Introduction
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded Jack Kennedy, on 22 November 1963, at two thirty-eight pm, Jack Kennedy had been assassinated just two hours earlier. The democracy of the US had been shaken, the loved JFK beaten. Johnson was the accidental president, defeated by JFK to the democratic nomination, and the reluctant running member to Kennedy in 1961. He was an outsider of the Kennedy administration, not a cohesive member of the fashionable new frontier. Yet, Johnson had established his reputation as a formidable force within congress, as a lowly congressman from 1937, Senator from 1948, and the most dominant Senate Majority Leader of his time from 1955. His whole life had prepared him for the presidency, and he had yearned for the highest office since his youth. Johnson idolised Franklin Roosevelt, he saw him a father to America, as someone who was loved by his people, and Johnson too, wanted to beloved by America, he wanted to be the father of America.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was an, “actor, a role player”, he could be exactly, and whoever he wanted to be at any given time, (Dallek, 1998, IX). He was callous and charming, an ideologue and yet at the same time the epitome of brutal pragmatism, and political consensus. Johnson had the capacity to intimidate all who opposed him, and to win them all the same through political deals and favours. His traits are unmistakably comparable to those of a psychopath, narcissistic and self-centred, unintelligible, obsessed with ambition, and brilliantly effective. Johnson was the architect of the Welfare state, and the first President since the reconstruction to pass Civil Rights legislation, yet at the same time he was the, “crude warmonger”, responsible for escalation in Vietnam and racial inequality within the armed forces (Bernhardt, Guardian, 2018). Johnson’s political career was fraught by corruption, and conspiracy, his election to the Senate in 1948 the product of electoral fraud, and his succession of Jack Kennedy the epicentre of much hushed scrutiny. Yet, at the same time Johnson did more to break congressional gridlock with regard to Civil Rights than any other president post Abraham Lincoln (Woods, 2006, 881). In Vietnam, Johnson escalated a war on misinformation, misled congress, and failed to identify the failure of US intervention. Thus, it is reasonable to identify the Presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson, as one of a thousand inconsistencies. It becomes impossible to decipher which legislation was authentic, and which legislation formed part of a Machiavellian political manoeuvre to establish the security and potency of his office. This dissertation will attempt to comprehend the presidency of LBJ, to study him as a pragmatist and an ideologue. This dissertation will evaluate the approaches of Robert Dallek, Doris Kearns and Ronnie Duggar, prominent biographers of LBJ. Furthermore, this dissertation will study Lyndon Johnson through the context of his early political career, and vice presidency, the Great Society, intervention in Vietnam, and his withdrawal from Politics in 1969. In essence this dissertation aims to differentiate between Lyndon Johnson, the great liberal reformer, and Lyndon Johnson the, “vulgar wheeler dealer”, (American Experience, PBS, 1991).
This dissertation will argue that LBJ was an, “actor, a role player”, Lyndon Johnson was a man driven by his own self-perception of brilliance, a man who wanted the love of his people, a man who wanted to be seen to have done more for the weak and the poor than both Franklin D Roosevelt, and Jack Kennedy combined. Lyndon Johnson loved the American Dream, and New Deal Liberalism, because such beliefs enabled him to achieve the status, and love he desperately required. Rational theory enables us to understand the presidency of Lyndon Johnson more than any other approach, all that he did, his actions and his legislation was to secure and extend his powers. He was driven by self-preservation, not authentic feelings of altruism. Lyndon Johnson passed Civil Rights legislation when it was convenient, or when he was forced to do so. In 1964 he passed the Civil Rights Act through congress to outdo JFK, and in 1965 the Voting Rights Act was passed as a consequence of immense national pressure following Selma. The motivations behind Johnson’s agenda cannot be considered authentic. He was however undeniably the force behind the betterment of the lives of poor Americans, he was the most advocate of civil rights in the White House since Lincoln, and his policies created an environment which remains to this day, where the American dream, and opportunity is extended to all Americans regardless of race, and socio-economic class. Whilst this dissertation profoundly believes that Johnson was an, “actor, a role player”, it also acknowledges the importance of his presidency, in shaping the welfare state and improving the civil rights of African Americans, his presidency is marred only by Vietnam.
Lyndon Johnson drew power from understanding those who opposed him, he was not revolutionary ideologue, but a, “Consensus man” (Kearns, 1976). He was a pragmatic thinker, who displayed exception parliamentarian qualities, which enabled him to be the greatest administrator-president of all time (American Experience, 1991).
Discussion
Early Political Career, and Political Career preceding the Presidency.
Johnson was an, “actor” and a, “role player” throughout his political career proceeding the presidency. In order to establish his political career from Southern Texas, Johnson understood that he must play the role of an anti-Civil Rights conservative. Furthermore, in 1948 Johnson understood that he must play the role of a Texan Showman to win the Senatorial Race. Moreover, as Senate Majority Leader, Johnson co-operated with the Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower, much to Democratic congressional disapproval. Despite this however, Johnson did achieve much to enhance his reputation as a politician driven by a motivation to improve the lives of Americans living in poverty, through the acquisition of grants and loans for the uneducated, farmers and the poor in Texas, furthermore, he helped the completion of the Great Dam on the Lower Colorado River which supplied Texans with electricity, and running water, and he voted in favour and whipped support for the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Thus once again the inconsistencies of Johnson’s actions are clear, he portrayed himself in several ways, in order to obtain power, advance his reputation, and secure favour with his voters.
Voting Records reveal that from his election in 1937 to the House of Representatives, for twenty years Johnson publicly opposed, and voted against all civil rights legislation (United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.). Johnson had such an aspiration for power, that he strategically planned a route towards it. In his first term as a congressman, Johnson lacked influence and authority, thus he had to attach himself to power. Furthermore, Johnson realised that elections every two years in the House of Representatives meant that in order to preserve his seat, he must reflect his sociological background, and the beliefs of his constituents. Thus, Lyndon Johnson attached himself to Southern Conservative Democrats, in particular
The 1948 Election revealed Johnson’s manipulative means through he was able to obtain the votes of Texans (
In contradiction to the characterisation of Lyndon Johnson as an actor, exists a young LBJ who acquired executive loans for his constituents, and the Vice President, who in the role of Goodwill ambassador spread the message of the American Dream, without prejudice. In Congress, Johnson who had campaigned as a New Deal proponent in 1937 utilised his relationship with Franklin Roosevelt, not to obtain power in a commission, or office, but to secure executive loans and grants for Texan electrification. In the 1930s many parts of rural Texas, were still without running water or electricity, including Johnson’s hometown, Stonewall. Through grants secured by Johnson, the Great Dam on the lower Colorado River could completed. This project enabled farmers to thrive, and provided business with government contracts (Caro, 1982). Such actions provoke a belief in Johnson, the altruist, a politician purely by