Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973), often referred to as LBJ, served as the 36th President of the United States from November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969. A Texas Democrat, he entered the presidency immediately after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and won election in his own right in 1964 by defeating Republican Barry Goldwater in a landslide.

Domestically, Johnson is associated with the Great Society program, an ambitious legislative agenda that included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and the creation of Medicare and Medicaid under the Social Security Amendments of 1965. He also launched the "War on Poverty" through the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.

In foreign policy, Johnson is most closely linked to the escalation of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. After reports of clashes in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which Johnson used as authorization for expanded military operations. U.S. troop levels in South Vietnam rose from roughly 16,000 at the end of 1963 to over 500,000 by 1968. The Tet Offensive in January 1968 shifted American public opinion sharply against the war, and on March 31, 1968 Johnson announced he would not seek re-election.

Other foreign policy episodes during his presidency included the U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic (1965), the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states (June 1967), and the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (opened for signature July 1, 1968).

Before the presidency, Johnson served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1937–1949), the U.S. Senate (1949–1961, where he was Majority Leader from 1955), and as Vice President under Kennedy (1961–1963). He retired to his Texas ranch in 1969 and died of a heart attack on January 22, 1973.