Opinion of Lyndon B. Johnson

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Technically both, surely? More public figures should be massive hams.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

LBJ did a lot of great things, leaving beyond a legacy that endures up to this day. On the other hand, beside Vietnam, he was quite literally a horrible person.

Yet I voted FF based on his positive impact, which outweights his mistakes and personal shortcomings.

[Lief 🗽]

I believe that black people should have equal rights and olds/poors should have medical care. I know that's a controversial set of opinions these days, but they are the reason why I vote FF.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

One of the best Presidents in US history, no matter what the haters say.

That he was responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians and soldiers on both sides?  That somehow is trivial enough to label those who use it as a reason to vote "HP" as "haters?" 

The number of lives he destroyed far outnumbered the (vast) good that he did domestically.  It doesn't even come close.

His domestic policy has saved more lives (and will continue to in the future) than Vietnam destroyed.

While horrible, Vietnam is, fortunatelly, a thing of the past. LBJ's legacy on civil rights, health care (freaking Medicare and Medicain, guys, how liberal posters possibly disregard this) and anti-poverty measures lives on.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

LBJ was vile. The second worst President after Wilson. I heavily recommend everyone read Robert Caro's biographies-just the first volume about his early life shows how cold and calculating the man was. He could give JFK a run for his money when it came to having affairs (Alice Glass), betrayed people who loved him like a son (Rayburn) and was consumed with ambition in a manner that makes Nixon look like a saint.

Again, Buchanan?

FF, he made the Democrats not racist.

“I'll have those n**gers voting Democratic for the next 200 years." -Lyndon Johnson

He was right about that. Besides, which party is the party full of racists now? And don't let the man's personal beliefs get in the way of anything.

[MATTROSE94]

FF on balance.

[Mordecai]

Extremely flawed FF and he's one of my favourite Presidents after FDR.

FF, he made the Democrats not racist.

“I'll have those n**gers voting Democratic for the next 200 years." -Lyndon Johnson

He was right about that. Besides, which party is the party full of racists now? And don't let the man's personal beliefs get in the way of anything.

That quote seems a bit unbelievable. It seems a bit counter-intuitive that he's a racist (which he technically was, but not to the degree I think people purport him to be) but he's glad to have black people voting for him? As he was signing the Civil Rights Act he also lamented that the Democrats had lost the South for a generation. So he's glad that black people will be voting Democratic even though it loses his own constituency? Both quotes can't be true.

[AggregateDemand]

I believe that black people should have equal rights and olds/poors should have medical care. I know that's a controversial set of opinions these days, but they are the reason why I vote FF.

You don't know that LBJ blocked comprehensive civil rights, and only voted for the watered down 1957 bill because he knew he needed to switch sides to become president?

Democrats withheld comprehensive reform until they had acquired the White House. Republicans were the driving force from the beginning.

[IceSpear]

I believe that black people should have equal rights and olds/poors should have medical care. I know that's a controversial set of opinions these days, but they are the reason why I vote FF.

All presidents are HP becuz war criminal

[King]

Great President.  Sad he got tricked into the whole Vietnam thing.

[Mechaman]

Other than Nam, one of America's best Presidents.

That's a pretty damn big thing to disregard (not to mention many other issues with the Johnson presidency).

[IceSpear]

Other than Nam, one of America's best Presidents.

That's a pretty damn big thing to disregard (not to mention many other issues with the Johnson presidency).

So is FDR's internment of Japanese Americans, Lincoln's racism, most of the founding fathers supporting slavery...

[Lief 🗽]

Guys, presidents post-1945 don't really have any control over foreign policy. It's pointless to rate LBJ on Vietnam when any other president, of any other party, would have largely done the same thing.

[AggregateDemand]

"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. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."

[TNF]

LBJ didn't sign the Civil Rights Act or Voting Rights Act or Medicare or any of that out of the goodness of his heart, guys. Just bear that in mind.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Who cares why people do good things, though.

[Lief 🗽]

LBJ didn't sign the Civil Rights Act or Voting Rights Act or Medicare or any of that out of the goodness of his heart, guys. Just bear that in mind.

So? He pushed them through Congress and signed them into law. I don't care why he did it. This is the same nonsense logic people use to defend Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act.

[RogueBeaver]

HP.

[DevotedDemocrat]

Extremely flawed FF and he's one of my favourite Presidents after FDR.

FF, he made the Democrats not racist.

“I'll have those n**gers voting Democratic for the next 200 years." -Lyndon Johnson

He was right about that. Besides, which party is the party full of racists now? And don't let the man's personal beliefs get in the way of anything.

That quote seems a bit unbelievable. It seems a bit counter-intuitive that he's a racist (which he technically was, but not to the degree I think people purport him to be) but he's glad to have black people voting for him? As he was signing the Civil Rights Act he also lamented that the Democrats had lost the South for a generation. So he's glad that black people will be voting Democratic even though it loses his own constituency? Both quotes can't be true.

Also, if LBJ was a racist, why did he use precious political capital in spearheading not one, but THREE civil rights laws--1964, 1965, and 1968? Why would he have wasted his time as a lame duck in 1968 to the cause of a fair housing bill? Would a committed racist have wasted his energy?

LBJ was known to cater his speech to his audience, to win them over; he'd tailor his talk and rhetoric to suit his intended target and get them to do as he pleased. If he used the N word, it was probably in the presence of someone not fond of blacks.

As in, if he wanted support for a civil rights bill , then to a racist legislator, he'd say: "we have to give these Negroes a little something because they're getting uppity and they'll cause mayhem if we don't do it."

To a more liberal legislator, he'd say: "We have to do this because it's the right thing."

The effect being that he'd get both legislators to support said civil rights bill.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Where's Oldiesfreak? I'd love to get him involved.

[AggregateDemand]

Also, if LBJ was a racist, why did he use precious political capital in spearheading not one, but THREE civil rights laws--1964, 1965, and 1968? Why would he have wasted his time as a lame duck in 1968 to the cause of a fair housing bill? Would a committed racist have wasted his energy?

"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. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."

LBJ was racist to the core, and he was against Civil Rights 100% until he realized he never be president if he didn't change his tune.

[IceSpear]

"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. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."

Yawn.

Again, if this is what makes LBJ a HP, then why is every single president preceding him not a HP?

[AggregateDemand]

Yawn.

Again, if this is what makes LBJ a HP, then why is every single president preceding him not a HP?

Those quotes undermine his "accomplishments". Most of his HP status is derived from the Gulf of Tonkin incident he embellished to expand the US war effort, and his ill-conceived social policies that jeopardized the economic security of the middle class by exposing them to global competition.

[dead0man]

Hey hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?


Obvious racist, obvious dick....but he did something that was inevitable so clearly he is the greatest President ever.

[Lief 🗽]

Why would you just judge a president on his belief instead of his actions? Even if he was personally a virulent racist (which is debatable), he did more to advance the position of black Americans than arguably any non-Abraham Lincoln president.