxation and budget The new president thought it advantageous to quickly pursue one of Kennedy's primary legislative goals—a
tax cut. Johnson worked closely with Senator
Harry F. Byrd of
Virginia to negotiate a reduction in the budget below $100 billion in exchange for what became overwhelming Senate approval of the
Revenue Act of 1964. The act cut individual income tax rates across the board by approximately 20 percent, cut the top marginal tax rate from 91 to 70 percent, and slightly reduced corporate tax rates. Passage of the long-stalled tax cut facilitated efforts to move ahead on civil rights legislation. Despite a period of strong economic growth, heavy spending on the Vietnam War and on domestic programs contributed to a rising budget deficit, as well as a period of
inflation that would continue into the 1970s. To counter this, Johnson reluctantly signed a second tax bill, the
Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968, which included a mix of tax increases and spending cuts, producing a budget surplus.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (left),
Whitney Young, and
James Farmer in the
Oval Office on January 18, 1964 On November 27, 1963, Johnson delivered his
"Let Us Continue" speech to Congress, saying that "No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the Civil Rights Bill for which he fought so long." The wave of national grief following the assassination gave enormous momentum to Johnson's promise to carry out Kennedy's plans. Johnson asked Robert Kennedy to spearhead the undertaking on Capitol Hill. This provided adequate political cover for Johnson should the effort fail, but if it were successful, Johnson would receive ample credit. Biographer Caro notes that the bill Kennedy had submitted was facing the same tactics that prevented the passage of civil rights bills in the past: Southern congressmen and senators used congressional procedure to prevent it from coming to a vote. In particular, they held up all of the major bills Kennedy had proposed and that were considered urgent, especially the tax reform bill, to force the bill's supporters to pull it. Facing a growing threat that they would be bypassed, the Rules Committee approved the bill and moved it to the floor of the full House, which soon passed it by a vote of 290–110. Johnson convinced Senate Majority Leader
Mike Mansfield to put the House bill directly into consideration by the full Senate, bypassing the
Senate Judiciary Committee and its segregationist chairman
James Eastland. Since bottling up the civil rights bill in a committee was no longer an option, the anti-civil rights senators were left with the
filibuster as their only remaining tool. Overcoming the filibuster required the support of at least 20 Republicans, who were growing less supportive because their party was about to nominate for president a candidate who opposed the bill. According to Caro, Johnson ultimately could convince Republican leader
Everett Dirksen to support the bill that amassed the necessary Republican votes to overcome the filibuster in March 1964; the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 71–29. Johnson signed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2. It prohibited racial segregation in
public accommodations and
employment discrimination, and strengthened the federal government's power to investigate racial and gender employment discrimination. The following evening, Johnson told aide
Bill Moyers, "I think we may have lost the South for your lifetime – and mine", anticipating a backlash from Southern whites against Johnson's Democratic Party.
Great Society during a speech at the
University of Michigan, May 1964. By early 1964, Johnson had begun to use the name "
Great Society" to describe his domestic program. Johnson's Great Society program encompassed movements of urban renewal, modern transportation, clean environment, anti-poverty, healthcare reform, crime control, and educational reform. To ensure the passage of his programs, Johnson placed an unprecedented emphasis on relations with Congress.
1964 presidential election In Spring 1964, Johnson was not optimistic about his prospects of being elected president. A pivotal change took place in April when he assumed personal management of negotiations between the railroad brotherhood and the railroad industry over the issue of
featherbedding. Johnson emphasized to the parties the potential impact upon the economy of a strike. After considerable horse-trading, especially with the carriers who won promises from the president for greater freedom in setting rights and more liberal depreciation allowances from the
Internal Revenue Service, Johnson obtained an agreement. This substantially boosted his self-confidence and image. Robert F. Kennedy was widely considered an impeccable choice for Johnson's
vice presidential running mate but Johnson and Kennedy had never liked each other, and Johnson, afraid that Kennedy would be credited with his election as president, consistently opposed the idea. Kennedy was undecided about accepting an offer as Johnson's running mate, knowing that the prospect rankled Johnson.
