How long was lyndon johnson president

Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. University of Virginia Miller Center. Johnson We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights.

Why did Johnson decide to become Vice President? One theory is that Johnson saw the position of Vice President as expanding his power base in the Senate. But after the election, Johnson was rebuffed when he tried to chair the Democratic conference in the Senate; his fellow Democrats saw the move as a violation of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

The Johnson presidency was incredibly active. Toggle navigation. House to replace a deceased Texas House member named James Buchanan 4. Sign up for our email newsletter. However, he was overwhelmed by the young and energetic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, who was nominated for president on the first ballot at the Democratic Convention.

Kennedy realized that he could not be elected without the support of traditional Southern Democrats, most of whom had backed Johnson, so he offered the Texas senator the role of vice president. As vice president, Johnson headed the space program, oversaw negotiations on the nuclear test ban treaty and worked to push through equal opportunity legislation for minorities.

He also strongly supported Kennedy's decision to send American military advisors to South Vietnam to help fight off a communist insurgency.

However, Johnson was never in Kennedy's inner circle and was frustrated by his lack of influence, particularly on legislative issues. On November 22, , President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while traveling in a motorcade. Johnson was only two cars behind Kennedy when the shots rang out. Just a few hours later, Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president aboard Air Force One on its return to Washington, D.

Over the next year, he endorsed the late president's programs and pushed a few of his own through Congress. Lyndon B. With the public seemingly having little appetite for Goldwater's staunch conservatism, Johnson won in a landslide; he received 61 percent of the popular vote, the largest margin of victory in U.

Johnson used his election mandate to wage war on poverty in the United States and communism in Southeast Asia. As the civil rights movement gained momentum following the landmark decision in the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education , which ruled racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional, and Martin Luther King Jr. The legislation prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public places and laid the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of The Civil Rights Act passed the House and the Senate after a lengthy debate in July and was soon after signed by Johnson in a televised ceremony with hundreds of guests.

In , Johnson pushed an ambitious, sweeping legislative agenda coined the term " Great Society. Great Society legislation included:. The escalating Vietnam War soon consumed Johnson's presidency. President Kennedy's younger brother Robert also joined the race. On March 31, , Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination. After a relatively short period in restless retirement, Lyndon Johnson died on January 22, Grant Rutherford B.

Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. University of Virginia Miller Center.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Life in Brief. Breadcrumb U. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Education and Marriage The Johnson family had been in Texas for generations. Legislative and World Impact Johnson was only two cars behind Kennedy on the day the President was shot to death in Dallas. More Resources Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency Page. Life Before the Presidency. Campaigns and Elections. Domestic Affairs. Foreign Affairs.