Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Impact of Lyndon B. Johnson
Impact of Lyndon B. JohnsonDiscuss the historical signifi squeeze outce of Lyndon B. JohnsonLBJ, LBJ, how m whatsoever kids pitch you killed today? Was adept(a) of the principal protest intonates of the 1960s in the linked States. It was directed at President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was about the contend in Vietnam that the American organization under the Johnson administration had been steadily become more k nonty in each passing year after he came to plaza pastime Kennedys assassination in November 1963. One can unless look how this must grow hurt for a man of Johnsons pride and character. existence accused of killing children is not something that anyone takes lightly.His reputation as a novice of Washington hid visionary leadinghip qualities. He k parvenu how to get what he cute and when. He realized that American society had to change as the low post-World state of fight Two generation was clamouring for a greater component in society. His election in 1964 was o ne of the biggest majorities ever.It is hard to find a historical figure that does not have more than one facial expression or side to their governmental legacy and life, and Lyndon Johnson was no exception, neertheless in his case, it was so untold more pronounced. Yes, he was historically significant. Itis impossible to make out that he was not. This significance is firstly in his Great monastic order economy and philosophy, and secondly in his prosecution of the warfare in Vietnam. Each of these ordain be discussed in turn.Part A) Visionary Kennedys footsteps and Great Society.Any hot seat who comes to office following the terminal, accidental or not, of another chairperson finds himself or herself in that shadow of that person. The position of vice-president is not an easy one in American government and politics. It carries no power and limited stature. One continuously feels second to holder of the office of president. Naturally, the vice-president is part of the c abinet and provides advice, yet the political ideals and program belong to the current president. Looking at Kennedy and Johnson, one can moreover see differences, but the political need of Kennedy for grey votes in 1960 do him convey Johnson. His victory created the myth of Camelot, which still stands to this date. He believed in civil rights for all Americans and cute a more peaceful family relationship with the Soviet Union. He was young and handsome, which generated a vast amount of charisma. His death robbed the coupled States of a leader of great potential. On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson stepped into his shoes following his assassination. He lacked Kennedys charisma, but in brief showed confidence. His reputation as a reach of the Senate was proof of competence and knowledge. These skills would be soon into great demand as he was immediately confronted with the need to resolve multiple societal problems, such as race relations in the South and health explosiv e charge issues that Kennedy had started looking at in his brief tenure as president. Johnson tangle he had to bring the solutions to fruition, both for the country and Kennedy, and lastly for himself, which meant putting his embossment on them.The United States of the 1960s was in the throes of racial tensions and economic retardation. Southern affirms were rejecting and ignoring federal attempts to impose civil rights for blacks. The result of which was the low voting levels and stinkinggering of blacks in the American Deep South. There were periodical racial riots requiring at times the intervention of federal study Guard to quell them. Unemployment was uphill and many Americans had no kind of medical coverage. The American constitutional exhibition placed checks and balances on every level of power, but as the theme of the racial inequalities was being ignored for very many reasons that are beyond the scope of this discussion, although one of them was that many president s were reluctant to rock the boat fearing electoral and legislative setbacks. much(prenominal) fears did not scare Johnson, as he had earn and cherished a Senate reputation of bending and cajoling other lawmakers to his way of thinking. He could be many things to many people. His birth in the Southern state of Texas gave him the image of a good olboy, which could be utilized to great effect. This magical spell and experience would be highly beneficial as he was sufficient to push through many legislative reforms by the end of 1965. every(prenominal) January, the current American president gives a State of the Union point during which he or she proposes various ideas and programs for that year. At this point, Johnson declared a war on Povertyand called for the passing of Kennedys tax cut and civil rights notification the first easily passed its hurdles, speckle the second quickly got delayed. Part of his war on poverty involved creating jobs through massive government instig ate and intervention, very much on the scale of Roosevelts Great Deal in the 1930s, which served as his inspiration as he understood that the state could not stand by plot the people suffered. This realization was in au naturel(p) contrast to his view of the United States as the true re sitative of immunity in the mankind, which meant bringing violence and suffering to people around the world as everyone had their own There were two other major legislative elements of the Great Society, namely Medicare and Medicaid, and the Higher and Elementary and Secondary Education hazards in 1965the former two set up health care supporting for the elderly and the needy, while the latter two provided federal aid to schools. just about of his opponents argued that these reforms were federal involvement in state affairs and fought court cases to resist or delay them.A country of the stature of the United States could not claim to be torch bearer of democracy and freedom,when a shite of cit izens were denied their rights and many governmental institutions either colluded in their denial or stood by while it occurred. Kennedy recognized this horror, although his predecessor Eisenhower had started redressing the ill when he ordered the National Guard to intervene during the Little Rock crisis in 1957. The Civil Rights Act was passed in July 1964, while the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The riots and violence soon became things of the past except when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968resulting in riots across 100 cities. A new Civil Rights Act was passed later(prenominal) that year.On a more personal level, he was the first American president to nominate a black person to the Supreme salute and the Cabinet, who were Thurgood Marshall previously having served as the solicitor-general of the United States in 1967 and Robert Weaver as secretary of housing and urban development in 1966. Both decisions open some of the last bureaucratic rooms to racial inte gration patronage the racist cringing of many Southern senators and governors.Part B) Ideologue cutting War and the quicksand of Vietnam.The war in Vietnam would become Johnsons undoing. Like almost any other project or idea that he had, he wanted to fight and win it. His major pieces of legislation had been passed by early 1965 or were on their way. This freedom permitted him to increase the American presence in Vietnam. He ordered the first struggle legions into Vietnam reversing a Kennedy policy of force out of Vietnam as he believed in the Domino Theory whereby if one country