LBJ: Triumph and Tragedy

Lyndon B. Johnson enters the office of the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and immediately puts his ambitious and expansive agenda into place. Using JFK's memory as a catalyst, LBJ immediately introduces civil rights legislation and boldly declares a "war on poverty." With his humble upbringing shaping his political views, and an extensive political career in which he had served in every major political office, LBJ is possibly the most uniquely qualified politician to ever take the presidency. His political savvy is on full display as he works to defeat a filibuster to pass The Civil Rights Bill of 1964, which becomes the most significant step forward for civil rights since Reconstruction. But LBJ realizes after the bill's passage that he might have just delivered the South to the Republican Party for decades to come.

LBJ debuts his domestic program, "The Great Society," which he is determined to pursue while balancing the growing conflict in Vietnam. The attack in the Gulf of Tonkin forces him into making his first major decisions on the war. Winning the 1964 election against Barry Goldwater in a landslide, he is emboldened to pursue his domestic policies while he has the power to do so. Unsure of Congressional support, he tries to work out non-legislative means to aid voting in the South. But after helping to negotiate a compromise between police and protesters after Bloody Sunday, he once again uses tragedy to advance major legislation by introducing the Voting Rights Act. Addressing the nation in a plea to support this effort, LBJ uses the term, "we shall overcome," which brings Martin Luther King, Jr. to tears. Only five days after signing the VRA into law, the Watts Riots break out.

LBJ is shaken by the violence in Watts and Martin Luther King, Jr. warns of a potential race war, advising him to push harder on the War on Poverty. Sensing the political tides will soon turn, LBJ pushes through a massive amount of lasting domestic policies, including Medicare and the Immigration Act, marking the most productive legislative session in history. When a major bombing campaign in Vietnam proves ineffective, LBJ makes the decision to put in ground troops and increase the draft, drawing the country deeper into war. LBJ is obsessed with media coverage and tries to spin a more positive narrative of the war, causing a "credibility gap" when the press discovers discrepancies. As the anti-war movement heats up and MLK takes a stand against the war, LBJ fears Vietnam will overshadow all of his domestic accomplishments.

On March 31, 1968, LBJ surprises the nation by announcing he will not run for another term as president, choosing instead to focus on bringing an end to the war. Four days later, MLK is assassinated, and once again, LBJ uses tragedy to push forward stalled legislation, the Housing Act, in MLK's memory. When the South Vietnamese pull out of the Paris Peace talks, LBJ discovers that Nixon has undermined LBJ's efforts to end the war in Vietnam to clinch his own electoral victory. LBJ retires from office and settles into a slower pace of life at his ranch but continues to be haunted by Vietnam. His legacy remains complex, marred by the tragedy of the Vietnam War but praised for the lasting domestic achievements of his civil rights legislation and the Great Society.