I was at the LBJ museum in Austin last summer and saw this list. It verges on being unbelievable, but its true. Amazing! It is a short list of LBJ's legislative accomplishments (any ONE of which would be a major accomplishment of any other president): * Revenue Act of 1964. Cut individual income tax rates 20 percent * Civil Rights Act of 1964: banned racial segregation in public accommodations, banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or religion * Voting Rights Act: Outlawed discrimination in voting, thus allowing millions of Southern blacks to vote for the first time. * Civil Rights Act of 1968: Barred house owners from refusing to enter into agreements on the basis of race; * Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Created the Job Corps, a work-training program, and AmeriCorps VISTA, a domestic version of the Peace Corps. * Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), doubled federal spending on education from $4 billion to $8 billion. * The Higher Education Act of 1965, which focused on funding for lower income students, including grants, work-study money, and government loans. College graduation rates boomed after the passage of the act, * Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, and Medicaid. Medicare Part A covered up to ninety days of hospitalization (minus a deductible) for all Social Security recipients, Medicare Part B provided voluntary medical insurance to seniors for physician visits, and Medicaid established a program of state-provided health insurance for indigents *Clean Air Act of 1963 The Clean Air Act set emission standards * Land and Water Conservation Fund, which aids the purchase of land used for federal and state parks. That same month, he signed the Wilderness Act, which established the National Wilderness Preservation System. *the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (NTMVSA) and the Highway Safety Act (HSA) thus making the federal government responsible for setting and enforcing auto and road safety standards * THe National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.[151] Created the Public Broadcasting Act to create educational television programs. * the Gun Control Act of 1968, one of the largest and farthest-reaching federal gun control laws in American history. The measure prohibited convicted felons, drug users, and the mentally ill from purchasing handguns and raised record-keeping and licensing requirements. WOW!!!
LBJ was a great president and politician outside one foreign policy situation. I wonder with all his success he just assumed he could find a way to succeed in Vietnam? It's justified to criticize him on Vietnam and yes he totally failed in that regard. But I don't think he belongs on any list when he did so many other things well.
Thing is, military leaders were telling top governmental officials US could not "win" in Vietnam. That South Vietnamese army could not provide security. That South Vietnamese government had no real base of support. Read memoirs of Robert McNamara and others, they would hear all that and tell Johnson. Then they would face media and talk about light at the end of the tunnel. That we would be greeted with flowers and occupation would be weeks, not months or years, oh wait, that was Iraq.
Personally, LBJ was a douchebag (like most politicians, especially the current ones) but by almost any measure he was an extremely effective president, at least in terms of domestic issues. Yeah, he blew Vietnam. But so did Nixon. And I doubt any politician at that time (at least those that did not get assassinated) would have done much, if any different. And like most historical figures (other than Trump) his legacy is complicated. Bottom line, for all his massive ego, he cared deeply about America and did more for "the common folk" than any other president since. Hell, Reagan is still revered by conservatives despite the fact that his administration is directly responsible for the mess this country is in today. I know I have recommended them before, but if anyone is looking for an exhaustively researched deep dive into Lyndon B. Johnson, read the (not yet finished) series about him by Robert Caro. A genuinely fascinating look at an extremely complex individual.....
That’s quite the list, very eclectic. Amazing to me that anyone would hate Pelosi, AOC, AND McConnell.
Thankyou for the compliment, however I do not hate any of them. They are at the top of a very long list of elected officials that have disappointed me with their very childish behavior. The list is so long, it would fill a mountain range of Mt Rushmores. What is amazing to me is, there are so many people that believe all of the people and agendas in one party are good, and all of the people and agendas in the other party are bad. This sick tunnel vission mentality is dividing and destroying the country. There are good and bad people and ideas in both partys.