Barry Goldwater's poor polling numbers was perceived as reducing the political significance of Johnson's selection of a running mate. Hubert Humphrey's selection as vice president then became a foregone conclusion and was thought to strengthen Johnson in the
Midwest and industrial
Northeast. Knowing the degree of frustration inherent in the office of vice president, Johnson put Humphrey through a gauntlet of interviews to guarantee his loyalty. Having made the decision, he kept the announcement from the press until the last moment to maximize media speculation and coverage. In preparation for the
Democratic convention in
Atlantic City, Johnson requested the
FBI send 30 agents to cover convention activities; the objective of the squad was to inform the
White House staff of any disruptive activities. The squad's focus narrowed upon the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) delegation, which sought to displace the white segregationist delegation regularly selected in the state. The squad's activities included wiretaps of
Martin Luther King's room and the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). From beginning to end, the squad's assignment was carefully couched in terms of the monitoring of disruptive activities that might endanger the president and other high-ranking officials. Johnson was very concerned about potential political damage from media coverage of racial tensions exposed by a credentials fight between the MFDP and the segregationist delegation, and he assigned Humphrey to manage the problem. The convention's Credentials Committee declared that two MFDP delegates in the delegation be seated as observers and agreed to "bar future delegations from states where any citizens are deprived of the right to vote because of their race or color". The MFDP rejected the committee's ruling. The convention became the apparent personal triumph that Johnson craved, but a sense of betrayal caused by the marginalization of the MFDP would trigger disaffection with Johnson and the Democratic Party from the left; SNCC chairman
John Lewis would call it a "turning point in the civil rights movement". . Johnson won 486
electoral college votes (61.1% of the popular vote) to
Barry Goldwater's 52. Early in the 1964 presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater appeared to be a strong contender, with strong support from the South, which threatened Johnson's position as he had predicted in reaction to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. However, Goldwater lost momentum as his campaign progressed. On September 7, 1964, Johnson's campaign managers broadcast the "
Daisy ad": it portrayed a little girl picking petals from a
daisy, followed by a countdown and explosion of a nuclear bomb. The message conveyed was that electing Goldwater risked a nuclear war. Goldwater's campaign message was best symbolized by the bumper sticker displayed by supporters claiming "In your heart, you know he's right". Opponents captured the spirit of Johnson's campaign with bumper stickers that said "In your heart, you know he might" and "In your guts, you know he's nuts". CIA Director
William Colby asserted that
Tracy Barnes instructed the CIA to spy on the Goldwater campaign and the Republican National Committee to provide information to Johnson's campaign. Johnson won the presidency by a landslide with 61.05 percent of the vote, making it the highest ever
share of the popular vote. At the time, this was also the widest popular margin in the 20th century—more than 15.95 million votes—this was later surpassed by incumbent President Nixon's victory in
1972. In the
Electoral College, Johnson defeated Goldwater by a margin of 486 to 52. Johnson won 44 states, compared to Goldwater's six. Voters also gave Johnson the largest majorities in Congress since FDR's election in 1936—a Senate with a 68–32 majority and a House with a 295–140 Democratic margin.
Voting Rights Act , and
Rosa Parks at the signing of the
Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965 Soon after the 1964 election, civil rights organizations such as the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began a push for federal action to protect the
voting rights of racial minorities. On March 7, 1965, SCLC began the
Selma to Montgomery marches in which Selma residents, on their third attempt on March 21, proceeded to march to Alabama's capital,
Montgomery, to highlight voting rights issues and present Governor
George Wallace with their grievances. On the first march, demonstrators were stopped by state and county police, who shot
tear gas into the crowd and beat and trampled protesters. Televised footage of the scene, which became known as "Bloody Sunday", generated outrage across the country. In response to the rapidly increasing political pressure upon him, Johnson decided to immediately send voting rights legislation to Congress, and to address the American people in a speech before a
Joint session of Congress. He began: Johnson and Dirksen established a strong bipartisan alliance in favor of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, precluding the possibility of a Senate filibuster defeating the bill. In August 1965, the House approved the bill by a vote of 333 to 85, and Senate passed the bill by a vote of 79 to 18. The landmark legislation outlawed discrimination in voting, thus allowing millions of Southern blacks to vote for the first time. The results were significant; between the years of 1968 and 1980, the number of Southern black elected state and federal officeholders nearly doubled. After the murder of civil rights worker
Viola Liuzzo, Johnson went on television to announce the arrest of four
Ku Klux Klans men implicated in her death. He angrily denounced the Klan as a "hooded society of bigots," and warned them to "return to a decent society before it's too late". Johnson was the first president to arrest and prosecute members of the Klan since
Ulysses S. Grant. He turned to themes of Christian redemption to push for civil rights, mobilizing support from churches. At the
Howard University commencement address on June 4, 1965, he said that both the government and the nation needed to help achieve these goals: "To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice but the walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin. To dissolve, as best we can, the antique enmities of the heart which diminish the holder, divide the great democracy, and do wrong—great wrong to the children of God ..."
