One witness alleged that Baker had arranged for the witness to give kickbacks for the Vice President. [114] Believing that the current course meant that the Civil Rights Act would suffer the same fate, he adopted a different strategy from that of Kennedy, who had mostly removed himself from the legislative process. [88] He was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a family friend. Johnson asked for a temporary 6 percent surcharge in income taxes to cover the mounting deficit caused by increased spending. In the end, Democrats did not fully unite behind Humphrey, enabling Republican candidate Richard Nixon to win the election. He initially sought a transfer of the authority of Senate majority leader to the vice presidency, since that office made him president of the Senate, but faced vehement opposition from the Democratic Caucus, including members whom he had counted as his supporters.[74]. [203] The gap with Hanoi was an unbridgeable demand on both sides for a unilateral end to bombing and withdrawal of forces. When he won the vice presidency, he made arrangements to resign from the Senate, as he was required to do under federal law, as soon as it convened on January 3, 1961. Johnson decided on a campaign to use a discharge petition to force it onto the House floor. As President, Johnson vetoed 30 bills; no other President in history vetoed so many bills and never had a single one overridden by Congress. [239] In October when the parties came close to an agreement on a bombing halt, Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon intervened with the South Vietnamese, making promises of better terms, to delay a settlement on the issue until after the election. He worked his way through school, participated in debate and campus politics, and edited the school newspaper, The College Star. A Democrat from Texas, Johnson also served as a United States Representative and as the Majority Leader in the United States Senate. Johnson requested an investment of $400 million per year totaling $2.4 billion. [37] President Franklin D. Roosevelt found Johnson to be a welcome ally and conduit for information, particularly about issues concerning internal politics in Texas (Operation Texas) and the machinations of Vice President John Nance Garner and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. ; Dallek 1988, pp. [202], In the fall of 1966, multiple sources began to report that progress was being made against the North Vietnamese logistics and infrastructure; Johnson was urged from every corner to begin peace discussions. [60] Caro suggests that Johnson's hesitancy was the result of an overwhelming fear of failure. In 1968, the Democratic Party factionalized as anti-war elements denounced Johnson; he ended his bid for renomination after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary. Johnson made eleven international trips to twenty countries during his presidency. As Johnson's biographer Robert Caro observes, "Johnson's ambition was uncommon—in the degree to which it was unencumbered by even the slightest excess weight of ideology, of philosophy, of principles, of beliefs."[36]. Was Jim Crow to be America's response to "Godless Communism"? For gallantry in action in the vicinity of Port Moresby and Salamaua, New Guinea, on June 9, 1942. Johnson's presidency took place during a healthy economy, with steady growth and low unemployment. [213] Johnson's anger and frustration over the lack of a solution to Vietnam and its effect on him politically was exhibited in a statement to Robert F. Kennedy, who had become a prominent public critic of the war and loomed as a potential challenger in the 1968 presidential election. This was a historic accomplishment by the president, with the billion-dollar bill passing as introduced just 87 days before.[153]. You're going to kill yourself." "[247] This was despite the fact that Johnson himself had multiple extramarital affairs. See: Page 23 at. "The Civil Rights Movement and the Presidency in the Hot Years of the Cold War: A Historical and Historiographical Assessment. Johnson then agreed to McNamara's new recommendation to add 70,000 troops in 1967 to the 400,000 previously committed. "[255] [179] He expanded the numbers and roles of the American military following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. [161] The bill passed the house by a margin of 110 votes on April 8. He worked 18- to 20-hour days without break and was absent of any leisure activities. [172], In 1966 the press sensed a "credibility gap" between what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was happening on the ground in Vietnam, which led to much less favorable coverage. [155] In 1967, Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act to create educational television programs to supplement the broadcast networks. In particular, he notes Johnson's Memorial Day 1963 speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as being a catalyst that led to more action. The funeral was held at the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., where he had often worshiped as president. He was released from active duty on July 17, 1942, and remained in the Navy Reserve, later promoted to Commander on October 19, 1949 (effective June 2, 1948). Kennedy returned to his suite to announce the Kennedy–Johnson ticket to his closest supporters, including northern political bosses. Nevertheless, the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama led by Martin Luther King ultimately led Johnson to initiate a debate on a voting rights bill in February 1965. The call was patched through to Cronkite, and while Johnson relayed the information the director cut out of the report to return to the news desk. Johnson and two U.S. Army officers went to the 22nd Bomb Group base, which was assigned the high-risk mission of bombing the Japanese airbase at Lae in New Guinea. Robert Kennedy remained in office for a few months until leaving in 1964 to run for the Senate. [59], Johnson made a late entry into the campaign in July 1960 which, coupled with a reluctance to leave Washington, allowed the rival Kennedy campaign to secure a substantial early advantage among Democratic state party officials. [42] He argued that the southwest Pacific urgently needed a higher priority and a larger share of war supplies. To be eligible a city would need to demonstrate its readiness to "arrest blight and decay and make a substantial impact on the development of its entire city." [157] During Johnson's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23 percent to 12 percent. [71][72], At the same time as his vice presidential run, Johnson also sought a third term in the U.S. Senate. Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative he decided to leave. [208] In a discussion about the war with former President Dwight Eisenhower on October 3, 1966, Johnson said he was "trying to win it just as fast as I can in every way that I know how" and later stated that he needed "all the help I can get. Personal correspondences between the President and some in the Republican Party suggested Johnson tacitly supported Nelson Rockefeller's campaign. The effort in the Senate was considerably more complicated; however, the Medicare bill passed Congress on July 28 after negotiation in a conference committee. [34] Johnson also authorized the tapping of phone conversations of others, including the Vietnamese friends of a Nixon associate.[248]. In Detroit in 1967, Governor George Romney sent in 7,400 national guard troops to quell fire bombings, looting, and attacks on businesses and police. Cronkite, still on the phone, kept Johnson on the call while he gathered whatever available relevant information, then repeated it to his viewers. While the bombing ended the talks, North Vietnamese intentions were not considered genuine. When that man started to work on you, all of a sudden, you just felt that you were standing under a waterfall and the stuff was pouring on you. Johnson, a notoriously tough boss throughout his career, often demanded long workdays and work on weekends. During the Suez Crisis, Johnson tried to prevent the U.S. government from criticizing the Israeli invasion of the Sinai peninsula. Johnson announced he would remain as his party's leader in the Senate on New Year's Eve 1955, his doctors reporting he had made "a most satisfactory recovery" since his heart attack five months prior. [145] At the Howard University commencement address on June 4, 1965, he said that both the government and the nation needed to help achieve these goals: "To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice but the walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin. There was no response, but Johnson pursued the possibility of negotiations with such a bombing pause. [277] The inauguration affected the state funeral in various ways, because Johnson died only two days after the inauguration.