Lyndon Baines Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson, a hardscrabble son of the Hill Country who became the most powerful politician Texas has ever produced, was the 36th president of the United States. He was born to politics: his father, Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., served several terms in the Texas House of Representatives. After teaching public school and serving as the director of the National Youth Administration in Texas, LBJ won a seat in Congress in 1937, at the age of 28. He went on to serve in the U.S. Senate, making his mark as one of the most powerful majority leaders in history before becoming John F. Kennedy’s running mate in the 1960 presidential election. LBJ ascended to the presidency on November 22, 1963, after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Johnson’s administration represented the high-water mark of liberalism on the national stage, and his vision of a Great Society featured landmark advances in civil rights and the creation of social programs such as the War on Poverty, Medicare, and Head Start. His ambitious domestic agenda, however, ran headlong into the foreign policy nightmare of the war in Vietnam, which eroded his credibility and led to a painful backlash over his policies. In the 1964 election against Barry Goldwater, LBJ had won the highest percentage of the popular vote of any presidential candidate in the 20th century, but he chose not to run for reelection in 1968, stating in a famous televised address, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” Johnson returned to his ranch in Stonewall after the election of Richard Nixon and worked on the construction of his presidential library and museum, in Austin. He died of a heart attack on January 22, 1973, two days after his second full term would have ended. He is buried in a family cemetery along the banks of the Pedernales River, along with his wife, Lady Bird, another Texas icon, who died in 2007.
Johnson remains famous for his outsized personality—Texas Monthly described him in 1976 as “a great original, a man whose energy and personality knew few bounds”—and he continues to fascinate historians long after his death. Pulitzer prize–winning author Robert Caro, for example, has spent nearly four decades chronicling the life and times of LBJ in a widely-acclaimed four-volume biography (the fifth and final book is expected in the next few years). And though he left office with low approval ratings, Johnson’s historical and cultural reputation has risen over the years, boosted by the release of hundreds of hours of secret telephone recordings he made in office revealing the complexities of his political skill. As a result, in the most recent C-SPAN survey of presidential leadership, LBJ ranked eleventh.
-
Here’s What We Found Out From the JFK File Dump
Most of it was pretty lackluster, but there were a few interesting tidbits.
-
Lyndon Johnson on Film: A Historical Survey
How Woody Harrelson’s LBJ stacks up against the many other portrayals of the famous Texan.
-
The Lyndon Johnson Show
All the Way playwright Robert Schenkkan on Donald Trump, George Wallace, and why Bryan Cranston makes a great LBJ.
-
All the Way With LBJ
As five new books make clear, our thirty-sixth president refuses to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
-
Return to Cotulla
My family and their hometown helped change LBJ’s views on equal rights. Did his later policies change the reality for those in South Texas?
-
Does “Selma” Get LBJ Wrong?
The Golden Globe-nominated film about the Civil Rights Movement is the subject of some unexpected controversy regarding its depiction of the relationship between Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson.
-
Can’t We Ever Get Over the Texas Stereotype?
Bryan Cranston’s portrayal of LBJ was just another sad caricature of what the world thinks a Texan ought to act like.
-
Phantom of the Opry House
Sixteen photographs of some of the cooler moments of Austin history, as taken by Scott Newton, the longtime official photographer of “Austin City Limits.”
-
Walter White Meets LBJ
“Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston will take on the role of Lyndon Johnson in a play next month titled “All the Way.”
-
Discovering LBJ’s Austin
The city held a special place in Lyndon Baines Johnson’s heart, and a number of the places significant in his life there are still around.
-
Texas Is Pro-Work, Right?
Why Texas should think about raising the minimum wage—and why doing so might not be such a good idea in other states.
-
Matthew McConaughey Has a Presidents’ Day Gift For You
The Texas actor pays tribute to a fellow Hill Country native.
-
Dear Lady Bird
Lyndon Johnson’s dogged pursuit of Lady Bird further revealed in a cache of never-before-seen love letters.
-
The Writes of Spring
Robert Caro on LBJ. Marcus Luttrell on war. Douglas Brinkley on Walter Cronkite. James Donovan on the Alamo. Steve Coll on ExxonMobil. Ben Fountain on a surreal Dallas Cowboys halftime show. Dan Rather and Sissy Spacek on themselves. For some reason, May has turned out to be a month like no other for Texas-related books. Here’s our handy guide.
-
Lady Bird
In this excerpt from Means of Ascent, the shy, withdrawn young wife of Lyndon Johnson reveals a presence and command that took everyone by surprise—including her husband.