Fair Housing Act The
Fair Housing Act, a component of the
Civil Rights Act of 1968, outlawed several forms of
housing discrimination and effectively allowed many African Americans to move to the suburbs. Johnson submitted a bill to Congress in April 1966 that barred house owners from refusing to enter into agreements on the basis of race; the bill immediately garnered opposition from many of the Northerners who had supported the last two major civil rights bills. Though a version of the bill passed the House, it failed to win Senate approval, marking Johnson's first major legislative defeat. The law gained new impetus after the April 4, 1968,
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the
civil unrest across the country that followed. The bill passed Congress on April 10 and was quickly signed into law by Johnson.
War on Poverty In his 1964 State of the Union Address Johnson stated, "this administration today, here and now, declares an unconditional
war on poverty in America. Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of
poverty but to cure it–and above all, to prevent it." During the Johnson administration, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23 to 12 percent. Each CAA was required to have "maximum feasible participation" from local residents, who would design and operate
anti-poverty programs unique to their communities' needs. This was threatening to local political leaders who saw CAAs as alternative
power structures in their own communities, funded and encouraged by the OEO. In 1967, the Green Amendment gave city governments the right to decide which entity would be the official CAA for their community. The net result was a halt to the
citizen participation reform movement. The Economic Opportunity Act created the
Job Corps and
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic version of the
Peace Corps. Modeled after the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Job Corps was a
residential education and job-training program that provided academic and
vocational skills to low-income at-risk young people. VISTA deployed volunteers on community projects across the nation to address issues such as
illiteracy, inadequate housing, and poor health. Congress also agreed to
Upward Bound, a program that trained low-income students in the skills they needed for college. The act reflected Johnson's belief that the government could best help the impoverished by providing them with economic opportunities. Johnson convinced Congress to approve the
Food Stamp Act of 1964, which made permanent the
food stamp pilot programs that had been initiated by President Kennedy. To combat
homelessness, Johnson signed the
Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, which provided rent subsidies for the elderly and disabled, construction of 240,000 housing units, and $3 billion for
urban renewal. In September 1965, Johnson would go on to sign legislation that would establish the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to oversee the newly funded housing programs. Providing an additional $1.1 billion for roads, health clinics, and other public works was the
Appalachian Regional Development Act, a measure to improve living standards in
Appalachia. Johnson took an additional step in the War on Poverty with an urban renewal effort, the "Demonstration Cities Program". To be eligible, a city was required to demonstrate its readiness to "arrest blight and
decay and make a substantial impact on the development of its entire city". Johnson requested an investment of $400 million per year totaling $2.4 billion. In late 1966, Congress passed a substantially reduced program costing $900 million, which Johnson later called the
Model Cities Program.
The New York Times wrote 22 years later that the program was largely a failure.
Healthcare reform and wife
Bess at Johnson's signing of the
Medicare Bill in 1965, as
Lady Bird and
Hubert Humphrey look on Johnson's initial effort to improve
healthcare was the creation of The Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Strokes (HDCS). These diseases accounted for 71 percent of the nation's deaths in 1962. In 1965, Johnson turned his focus to
hospital insurance for the aged under
Social Security. The key player in initiating this program, named
Medicare, was Representative
Wilbur Mills, Chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee. To reduce Republican opposition, Mills suggested that Medicare be fashioned as three layers: hospital insurance under Social Security; a voluntary insurance program for doctor visits; and an expanded medical welfare program for the poor administered through the states, known as
Medicaid. The bill passed the House by a margin of 110 votes on April 8. The effort in the Senate was considerably more complicated, but the Medicare bill passed Congress on July 28. Medicare now covers tens of millions of Americans.
