The Overrated Presidency of LBJ

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was the thirty-sixth President of the United States and became President after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. His Presidency is defined by his implementation of the Great Society, his massive escalation of the Vietnam War, and the passage of landmark civil rights legislation. While LBJ is not considered a great president by many, most do not think of his Presidency as particularly bad for the country. Yet the legacies he left, both in creating the Great Society and fighting the Vietnam War, were disastrous, and his efforts in passing civil rights legislation are overrated.

First, the Great Society. The Great Society was a set of policies implemented by LBJ and the Democrat Congress of his time which were designed to fight American poverty. While massive in scope, the policies were simple to understand. Design and create large new governmental agencies that distribute money to certain segments of the American population. Under these auspices LBJ created the Head Start program, the Food Stamp program, Medicaid and Medicare, among others.

Medicaid and Medicare, together with Social Security, have become so enormous that today they take up 6%, 11%, and 22% (see Chart 2-6) of the federal budget respectively as of the year 2000. Now it is difficult to argue against giving money to poor people or to old people. In fact, it seems downright mean to do so. Yet looking at the results of these programs, one can only conclude that they have failed dismally at their intended purpose.

The Great Society programs were intended especially to help inner-city blacks. Yet the massive transfer of wealth has changed the inner-cities little. Drugs are even more rampant than they were and the black family, once the cornerstone of black America, has been destroyed. In addition, more and more Americans find it easier to accept government handouts than to provide for themselves and their family. The Great Society programs have done little to fight systematic poverty and have left part of America in a state of permanent governmental dependence.

In addition, LBJ massively increased troop deployment in Vietnam. While that in and of itself is not a reason to criticize Johnson, the way in which he fought the war is surely worthy of reproach. From the outset of the Vietnam War, the American Navy and Air Force had almost complete air superiority over Vietnam. Yet Johnson implemented rules of engagement (ROEs) that handicapped American forces so severely that the Vietcong forces were continually reinforced and re-supplied by their surrogates, the Soviet Union and China.

The ROEs in place for the air campaign over North Vietnam included restrictions on where aircraft could fly, what conditions aircraft could attack enemy forces, and what degree of force could be used both in self-defense and attack. Other ROEs restricted pilots from attacking certain types of targets that were off limits. Some of these were enemy airfields, SAM sites, power plants, naval craft in some areas, and a 30 mile area around Hanoi, the center of Vietcong activity.

The inability to attack certain targets made it difficult to stop the flow of men and material into South Vietnam. As a result, the American military was forced to try and win the war on the ground where the Vietcong seamlessly mixed with the civilian population and retained the advantage of knowing the battlefield. Not only did America lose a war that it had no business losing, but thousands of American lives were lost in an attempt to fight a "nicer and safer" war.

Lastly, LBJ is given all the credit for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed segregation in American schools and public places. While he certainly pushed for the bill's passage, it was in fact President John F. Kennedy who first proposed the bill, only to be assassinated before it was passed.

In addition more Republicans voted for the bill than Democrats. The Congressional Quarterly of June 26, 1964 recorded that, in the Senate, only 69% of Democrats (46 for, 21 against) voted for the Civil Rights Act as compared to 82% of Republicans (27 for, 6 against). All southern Democratic senators voted against the Act. This includes the current senator from West Virginia Robert C. Byrd and former Tennessee senator Al Gore, Sr. (the father of former Vice President Al Gore. In the House of Representatives, 61% of Democrats (152 for, 96 against) voted for the Civil Rights Act; 92 of the 103 southern Democrats voted against it. Among Republicans, 80% (138 for, 34 against) voted for it.

Many on the left praise LBJ for his work on civil rights, yet ignore the fact that the Civil Rights Act was his predecessor's idea and an initiative that he simply completed. In addition, LBJ's massive entitlement programs have ensured that the United States will be in debt for the foreseeable future. His handling of the Vietnam War was disastrous and led to America's defeat against a weaker opponent. His Presidency was not a success. It is an example of how not to lead the greatest country on Earth.

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~ The Conservative Guy