-
Lyndon Johnson on the Record
Working on his memoir one day in 1969, LBJ spoke more frankly into a tape recorder about the Kennedys, Vietnam, and other subjects than he ever had before. The transcript of that tape has never been published—until now. Michael Beschloss explains its historical significance.
-
The Man Who Saved LBJ
Who deserves credit for Lyndon Johnson’s newly burnished reputation? Harry Middleton, the director of the LBJ presidential library, who made hours and hours of White House audiotapes public—and in doing so, remade history.
-
The Rehabilitation of Charlie Wilson
It happened in twelve steps, which is not surprising, given the legendary Lufkin lawmaker’s history with booze, broads, and bad behavior. For now, at least, it’s taking.
-
L. on Wheels
Eight days in a rental car with Larry L. King, the crotchety West Texan who has written some of the greatest magazine stories of all time, would be enough to drive anyone crazy. Except his biggest fan.
-
5 Things You’ll Be Talking About in December
1. When Tea Parties Attack! Article III, Section 9, of the constitution of the state of Texas tells us that when a new session of the House of Representatives is seated, its first order of business is to elect a Speaker. …
-
Power Trio
In this excerpt from Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency, letters, interviews, and historic documents offer a revealing glimpse into the stormy relationship between Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys.
-
The Drop Everything List
The Go-Gos, LBJ’s Birthday, Houston Theater District Open House, and the Hot Sauce Festival. . .
-
Luci Baines Johnson
“‘LBJ’s war’ was not a war he had sought. It was a war he had inherited. It was a war he was trying desperately to get out of.”
-
A Lady First
Today, many younger Texans may be inclined to think of Lady Bird Johnson as belonging entirely to the past. But if her demeanor and style seemed faintly anachronistic, the virtues instilled by her parents back in East Texas—practicality, thriftiness, good manners, and an open mind—made her remarkably effective as a first lady, more so than some of her “modern” successors.
-
“The President Is Dead, You Know”
What the late LBJ confidant Jack Valenti remembered about the longest day of his life.
-
Texas History 101
LBJ’s most important election wasn’t the presidential race he won. It was the Senate campaign he lost.
-
Judgement Days
Lyndon Johnson cited passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as the proudest moment of his presidency, and in JUDGMENT DAYS (Houghton Mifflin), Pulitzer prize—winning journalist NICK KOTZ puzzles together the complex alliance between LBJ and Martin Luther King …
-
State Secrets
The month in politics. Thousands of Texans descend on the capitol during a legislative session, ranging from lobbyists to tourists (you’ll have no trouble telling which is which). Visit during the 140 days from January 11 to May 30, and …
-
Giant
Master of the Senate, Robert Caro’s third volume on the life of Lyndon Johnson, is an exhaustive study of power, persuasion, and private parts.
-
Bum Steer Awards 2002
A year of avaricious Aggies, banned boogers, chagrined cheerleaders, dotty dwellings, expletive-deleted Enron, famous fugitives, Germanic goofs, horny highways, icky insects, judicial jests, kooky kidnappers, look-alike logos, misguided Mavericks, news-making nuts, ousted Osamas, problematic pachyderms, quirky quarterbacks, rampaging rats, scary skunks, tetrahydrocannibinol-filled tacos, unhealthy urbanites, volleyball vamps, wayward W’s, x-rated x-hibitionists, young yahoos, and zany Zeta-Jones.
-
LBJ’s Living Legacy
Members of LBJ’s inner circle share their remembrances of a man whose powers of persuasion were truly awe-inspiring.
-
Voting Rites
LBJ, George Wallace, Selma: Eavesdropping on the making of history 35 years ago this month.
-
Politician of the Century—Lyndon Johnson
“Johnson continues to tower over Texas politics not just because he was the first Texas-bred president but because, 26 years in his grave, he continues to extend the very idea of Texas into American political history.”
-
Alone Together
No one denies that there was love at the center of Lady Bird Johnson’s marriage to LBJ. But like Hillary Clinton, she endured quite a bit, spousally speaking, as her husband’s star was on the rise.
-
Roar of the Crowd
Race Matters I was captivated by paul Burka’s observation in “What’s Black and White and Red-faced All Over?” [December 1997] that “the only way to open the door to more minority students is to broaden—that means reduce—the standards for admissions.” …
-
The Night Lyndon Quit
For twenty years, the story behind President Johnson’s withdrawal has remained a mystery. Now, on the anniversary of his decision, his former secretary reveals the drama of LBJ’s biggest surprise.
-
Remembering LBJ
Lyndon Johnson left an indelible impression on people—and a few black and blue marks, too.
-
Farewell to LBJ: A Hill Country Valediction
Some last words, reverent and irreverent, like Lyndon himself.