Immigration as U.S. Senators
Edward Kennedy and
Robert F. Kennedy, and others look on. The sweeping
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 reformed the country's immigration system and repealed the
National Origins Formula, which had restricted emigration from countries outside of Western Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The annual rate of inflow doubled between 1965 and 1970, and doubled again by 1990, with dramatic increases from
Asia and
Latin America, including Mexico.
Federal funding for education visits a
Head Start class, 1966. Johnson, whose own ticket out of poverty was a public education in Texas, believed that education was an essential component of the
American dream, especially for minorities. He made education the top priority of the Great Society agenda, with an emphasis on helping poor children. Buoyed by his landslide victory in the 1964 election, in early 1965 Johnson proposed the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which would double federal spending on education from $4 billion to $8 billion. The bill quickly passed both houses of Congress by wide margins. ESEA increased funding to all school districts, but directed more money going to districts that had large proportions of students from poor families. Although ESEA solidified Johnson's support among K–12 teachers' unions, neither the Higher Education Act nor the new endowments mollified the college professors and students growing increasingly uneasy with the war in Vietnam. Johnson's second major education program was the
Higher Education Act of 1965, which increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans to students, and established a
Teacher Corps. Johnson also established
Head Start, an
early education program to help prepare children from disadvantaged families for success in public schools. In 1967, Johnson signed the
Public Broadcasting Act to create educational television programs to supplement broadcast networks. In 1965, Johnson set up the
National Endowment for the Humanities and the
National Endowment for the Arts, to support the study of literature, history, and law, and arts such as music, painting, and sculpture.
Transportation In March 1966, Johnson sent to Congress a transportation message which included the creation of a new
Transportation Department, comprising the Commerce Department's Office of Transportation, the Bureau of Public Roads, the
Federal Aviation Agency, the
Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the
Interstate Commerce Commission. The bill passed the Senate after some negotiation over navigation projects; in the House, passage required negotiation over maritime interests and the bill was signed October 15, 1965.
Environment During his tenure as president, Johnson signed over 300
conservation measures into law, forming the legal basis of the modern environmental movement. He signed into law the
Clean Air Act of 1963, which had been proposed by President Kennedy. The Clean Air Act set
emission standards for stationary emitters of air pollutants and directed federal funding to
air quality research. In 1965, the act was amended by the
Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act, which directed the federal government to establish and enforce national
standards for controlling the emission of pollutants from new motor vehicles and engines. In September 1964, Johnson signed the
Wilderness Act, which established the
National Wilderness Preservation System (preserving 9.1 million acres of
forestland from industrial development), and signed a law establishing the
Land and Water Conservation Fund, which aids the purchase of land used for federal and state parks. In 1965, First Lady
Lady Bird Johnson took the lead in calling for passage of the
Highway Beautification Act. The act called for control of
outdoor advertising, including removal of certain types of signs, along the nation's growing
Interstate Highway System and the existing
federal-aid primary highway system. It also required certain
junkyards along Interstate or primary highways to be removed or screened and encouraged scenic enhancement and roadside development.
Gun control Though Johnson had already introduced a
gun control bill on June 6, 1968, after the assassination of Robert Kennedy,
Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary Liz Carpenter, in a memo to the president, worried that the country had been "brainwashed by high drama," and that Johnson "need[ed] some quick dramatic actions" that addressed "the issue of violence." In October, Johnson signed the
Gun Control Act of 1968, but did not invoke the memory of Robert Kennedy as he had so often done with his brother—an omission historian
Jeff Shesol has argued was motivated by Johnson's longstanding contempt for Robert. The measure prohibited convicted felons, drug users, and the mentally ill from purchasing handguns and raised record-keeping and licensing requirements. It also banned
mail order sales of rifles and shotguns.
