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+LBJ was very much a proponent of civil rights in his administration:
+ - Pro-women
+ - Pro-racial equality
+ - Pro-gay/lesbian
+ - But the Great Society promised too much.
+ - The Cold War caused the War in Vietnam
+ - Most controversial, least successful war in the nation's
+ history
+
+What was Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson trying to do with the war on poverty
+and the "Great Society?"
+
+What were his achievements in the Civil Rights movement? Why did
+activists push him to support him?
+
+Why did he escalate a war in Vietnam? What were the consequences for his
+political career and the US?
+
+LBJ is a white Texan, sworn in in 1963 from JFK's VP spot.
+- Rags to riches story: worked his way out of poverty
+- Ego and insecurities were as massive as his vanity and ambition
+ - Couldn't stand being alone and insisted on
+ - "My war on Vietnam," "my cabinet," "my ideas"
+ - Cruel idealist, brutal optimist
+ - Wanted to be the greatest president, genuine compassion for the
+ poor and civil rights (in part motivated by political desire to
+ bring the South into mainstream political life)
+ - First job was at school in Texas teaching poor Mexican children.
+ - His wife said, "Johnson loved the human race, and half of the
+ human race were women."
+ - Poll taxes, literacy taxes, inconvenient application process
+ continued.
+ - Intimidation with beatings, lynchings.
+ - LBJ wanted to force Mississippi to enfranchise black people in
+ Mississippi.
+ - (Mostly) idealistic white college students helped black people
+ register, navigate the system in Mississippi Freedom Summer.
+ - Mississippians prepared for "communist invasion" by doubling
+ police force and stockpiling weapons.
+ - KKK and white racists harassed, arrested, and insulted volunteers.
+ - Jun 1964: volunteers abducted and murdered by Klan members,
+ along with black people
+ - "End of innocence."
+ - Black Americans began to question MLK's nonviolence strategy
+ because of belief that Feds wouldn't protect them from white
+ racists
+ - Young black people, especially, were radicalizing.
+ - Congress passes Civil Rights Act, and LBJ signs it into
+ law.
+
+- Personal talks with senators to produce the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
+- Johnson put all his chips on the table, betting on the Civil Rights
+ Act.
+LBJ feared the Civil Rights Act would cost him the presidency.
+- Americans rediscovered poverty in 1962 with "The Other America" by
+ Michael Harrington (>40mn ppl were mired in a culture of poverty,
+ which caused cultural issues; much more extensive because it was
+ hidden from view in inner cities, isolated rural areas)
+ - LBJ's declares war on poverty to establish a legislative package
+ with real impact.
+ - Kennedy wanted his advisors, before assassination, to investigate
+ solutions
+War on Poverty included a bunch of stuff:
+- grants to small farmers
+- loans to businesses that hire the chronically unemployed
+- later the foodstamps program
+- student loans, early preschool
+
+Election of 1964
+- Republican Conservative counter-attack by Barry Goldwater
+ - Square-jaw straight-talking leader.
+ - One of six Republican senators voting against Civil Rights Act,
+ explaining it in fear of a police state.
+ - Wanted to vastly reduce programs like Social Security.
+ - Out of his depth as a Pres Candidate, advised wholesale bombing of
+ Vietnam.
+ - Called War on Poverty a waste of money; didn't want feds to
+ provide money for education.
+- Johnson framed himself as a responsible centrist.
+- Goldwater was vastly rejected, with only 38.4% of the popular vote and
+ 52 electoral votes from AZ and the deep south.
+- Johnson misread his popularity as a mandate for massive changes.
+ - "Every day I'm in office, I'm going to lose votes."
+ - "You need to get this legislation done fast."
+ - Rich and Powerful, Great society w/o poverty
+ - Medicare and Medicaid, Higher Education Act, Immigration Act
+ of 1965
+ - Federal govt = powerful lever for improving the life of all Ams
+- Opposition of AMA had stalled equal health insurance coverage.
+ - They stood by the Republicans only supporting free healthcare for
+ those over 65.
+ - LBJ got Medicare and Medicaid.
+ - Higher Education Act = low-rate loans, grants, scholarships
+- Immigration Act or Hart-Celler Act
+ - Sweeping bipartisan change to Immigration Policy.
+ - Redress the wrong done to those from Southeast Europe and Africa
+ and Asia.
+ - Fixed the "old system" of advantaging GB, France, etc
+
+- Marchers in Selma assaulted by state and local police. "Bloody Sunday"
+ televised for the entire country to witness
+ - MLK was torn between a second march or not and supported a second
+ march.
+ - Federal judge authorized feds to protect the protest.
+ - MLK advised "creative nonviolence."
+ - South became a Republican stronghold as white voters began
+ switching parties.
+
+Note: this is like gibberish. read the book for better info.