fell to Communism, others would follow, so a stand had to be made and Vietnam fulfilled that role. This geo-political theory developed in the 1950s and soon became a guiding principle of many elements of American foreign policy, but woefully it was very blinkered way of thinking, because the theory soon became the reality as points were manipulated, or even created, to fit into it. The inability to gro w beyond it would hamper much of Johnsons thinking on Vietnam. The initial American involvement in Vietnam date from 1955 after the French had been defeated atDien Bien Phu when the United States under Eisenhower felt it had to buttressing non-Communist forces in South East Asia.The world of the 1960s was in the throes of a cooling-off period in the Cold War after having closely napped with nuclear Armageddon in Cuba in October 1962, and the growing American involvement was sensed as a renewed hot period. Not everyone believed in this war, as they realized that it was a battle between two opposing ideologies, capitalism and Communism both of which had their supporters and critics, and the question was why did someone have to choose between them. Many counties did ignore the two superpowers and formed the Non-Aligned Movement. Unsurprisingly, this act fire both superpowers. The nature of this war was that the United States and Soviet Union neer actually fought each other, but use d proxies to fulfil their ideological agendas. Ironically, the political nature of many of these proxies was that they were corrupt, inhibitory and dictatorial for instance, in the case of Vietnam, the Diem government in the South supported by the Johnson administration was suppressing opposition to its rule, while Ho Chi Minh in the North was widely praised and respected. In atwist of irony, the repressive policies of the Diem government led the American government to overthrow him, but this only further destabilized the country and repaird its slide into chaos. The basic Cold War philosophy meant that the legitimate democratic needs and hopes of millions were ignored, and it can be argued that this fact damaged the United States more than it did the Soviet Union as the United States claimed to be leader in world democracy and freedom. Johnsons smell in the American mission to bring democracy to the world was one of his justifications to get involved in Vietnam. This argument be gs belief. In the end, this contradiction could not be resolved, and it became the source of the American legions and political loss.When Lyndon Johnson came to office, there were only about 16000 advisers in Vietnam, but he would raise the number of combat soldiers to almost 50000 by the late 1960s. He increased the number of fighter missions in the hope of crushing the spirit of the Vietnamese. Not only was the make up in lives was enormous, but also in infrastructure, as bridges, dams and building were destroyed. Such destruction put a stop to any development projects by the Vietnamese. One of the consequences of such a massive bombing was the scarring of the landscape whereby huge holes were made across the country creating impediments to agricultural development. One of the more tragical episodes of the Vietnam War was the authorization to use a weed killer to defoliate trees and shrubs in the hope of uncovering supply routes used by the Vietnamese. It was code-named compo nent Orange and was sprayed from planes flying over jungles. It was a pesticide and was never thought of as being dangerous to the health of humans. Protests quickly grew as claims were raised that it was causation various forms of cancer in both Vietnamese civilians and American soldiers, and of late studies have slowly tended to support such views. The psychological success but military failure of the North Vietnameses Tet offensive in 1968started the American military withdrawal process. In a major reversal, Johnson stopped increasing troops and thought of ways to extricate himself and his country from Vietnam. The failure of Johnson to realize that the war was based on the desire of independence of a people at all costs meant that regardless of how many military victories were achieved, the war never ended. It has been a standing law in American politics to not bring back soldiers in body bags as it is politically damaging. all death was a nail in Johnsons political coffin. T he chant How, Ho Chi Minh shouted by American protesters must have been devastating to Johnson as they cheered his opponent in a war that he supported.In other areas of the gloomy world of the Cold War, Johnson was quite ship thinking and deserved assign. The close call of nuclear destruction during the Cuba rocket Crisis meant that a special red phone line was installed so that the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union could talk to each other quickly. To accelerate communication and travel, a new air route was installed between capital of the Russian Federation and New York City. His meeting with Premier Kosygin in June 1967 was another in a recent line of summits between American and Soviet leaders, and their discussions led to proposals to expurgate the development of nuclear weapons, which later grew into the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of atomic Weapons ratified internationally in March 1970, but unfortunately as this was passed by the American Senate in 1969 after Johnson had left office, much of the credit went to his successor, Richard Nixon. This agreement was one of the first major limitations of nuclear use and was the beat of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, otherwise known as SALT. polishAccording to ancient Egyptian mythology, the soul of every person was weighed measure his or her good and with child(p) deeds to decide their place in the Afterword. This view has both negative and positive aspects as every performance has a value, but one huge good or bad act can outweigh a lot of small bad or good ones. Depending on whom you ask, both the Vietnam War and the Great Society can be either, but prosecuting an unnecessary war is hard to defend, while programs designed to help the needy is so much easier to do so. The war in Vietnam failed to achieve any of its objectives of liberating people and extending American power in the region, while the Great Society opened American society to new levels and made more people feel part of it.In this regard, a very simple description of Lyndon Johnsons place in history is that he was a divisive figure. He was the author of two great things in American society firstly the Great Society and secondly the Vietnam War, although the present use of the term great is in its sense of social splendour and socially revolutionary. He is remembered affectionately and hated deeply for each of them, but not always in the way that some of us capability think. It is a mark of this divisiveness, which he himself recognized, that he stepped aside from running over again as president in March 1968. His successor as president was Richard Nixon.BibliographyMorris, Errol. The Fog of War. DVD. Columbia Tri Star, 2004.Johnson, Lyndon. The Vantage Point Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969. Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1971.Caro, Robert A. Master of the Senate the years of Lyndon Johnson. Cape, 2002.Bernstein, Irving. Gunsor cover the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. Oxford University Press, 1995.Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant Lyndon Johnson and his times, 1961-1973. Oxford University Press,1998.
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