Urban riots burning during the
1965 Watts riots. The nation experienced a series of "long hot summers" of
civil unrest during the Johnson years. They started with the
Harlem riots in 1964, and the
Watts district of Los Angeles in 1965. The momentum for the advancement of civil rights came to a sudden halt following the riots in Watts. After 34 people were killed and $35 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in property was damaged, the public feared an expansion of the violence to other cities, and so the appetite for additional programs in Johnson's agenda was lost. In what is known as the "
Long hot summer of 1967", more than 150 riots erupted across the United States. The
Boston Globe called it "a revolution of black Americans against white Americans, a violent petition for the redress of long-standing grievances." The
Newark riots left 26 dead and 1,500 injured. At an August 2, 1967, cabinet meeting, Attorney General
Ramsey Clark warned that untrained and undisciplined local police forces and National Guardsmen might trigger a "
guerrilla war in the streets," as evidenced by the climate of
sniper fire in Newark and Detroit. Snipers created a dangerous situation for both law enforcement and civilians, with shooters often targeting from rooftops and other concealed locations. Johnson's popularity plummeted as a massive white political backlash took shape, reinforcing the sense Johnson had lost control of the streets of major cities and his own party. The president created the 11-member
Kerner Commission to study the causes behind the recurring outbreaks of urban civil disorder, headed by Illinois Governor
Otto Kerner. According to Press Secretary
George Christian, Johnson was unsurprised by the riots, saying: "What did you expect? ... When you put your foot on a man's neck and hold him down for three hundred years, and then you let him up, what's he going to do? He's going to knock your block off."
Backlash against Johnson (1966–1967) In 1966, the press sensed a
credibility gap between what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was happening in the
Vietnam War, which led to less favorable coverage of Johnson and his administration. By the end of 1966, Democratic Governor
Warren E. Hearnes of Missouri warned that Johnson would lose the state by 100,000 votes, despite winning by a margin of 500,000 in 1964. "Frustration over Vietnam; too much federal spending and ... taxation; no great public support for your Great Society programs; and ... public disenchantment with the civil rights programs "had eroded the President's standing, the governor reported. There were bright spots; in January 1967, Johnson boasted that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a 13-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever; a 4.5 percent jump in consumer prices was worrisome, as was the rise in interest rates. Johnson asked for a temporary 6 percent surcharge in
income taxes to cover the mounting deficit caused by increased spending. Johnson's
approval ratings stayed below 50 percent and, in December 1966, his disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating. In January 1967, the number of his strong supporters had plunged to 16 percent, from 25 percent four months before. Asked to explain his diminished popularity, Johnson said, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don't always please all the people." Johnson also blamed the press, saying they showed "complete irresponsibility and lie and misstate facts and have no one to be answerable to", and "the preachers, liberals and professors" who had turned against him. In the
congressional elections of 1966, the Republicans gained three seats in the Senate and 47 in the House, reinvigorating the
conservative coalition, which made it more difficult for Johnson to pass additional Great Society legislation. However, Congress ultimately passed almost 96 percent of the administration's Great Society programs.
Space program (center right) witness the liftoff of
Apollo 11, the first manned space aircraft to
land on the Moon, on July 16, 1969 During the Johnson administration,
NASA conducted the
Gemini crewed space program, developed the
Saturn V rocket and
its launch facility, and prepared to make the first crewed
Apollo program flights. On January 27, 1967, the nation was stunned when the entire crew of
Apollo 1 was killed in a cabin fire during a spacecraft test on the launch pad, stopping Apollo in its tracks. Rather than appointing another Warren-style commission, Johnson accepted Administrator
James E. Webb's request for NASA to do its own investigation. Johnson maintained his staunch support of Apollo through Congressional and press controversy, and the program recovered. The first two crewed missions,
Apollo 7 and the first crewed flight to the Moon,
Apollo 8, were completed by the end of Johnson's term. He congratulated the Apollo 8 crew, saying, "You've taken ... all of us, all over the world, into a new era." On July 16, 1969, Johnson attended the launch of the first Moon landing mission
Apollo 11, becoming the first former or incumbent U.S. president to witness a rocket launch.
