Lyndon Johnson's presidency began and ended with tragedy. He came
into office after the death of a popular young President and provided
needed continuity and stability. He advanced the Kennedy legacy,
obtaining far more than Kennedy would likely have gotten out of
Congress, and then won a huge landslide victory for himself and his
party.
Johnson's administration passed an unprecedented amount of
legislation, with much of it designed to protect the nation's land, air,
water, wilderness, and quality of life—to keep Americans safer and the
United States from becoming uglier and dirtier.
President Johnson's
administration also extended the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt,
including aid to education, Headstart, Medicare, and Medicaid—programs
that are still significant today and that command bipartisan support for
their effectiveness.
But many of his initiatives for the arts, for the
environment, for poverty, for racial justice, and for workplace safety
angered many economic and social conservatives and became the targets of
alienated white voters and tax revolters.
The reaction to his Great
Society and to broader trends helped spawn a dramatic political
polarization in the United States that some historians have labeled a
conservative counterrevolution.
Further clouding Johnson's legacy was the devastating outcome of the
Vietnam War. While his programs kept untold numbers of Americans out of
poverty, gave others basic health care, and ensured the fundamental
rights of citizenship for minorities, in Southeast Asia, millions of
Vietnamese lost their lives and homes, more than 58,000 American
military personnel lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more
would have their lives permanently altered.
At a time when Americans
were reshaping the focus of power at home, events in Vietnam were
raising serious questions about how America should use its clout abroad.
The legacies of death, renewal, and opportunity attached to the Johnson
administration are ironic, confusing, and uncertain. They will likely
remain that way.
https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/essays/biography/9