@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:If that was the only salient event in the Johnson presidency I don't think anyone would call it a failure. Unfortunately for him, and for the country, it was not. In the end he couldn't even get the nomination of his own party for a second term, and withdrew from the contest. Would you call that a success? If so perhaps you could - to use a challenge you so often put to others - provide us with some convincing evidence of that success.
I am a firm believer in the old adage that unless we learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. I also believe that to learn from history, we must first accurately know what it was. This is important in regard to one of the most powerful 20th century Democrats in Washington, by the name of Lyndon Baines Johnson.
First, it is important to know that it was not a hidden fact that LBJ was one of the most corrupt and power hungry politicians in D.C. It is legendary how dead people helped elect LBJ to Congress. Even LBJ admitted this stuff went on to elect Democrats in Texas. Not only was he corrupt, but he was not above lying, that being evident by the trumped up Gulf of T0nkin incident to justify his expansion of the Vietnam War.
Secondly, LBJ was evidently a racist, as testified by friends and colleagues. His record in Congress also testifies to this. Only until he realized his power and the power of his Democratic Party could be enhanced by throwing blacks a bone, so to speak, did he advance seemingly civil rights friendly policies. Essentially, he decided to buy their votes. The following quotes have been ascribed to LBJ.
"I'll have those ******* voting Democratic for the next 200 years." -- Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One Ronald Kessler's "Inside The White House"
"These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.” -- LBJ
"This civil rights program about which you have heard so much is a farce and a sham--an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I fought it in the Congress. It is the province of the state to run its own elections. I am opposed to the anti-lynching bill because the Federal Government has no business enacting a law against one kind of murder than another...(And) if a man can tell you who you must hire, he can tell you who not to employ. I have met this head on."
Austin, Texas May 22, 1948 quoted in Quotations from Chairman LBJ, Simon and Schuster, NY 1968