Vietnam War and
General Westmoreland in
Da Nang in August 1965 The
Vietnam War began in 1955 as Communist forces started operating in
South Vietnam. By the time Johnson took office, there were 16,700 American military personnel in South Vietnam. Despite some misgivings, Johnson ultimately came to support escalation of the U.S. role in Vietnam. Like the vast majority of American leaders in the mid-1960s, he was determined to prevent the spread of Communism. Johnson's decision to escalate was also influenced heavily by reputation. Under pressure from pro-war politicians like
Barry Goldwater, Johnson feared that if he made the decision to not stand firm in Vietnam he would lose domestic political credibility as well as contribute to a decline in the international reputation of the U.S. On October 11, 1963, President Kennedy had signed
NSAM 263 ordering the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of the year following recommendations of the
McNamara–Taylor mission report. On November 26, Johnson signed
NSAM 273 which reaffirmed the Kennedy administration withdrawal approval and continued support for South Vietnam. In August 1964, ambiguous evidence suggested two U.S. destroyers had been
attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters in the
Gulf of Tonkin. Although Johnson very much wanted to keep discussions about Vietnam out of the 1964 election campaign, he felt forced to respond to the supposed Communist aggression. He obtained from Congress the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, giving blanket congressional approval for use of military force to repel future attacks. during the bombing of North Vietnam in
Operation Rolling Thunder. Johnson decided on a systematic bombing campaign, which became known as
Operation Rolling Thunder, in February 1965 after an attack by
Viet Cong guerrillas on
Pleiku Air Base, killing eight Americans. The U.S. would continue to bomb North Vietnam until late 1968. In March 1965, McGeorge Bundy called for American ground operations; Johnson agreed and also quietly changed the mission from defensive to offensive operations. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 troops went ashore near
Da Nang, the first time U.S. combat forces had been sent to mainland Asia since the
Korean War. In June, South Vietnamese Ambassador
Maxwell D. Taylor reported that the bombing offensive against North Vietnam had been ineffective and that the
South Vietnamese army was outclassed and in danger of collapse. In late July, McNamara and Johnson's top advisors recommended an increase in U.S. soldiers from 75,000 to over 200,000. Johnson agreed but felt boxed in by unpalatable choices. If he sent additional troops he would be attacked as an interventionist, and if he did not, he thought he risked being impeached. By October 1965, there were over 200,000 troops deployed in Vietnam. Throughout 1965, few members of Congress or the administration openly criticized Johnson's handling of the war. in South Vietnam, . In early 1966, Senator Robert F. Kennedy harshly criticized Johnson's bombing campaign, stating that the U.S. may be headed "on a road from which there is no turning back, a road that leads to catastrophe for all mankind." Soon thereafter, the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator
James William Fulbright, held televised hearings examining the administration's Vietnam policy. In July, polling results indicated that Americans favored the bombing campaign by a five-to-one margin; however, in August a
Defense Department study indicated that the bombing campaign was having minimal impact on North Vietnam. By late 1966, multiple sources began to report progress was being made against the North Vietnamese logistics and infrastructure; Johnson was urged to begin peace discussions. English philosopher Bertrand Russell initiated the
International War Crimes Tribunal to condemn the American effort. The gap with Hanoi, however, was an unbridgeable demand on both sides for a unilateral end to bombing and withdrawal of forces. Johnson grew more and more anxious about justifying war casualties, and talked of the need for decisive victory, despite the unpopularity of the cause. By the end of 1966, it was clear that the air campaign and the pacification effort had both failed, and Johnson agreed to McNamara's new recommendation to add 70,000 troops in 1967 and the CIA's recommendations to increased bombings against North Vietnam. The bombing escalation ended secret talks being held with North Vietnam, but U.S. leaders did not consider North Vietnamese intentions in those talks to be genuine. anti-Vietnam War protest. By the middle of 1967 nearly 70,000 Americans had been killed or wounded in the war, which was being commonly described in the news media and elsewhere as a "stalemate." In January and February, probes were made to assess North Vietnamese's willingness to discuss peace, but they fell on deaf ears.
