Browsing by Subject "Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973."
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Item He was ours: Lyndon Baines Johnson and American identity.(2006-12-04T20:45:20Z) Briscoe, Dolph, IV.; Parrish, T. Michael.; History.; Baylor University. Dept. of History.President Lyndon B. Johnson challenged his fellow citizens to build a Great Society based on traditional conceptions of American identity. Johnson's cultivation of a personal identity as a Texan, rather than a southerner, strengthened his determination to promote the Great Society as an American policy. A disciple of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, Johnson targeted civil rights, poverty, education, healthcare, and the general quality of life in the Great Society's domestic programs. Such massive liberal reforms proved controversial and divisive. Likewise, the Vietnam War, which Johnson often compared to World War II, provoked divisions and questions over America's true identity and purpose, despite his promotion of the war as an effort to build the Great Society abroad. Those divisions and questions, mirroring the complexities of the 1960s, affect Americans today and burden Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society, and the Vietnam War with complex historical legacies.Item Manic depression : Lyndon Johnson and the 1965 Watts Riots.(2009-08-26T13:27:22Z) Nabors, Daniel J.; Parrish, T. Michael.; History.; Baylor University. Dept. of History.When Lyndon Johnson inherited the presidency from President Kennedy, he attempted to fulfill the social vision JFK left behind, while at the same time harnessing the unique opportunity to institute his own, even further-reaching political agenda. Beginning with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Johnson manipulated America's affection of Kennedy, as well as the growing influence of Martin Luther King, to rouse Americans' consciences into the acceptance of further Civil Rights legislation, the culmination being the passage of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. Despite the overflowing sentiment of optimism from Johnson that the tide was turning, five days later the Watts Riots erupted, essentially destroying the naive illusion of social and racial progress. The result was the unveiling of the failure of Johnson’s paternalistic approach to all facets of political life. Instead of LBJ being able to provide easy solutions and fatherly bestowments, Johnson tragically ushered in an era of increasing black militancy and white backlash.