1. PRESIDENT-1963-1969

2.  Born into a poor family in Texas  Mother was a school teacher who wanted great things for her son  Johnson worked his way through school and became a teacher  Fought in World War II

3.  Johnson idolized Franklin Roosevelt  Johnson’s mentor was Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn  Johnson became an assistant to Rayburn in the House of Representatives  Later Johnson was elected to the House

4.  Johnson was then elected to the Senate  He became the Senate Majority Leader  Johnson was known as a big power broker in the Senate  No law could be passed without his support

5.  Johnson decides to run for President in 1960  He runs hard against John F. Kennedy, the young Senator from Massachusetts  Johnson loses the Democratic nomination to Kennedy after a nasty and bitter primary race  Kennedy asks Johnson to be his Vice-President

6.  President Kennedy’s younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy is chosen as Attorney General  Robert Kennedy was bitter against Johnson because of things Johnson said in the primary  Johnson hated being Vice-President because he had no real power and the Kennedy staff made fun of him

7.  On November 22, 1963 President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas  The Kennedy family wanted to fly the President’s body back immediately on Air Force One  Johnson delayed the flight so that he could be sworn in on the plane before it departed

8.  Johnson had many new plans for his administration  His domestic Programs were called The Great Society  He called on his former friends in the House and Senate to pass laws the Kennedy was not able to pass, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

9.  Head Start Program  Medicare  Medicaid  War on Poverty  VISTA

10.  Johnson wanted to seem stronger than Kennedy on Foreign Policy  Johnson decided to escalate the War in Vietnam  Johnson used the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin to be able to widen the war in Vietnam

11.  Johnson escalates the Vietnam War until there are over 500,000 troops there  The TET Offensive convinces the American people his policies are NOT working  Thousands protest against the war  Johnson decides NOT to seek reelection in 1968