Ho Chi Minh declared that the only solution was a unilateral U.S. withdrawal. A
Gallup, Inc. poll in July 1967 showed that 52 percent of Americans disapproved of the president's handling of the war, and only 34 percent thought progress was being made. Nonetheless, Johnson agreed to an increase of 55,000 troops, bringing the total to 525,000. In August, Johnson, with the Joint Chiefs' support, decided to expand the air campaign and exempted only Hanoi, Haiphong and a buffer zone with
China from the target list. Later that month McNamara told a Senate subcommittee that an expanded air campaign would not bring Hanoi to the peace table. The Joint Chiefs were astounded, and threatened mass resignation; McNamara was summoned to the White House for a three-hour dressing down. Nevertheless, Johnson had received reports from the CIA confirming McNamara's analysis at least in part. In the meantime an election establishing a constitutional government in the South was concluded and provided hope for peace talks. in Honolulu With the war arguably in a stalemate and in light of the widespread disapproval of the conflict, Johnson convened a group of veteran government foreign policy experts, informally known as "the Wise Men":
Dean Acheson, General
Omar Bradley,
George Ball,
McGeorge Bundy,
Arthur Dean,
C. Douglas Dillon,
Abe Fortas,
Averell Harriman,
Henry Cabot Lodge,
Robert Daniel Murphy, and
Maxwell D. Taylor. They unanimously opposed leaving Vietnam, and encouraged Johnson to "stay the course." Afterward, on November 17, in a nationally televised address, the president assured the American public, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." Less than two weeks later, Robert McNamara announced his resignation as Defense Secretary. Behind closed doors, he had begun regularly expressing doubts over Johnson's war strategy, angering the president. He joined a growing list of Johnson's top aides who resigned over the war, including Bill Moyers, McGeorge Bundy, and George Ball. In October, with ever-increasing
public protests against the war, Johnson engaged the FBI and the CIA to investigate, monitor, and undermine anti-war activists. In mid-October, there was a demonstration of 100,000 at
the Pentagon; Johnson and
Dean Rusk were convinced that foreign communist sources were behind the demonstration, but that was refuted in the CIA's findings.
Tet Offensive , Johnson's
national security advisor, meeting with Johnson in the
Situation Room in 1968, where the two reviewed a map of the region where the
Battle of Khe Sanh was being waged On January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and the
North Vietnamese Army began the
Tet Offensive against South Vietnam's five largest cities, including Saigon. While the Tet Offensive failed militarily, it was a psychological victory, definitively turning American public opinion against the war effort. In February 1968, influential news anchor
Walter Cronkite of
CBS News expressed on the air that the conflict was deadlocked and that additional fighting would change nothing. Johnson reacted, saying "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America". Indeed, demoralization about the war was everywhere; 26 percent then approved of Johnson's handling of Vietnam, while 63 percent disapproved. College students and others protested, burned
draft cards, and chanted, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" The Tet Offensive convinced senior leaders of the Johnson administration, including the "Wise Men" and new Defense Secretary
Clark Clifford, that further escalation of troop levels would not help bring an end to the war. Johnson was initially reluctant to follow this advice, but ultimately agreed to allow a partial bombing halt and to signal his willingness to engage in peace talks. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced that he would halt the bombing in North Vietnam, while at the same time announcing that he would not seek re-election. He also escalated U.S. military operations in South Vietnam in order to consolidate control of as much of the countryside as possible before the onset of serious peace talks. Talks began in Paris in May, but failed to yield any results. Two of the major obstacles in negotiations were the unwillingness of the United States to allow the Viet Cong to take part in the South Vietnamese government, and the unwillingness of North Vietnam to recognize the legitimacy of South Vietnam. In October 1968, when the parties came close to an agreement on a bombing halt, Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon intervened with the South Vietnamese, promising better terms so as to delay a settlement on the issue until after the election. Johnson sought a continuation of talks after the 1968 election, but the North Vietnamese argued about procedural matters until after Nixon took office.
