LBJ was an odd president. There’s his personal habits that are highlighted in the article, which were… strange. There’s his domestic policy, which was highly effective: he created medicare and medicaid, expanded civil rights, and caused the realignment of the Democratic and Republican parties to their modern state (before him, Democrats were more conservative than Republicans). He won the electoral college 486 to 52 and was overwhelmingly popular. And then there was his foreign policy, which was terrible: “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” was a common chant as the Vietnam War dragged on.
Unlike other commentators, I wouldn’t draw any conclusions about the presidency or the US from LBJ other than that sometimes very weird people win positions of power and proceed to do very weird things with that power.
Unlike other commentators, I wouldn’t draw any conclusions about the presidency or the US from LBJ other than that sometimes very weird people win positions of power and proceed to do very weird things with that power.