U.S. Presidents & First Ladies

Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson, born in 1908 in Texas, was a teacher and congressional aide who had a long career in Congress where he earned the nickname “Master of the Senate.” This letter to a friend in 1957 was from that time. Johnson helped John F. Kennedy win a close election in 1960, then assumed the presidency in 1963 after Kennedy’s assassination. Johnson championed his “Great Society” — expanding civil rights, Medicare and education — however his escalation of the Vietnam War overshadowed domestic achievements. After leaving office in 1969, he returned to Texas until he passed in 1973, leaving a legacy of both progress and controversy.