Dominican Republic Like President Kennedy, Johnson sought to isolate
Cuba, which was under the rule of the Soviet-aligned
Fidel Castro. In 1965, the
Dominican Civil War broke out between the government of President
Donald Reid Cabral and supporters of former president
Juan Bosch. Their role was not take sides but to evacuate American citizens and restore order. The U.S. also helped arrange an agreement providing for new elections. Johnson's use of force in ending the civil war alienated many in Latin America, and the region's importance to the administration receded as Johnson's foreign policy became increasingly dominated by the Vietnam War.
Soviet Union (left) next to Johnson during the
Glassboro Summit Conference Though actively engaged in containment in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, Johnson made it a priority to seek arms control deals with Moscow. The Soviet Union also sought closer relations to the United States during the mid-to-late 1960s, partly due to the increasingly worse
Sino-Soviet split. Johnson attempted to reduce tensions with
China by easing restrictions on trade, but the beginning of China's
Cultural Revolution ended hopes of a greater rapprochement. Johnson was concerned with averting the possibility of nuclear war, and he sought to reduce tensions in Europe. The Johnson administration pursued arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, signing the
Outer Space Treaty and the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and laid the foundation for the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
Surveillance of Martin Luther King Johnson continued the FBI's
wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. authorized by the Kennedy administration under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Johnson also authorized the tapping of phone conversations of others, including the Vietnamese friends of a Nixon associate.
International trips Johnson made eleven international trips to twenty countries during his presidency. He flew aboard
Air Force One while in office. His October 1966 visit to Australia sparked demonstrations from anti-war protesters. One of the most unusual international trips in presidential history occurred before Christmas 1967. The President began the trip by going to the memorial for Australian Prime Minister
Harold Holt, who was presumed drowned in
a swimming accident. The White House did not reveal in advance to the press that the President would make the first round-the-world presidential trip. The trip was completed in only 112.5 hours (4.7 days). Air Force One crossed the equator twice, stopped at
Travis Air Force Base, in
Honolulu,
Pago Pago,
Canberra,
Melbourne,
Vietnam,
Karachi, and
Rome.
1968 presidential election in the
White House in July 1968 As he had served less than two years of President Kennedy's term, Johnson was
constitutionally eligible for election to a second full term in the 1968 presidential election. Despite Johnson's growing unpopularity, conventional wisdom held that it would be impossible to deny re-nomination to a sitting president. In September 1967 Johnson openly admitted he was considering dropping out of the race for re-election. Johnson won a narrow victory in the
New Hampshire presidential primary on March 12, but in a March 31 speech, Johnson shocked the nation when he announced he would not run for re-election by concluding with the line:
"I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president". The next day, his approval ratings increased from 36 percent to 49 percent. Historians have debated the factors that led to Johnson's surprise decision. Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative he decided to leave. Woods writes that Johnson realized he needed to leave in order for the nation to heal. Dallek says that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. His health was not good, and he was preoccupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement and his base of support continued to shrink. Leaving the race would allow him to pose as a peacemaker. Bennett, however, says Johnson "had been forced out of a reelection race in 1968 by outrage over his policy in Southeast Asia." Johnson may also have hoped that the convention would ultimately choose to draft him back into the race. Vice President
Hubert Humphrey entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal, making the 1968 Democratic primaries a three-way contest between Humphrey, Kennedy, and McCarthy. Kennedy cut into McCarthy's liberal and anti-war base, while also winning the support of the poor and working class. He won a series of primary victories, but was
assassinated in June by
Sirhan Sirhan, an
Arab nationalist. With Johnson's support, Humphrey won the presidential nomination at the tumultuous
1968 Democratic National Convention, held in
Chicago in late August. Violent police attacks against
anti-war protesters in Chicago marred the convention. Humphrey's polling numbers improved after a September 30 speech in which he broke with Johnson's war policy, calling for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam. In what was termed the
October surprise, Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam", effective November 1, should the North Vietnamese government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the
Paris peace talks. Republican nominee
Richard Nixon won the election. When
Earl Warren announced his retirement in 1968, Johnson nominated Fortas to succeed him as
Chief Justice of the United States, and nominated
Homer Thornberry to succeed Fortas as associate justice. However, Fortas's nomination was filibustered by senators, and neither nominee was voted upon by the full Senate. ==Post-presidency (1969–1973)==