+
+LBJ was similar to Wilson in that his "crusading idealism" would hurt
+him
+
+The "Vietnam thing" was wearing him down, while racial violence in
+cities was rising.
+ - Viet Cong, a guerilla force, was trying to implement a communist
+ takeover of US-backed regime (from the South).
+ - Vietminh led by Ho Chi Minh, a seasoned revolutionary, supported a
+ revolution against colonial Japan, with power in Northern Vietnam.
+ - Supported independence.
+ - Declared creation of Democratic Republic of Vietnam with
+ capital in Hanoi
+ - French underestimated determination to maintain independence
+ and tried to restore the colonial regime.
+ - French forces regained cities, but Vietminh controlled
+ countryside.
+ - Predicted that French would give in before Vietnamese.
+ - By end of 1953, Eisenhower was paying nearly 80% of French
+ military effort in Vietnam.
+ - 55K Vietminh fighters dug trenches and tunnels, starting
+ from Dec, to surround French forces by March, who tried to
+ take control by airdropping into Dien Bien Phu.
+ - Eisenhower refused to support French colonial rule in SEA
+ because it was politically impossible unless GB stepped in
+ (plus nuclear forces were entirely off the table)
+ - Geneva Accords gave Laos and Cambodia independence, and
+ divided Vietnam at 47th parallel. Viet Minh got control of
+ the north, while French maintained southern control until
+ national elections in 1956.
+ - Eisenhower began providing aid to Premier Diem, installed
+ by France, who autocratically opposed any disapproval.
+ - Eisenhower contended its only option with Diem was
+ "sink or swim" and invaded on basis of domino theory.
+ - Diem didn't do social and economic reforms or hold
+ democratic elections. Opposed Buddhist majority.
+ - Eisenhower: >$1bn in aid. JFK sent "advisors,"
+ military, more money.
+ - US military relocated Vietnamese peasants to
+ "strategic hamlets" surrounded with barbed wire to
+ "protect" them from the Viet Cong
+ - National Liberation Front (NLF) in South.
+ - South Vietnam essentially became a US colony, with
+ much monetary support diverted to corrupt politicians.
+ - Tonkin Gulf Resolution was official justification for Johnson.
+ - Acting on false information that Vietnamese had attacked US
+ ships, the info from Robert McNamara (Sec of State). But
+ America actually attacked Vietnamese first.
+ - Empowered pres. to "take all necessary measures" to protect.
+ - Johnson interpreted as a Congressional declaration of war
+ - Unlimited military authority
+ - Only 2 senators voted against it
+ - Johnson implemented Operation Rolling Thunder
+ - Sustained bombing campaign of Northern Vietnam
+ - Created two fronts: US war planes bombing the north and the
+ south with ground combat.
+ - Search and Destroy missions against Viet Cong
+ - War of attrition, wanted to kill as many Viet Cong as
+ possible. They blended into villages, so American soldiers
+ killed villagers.
+ - War criticism grew, but Johnson said "we will not withdraw"
+ (viewed it as a test of manliness)
+ - Sec McNamara told Johnson the situation seemed worse than
+ a year ago. Proposed three options:
+ - Cut losses and withdraw
+ - Stay in at current level
+ - Build up forces and apply pressure, despite inefficacy
+ of existing methods.
+ - By end of war effort, 540K soldiers in Vietnam.
+ - Johnson thought the war was unwinnable.
+ - Did not want to be blamed for losing it to communism
+ - US was actually fighting to prevent the Viet Cong from
+ winning.
+
+Antiwar Movement
+- College campuses hosted teach-ins critical of war effort
+ - Professors gathered to teach students about policy in Vietnam.
+- Nightly television accounts of Vietnam questioned accuracy of
+ statements claiming an American win. "Living room war"
+- Johnson became occupied with the war, demanding information about
+ enemy movements and control over attacks, bombings, etc.
+Tet Offensive (1968)
+- First day of Vietnamese new year
+- Surprise coordinated attack from North Vietnam on US, South Vietnam
+ forces.
+- Within a few days, American firepower took back power, but damage had
+ been done.
+- Huge political impact in US turning Americans against the war
+ - Scope and intensity of the offensive made people realize that
+ winning the war wasn't happening.
+- Clifford, who replaced McNamara, advised Johnson that the US was mired
+ in a sinkhole. Federal funds earmarked for war on poverty "swallowed
+ up by the war effort." $2bn each month in Vietnam.
+
+McCarthy pushed a "Dump Johnson" message in 1968 Dem Primary.
+Bobby Kennedy, NY senator launched opposition to Johnson reelection.
+- This opposition devastated Lyndon Johnson.
+- Johnson rejected nomination from his party because he raised some
+ false hopes by overpromising.
+ - Vietnamese troops remained for 5 more years, but limited war vs.
+ absolute war (from vietnamese) meant US couldn't win. The effort
+ to win ended after Johnson was removed.