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- Johnson was indeed from humble origins. He was born on August 27, 1908, in Stonewall, Texas. The Johnson family had been in the area for generations, but Johnson’s father had financial problems, and the future President grew up under difficult circumstances.
- Johnson’s first career was as a teacher. As a student at Southwest Texas State Teachers College, Johnson was assigned to a tiny Hispanic school in a deeply impoverished area on the Mexican border.
- Johnson’s political ambitions were clear early in his career. His father had served in the Texas state legislature, and Johnson became a congressional aide in 1931.
- Johnson was the “surrogate son” of powerful House Speaker Sam Rayburn. The legendary Rayburn had served in the Texas legislature with Johnson’s father, and Rayburn backed Johnson’s fast rise as a leader within Congress.
- He Started Out as A Teacher.
- He Was Also A Janitor.
- He Had A Head Start in Politics.
- He Was Awarded A Silver Star During WWII.
- His Entry Into The Senate Was A “Landslide.”
- He Almost Died While Serving in The Senate.
- He Was One of Four People to Hold Four Distinguished Offices.
- He Voted Against Every Civil Rights Bill in His First 20 Years as A Legislator.
- Johnson’s Style of Coercion Was called “The Treatment.”
- His Reelection Was A True landslide.
To pay for his time at Southwest Texas State Teachers College (which is now Texas State University), Johnson taught for nine months at a segregated school for Mexican-American children south of San Antonio. The experience, as well as his time teaching in Pearsall, Texas, and in Houston, shaped his vision of how the government should help educate th...
Johnson not only shared in the unfortunate tradition among teachers of using his own paycheck to pay for classroom supplies, he also wore multiple hats during his tenure as an educator. He taught fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, managed a team of five teachers, supervised the playground, coached a boys’ baseball team and the debate team, and moppe...
Johnson’s father, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., was a memberof the Texas State House of Representatives for nine non-consecutive years. His guidance and connections helped Johnson enter politics, and at the age of 23, just one year out of college, Johnson was appointed by U.S. Representative Richard M. Kleberg as his legislative secretary on the advice...
Johnson won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1937, representing a district that encompassed Austin and the surrounding hill country. He would serve there for 12 years, but he would also serve as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve in the middle of his tenure as a representative. He was called to active duty three da...
Johnson toured Texas in a helicopter for a 1948 Senate primary race that pitted him against former Governor Coke Stevenson and state representative George Peddy. Stevenson led the first round of voting, but, without a majority, a runoff was called. Johnson won it (and the nomination) by only 87 votes out of 988,295 (.008 percent) amid accusations o...
A demanding boss, workaholic, and chain smoker, Johnson had a heart attack in the summer of 1955 during his time as Senate Majority Leader. Within a few days of the health scare, he had telephones and mimeograph machines brought to his hospital room so he could resume an intensely long work day. He stopped smoking, but he would later describehis he...
Among the most trivial of trivia (be sure to memorize it for your pub quiz night) is Johnson’s rare, strange distinction of the combination of offices held. Following John Tyler and Andrew Johnson, and followed by Richard Nixon, Johnson is one of only four people to have been a United States representative, the Senate Majority Leader, the vice pres...
Johnson’s legacy is tied directly to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but he was an imperfect vessel for change. As a representative and senator, he’d voted down every civil rights proposal set before him, aligning with the post-Reconstruction south, calling President Truman’s civil rights program“a farce and a sham—an effort to set up a police state ...
At 6 feet, 4 inches, Johnson towered over most colleagues, and he used that physicality to his benefit. When he needed to extract a favor from someone, he'd simply stand over them with his face inches from their own and tell them just what he needed, in a move dubbed "The Johnson Treatment." Beyond bodying his opponents and friends, Johnson would a...
After the 87-vote debacle that launched him into the Senate, Johnson experienced a genuine electoral phenomenon befitting someone nicknamed “Landslide.” In the 1964 campaign, Johnson faced not only Republican Barry Goldwater, but also questionable popularity. He’d never been elected president in his own right, and his leadership on the Civil Rights...
- Sarah Pruitt
- He began his career as a teacher. Johnson was born in 1908 in Stonewall, Texas, as the oldest of five children. Though his father had served in the state legislature, he had lost money in cotton speculation, and the family often struggled to make ends meet.
- In the 1948 race for U.S. Senate, Johnson won the Texas Democratic primary by just 87 votes, out of some 988,000 votes cast. Johnson worked hard and rose quickly, winning a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1937 when a congressman in his district died in office.
- Johnson’s career took off in the Senate, but he almost died in the process. In 1953, Johnson became Senate minority leader, and after Democrats regained control of the Senate two years later, he became majority leader.
- He was an outsider in the Kennedy White House. After losing a bitter primary fight in 1960, Johnson shocked nearly everyone by signing on as running mate to Sen.
- Son of a Politician. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the son of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., a member of the Texas legislature for 11 years. Despite being in politics, the family was not wealthy.
- Lady Bird Johnson, Savvy First Lady. Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor was highly intelligent and successful. She earned two bachelor's degrees from the University of Texas in 1933 and 1934, successively.
- Silver Star. While serving as a U.S. Representative, Johnson joined the navy to fight in World War II. He was an observer on a bombing mission where the plane's generator went out and they had to turn around.
- Youngest Democratic Majority Leader. In 1937, Johnson was elected as a representative. In 1949, he won a seat in the U.S. Senate. By 1955, at the age of 46, he became the youngest Democratic majority leader up to that time.
Oct 29, 2023 · The Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of Lyndon B. Johnson’s most significant achievements as President was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of This landmark legislation outlawed racial segregation and discrimination, and it remains a pivotal moment in the fight for civil rights. The “Great Society” Programs.
Fun Fact 1: On August 27, 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, commonly known as LBJ, was born near Stonewall in Texas. He was one of two Presidents born in the state of Texas; the other was president Dwight D Eisenhower.
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Oct 29, 2009 · Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States and was sworn into office following the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Upon taking office, Johnson, also...
