Johnson, Lyndon Baines

1. A Democratic party political leader of the twentieth century, who was president from 1963 to 1969. Johnson rose to power in the Senate . He was elected vice president in 1960, running with John F. Kennedy , and became president after Kennedy was assassinated. Known for his extraordinary political skill, Johnson guided many of Kennedy's New Frontier projects through Congress , including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . He also started his own set of domestic programs, known as the Great Society , which included the War on Poverty . In 1965, Johnson began a sharp increase in American military involvement in the Vietnam War , which took resources away from the Great Society and was opposed by many of his fellow Democrats . Greatly frustrated by his difficulties over the war in Vietnam, he declined to run for reelection in 1968.

Notes

Johnson, a Texan ( see Texas ), often tried to project an image of a blustery, sometimes coarse, rancher.