LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON, 1964
Lyndon
Baines Johnson, Kennedy's vice-president, took the oath of office only
hours after Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Judge Sarah Hughes gave
Johnson the oath aboard Air Force One, with Kennedy's
coffin behind him and JFK's widow beside him, still clothed in the
bloody
suit she'd worn that morning. The urgency owed to fears that
JFK's
assasination might be part of a Soviet plot to destablize the U. S. as
part
of a larger military scenario.
Personal History
Lyndon Baines Johnson was
born on August 27, 1908, in central Texas. He felt the pinch of
poverty growing up, working his way
through Southwest Texas Teacher's College (later Southwest Texas State
College, San Marcos). As a school teacher, he taught children of
both Anglo and Mexican descent. In 1934, he married Claudia "Lady
Bird" Taylor, and in 1937 campaigned successfully for the House of
Representatives,
running as a strong supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.
During World War II he served briefly as a lieutenant commander
in
the Navy, winning a Silver Star in the South Pacific. After the
war,
having served six terms in the House, he won election to the Senate in
1948. In 1953, he became Senate Minority Leader, and in 1954
Majority
Leader of the Senate.
President Johnson
After Kennedy's death, Johnson obtained
passage of the civil rights bill proposed by Kennedy in 1962. He
signed the Civil Rights Act of
1964 in July. The measure outlawed racial segregation in public
places
and increased federal enforcement powers. Next, he urged
the
Nation "to build a great society
, where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor."
In 1964, the activists determined to force the
issue of voting rights onto the Democratic agenda by organizing a
"Freedom Summer" in Mississippi. White college students trained
by SNCC and CORE would go to Mississippi to help educate blacks about
their rights in "Freedom Schools" and help them register to vote.
In spite of the activists' efforts to prepare the college kids
for what they wold face in the South, most were shocked at
the brutal repression they witnessed. Then, three civil rights
workers--Andrew Goodman, Micky Schwerner, and Donald
Chaney--disappeared in Indianola County after being detained by the
local sheriff. State officials claimed the three young men had
simply run off, or else had staged an "incident"
hoping to gain publicity. Federal officials were of little help
in
the investigation. However, about six weeks after their
disappearance,
investigators acted on a tip from an informant inside the Klan and
found
the bodies of the three slain workers in a partially-completed dam.
The
two white workers had both been shot, and the black worker had been
beaten
savagely before he was killed. Authorities eventually arrested
five
men, including a deputy sheriff, and tried them for murder before an
all-white
jury. They were acquitted.
The unrest
in Mississippi came as an unwelcome "distraction" for Lyndon Johnson.
He had succeeded in engineering the passage of Kennedy's Civil
Rights Bill, which had not won him any friends among white Southern
Democrats; nevertheless, he needed to maintain party unity as much as
possible in order to obtain the nomination. When the young
activists arrived at the Democratic National Convention promoting a
rival delegation from Missississppi
(the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party), Johnson had his
vice-president,
Hubert Humphrey, "handle" the delegation, telling them they would not
be
recognized as Mississippi's official delegation, but two members of
their
group would be allowed to sit in as an non-voting members.
Offended, the delegation rejected the compromise and left the
Convention.
Aside from the problems within his own party, Johnson
faced a strong challenge from the Republican Party in 1964. The
GOP nominated Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. The
tough-talking Goldwater predictably struck at the Democrats' perceived
Achilles Heel: their "soft" record on Communism. Assuring
Americans that he would stop at little to
thwart the Communist menace, Goldwater declared: "Extremism in the
defense
of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no
virtue." Johnson, whose main focus had always been on domestic
affairs,
suddenly needed an opportunity to establish his credentials fighting
Communism.
Tonkin Gulf Incident
On the night of August 2, 1964, a radar
operator aboard the U. S. destroyer Maddox on patrol in the
Tonkin Gulf, just off the coast of North Vietnam, reported an a radar
indication of possible boats approaching
the ship. Although the Maddox was in officially
recognized
international waters (3 miles), the North Vietnamese claimed a zone of
12 miles as their territory. They were also engaged in spying on
North Vietnam in order to support illegal operations of South
Vietnamese
commandos operating behind enemy lines. They thus had reason to
be wary of possible North Vietnamese gunboats closing in on a perceived
intruder. Although no one ever sighted any boats, the ship
reported
the incident to Washington. When he saw the report, President
Johnson
saw an opportunity to flex his anti-Communist muscles. He sent
orders
to the Maddox that if they were "attacked" again, they were to
fire back. On August 4, 1964, the Maddox once again
made
radar contact with what it determined were "hostiles" and opened fire.
Citing the "attacks" on the Maddox, Johnson
asked Congress for authority to use military force to defend U. S.
forces in South Vietnam. With only one dissenting vote, Congress
passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution giving the president a virtual "blank
check" to commit U. S. troops to combat. Satisfied that he had
strengthened his credentials against Goldwater on the Communist issue,
Johnson returned to the business of the campaign.
The
"Daisy Girl" Commercial
Goldwater's statements regarding "extremism in the
defense of liberty" were meant as a defense of conservatism, but they
merged in the public
consciousness with earlier statements Goldwater had made about possible
use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam. The Johnson campaign played
upon
these fears with its famous (or infamous) "Daisy Girl" commercial--the
first
attack ad in presidential TV history. (Click on the link above to
watch
the commercial.) The spot depicted a little girl picking daisies,
and
playing the game: "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not." In the
background,
one hears the rising note of a countdown: "10...9...8..." until
at
"1" the girl looks at the sky and the innocent scene dissolves into a
nuclear
mushroom cloud. Then a voice solemnly intones: "These are
the
stakes: to make a world in which all of God's children can live
or
to go into the dark. We must either love each other or we must
die.
Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are
too
high for you to stay at home." The implication was that Goldwater
would
blow the world to hell if he was elected president. The spot was
so
controversial it only ran once, but its effect aptly reflected
concerned
about Goldwater and scored points for Johnson as a voice of reason.
Election Day
On election day, Johnson won the presidency
with 61 percent of the vote--the largest margin in history, greater
even than that of his hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1936.
Johnson was now ready to embark upon the construction of his
Great Society. Vietnam could not have been further from his
thoughts.
Sources:
Official
White House Biography
Presidential Elections, 1896-1996
The Living
Room Candidate
President
Lyndon B. Johnson's American Dream: The Great Society
Go to:
The Great Society