Was Lyndon Johnson a good President?

[Dazey]

Same question as the title.

[YaBoyNY]

Yes, he was.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Christ no.

[SWE]

No, a mediocre domestic policy does not excuse war crimes

[AggregateDemand]

War monger who had no interest in winning, only fighting communism for political optics. Tried to purchase African American voters like chattle via subpar hand-outs, while still keeping them out of the general economy. Created a bureaucracies the US still can't reform.

[TNF]

Half assed reform programs that didn't (and couldn't) ever end poverty in America don't even begin to outweigh the fact that Johnson is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of American young men and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Vietnamese men, women, and children.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The trouble with LBJ stems from his obsession with being a 'great' President. He really, really wanted to be the new FDR, and anybody who dared stand up to him to risk his potential legacy was bullied into submission.

[Phony Moderate]

He was a great President if 'great' is used in the sense that it is usually not.

[DemPGH]

Hell no (D).

Half assed reform programs that didn't (and couldn't) ever end poverty in America don't even begin to outweigh the fact that Johnson is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of American young men and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Vietnamese men, women, and children.

Yep, and with no end in sight, no endgame, etc.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Half assed reform programs that didn't (and couldn't) ever end poverty in America don't even begin to outweigh the fact that Johnson is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of American young men and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Vietnamese men, women, and children.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Misread the title as Andrew Johnson. Make my "Yes" (R) vote a "No" (R) vote. LBJ was the worst. Smooth politician though.

[H. Ross Peron]

Absolutely yes.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Misread the title as Andrew Johnson. Make my "Yes" (R) vote a "No" (R) vote. LBJ was the worst. Smooth politician though.

... You would have said that Andrew JOHNSON was a good President, though?  My God, do elaborate.

[RogueBeaver]

Civil rights aside, definitely not.

[ElectionsGuy]

Worst president of the last 90 years.

[Mr. Smith]

Best president in the past 50 years.

Cry me a river about Vietnam, because literally every President since sans Carter is guilty of something like it.

So yeah, the silly neocon that brought forth the Great Society and CRA of 1964 is definitely superior to the silly neocons who also bring forth silly Reaganomics

[SWE]

Best president in the past 50 years.

Cry me a river about Vietnam, because literally every President since sans Carter is guilty of something like it.

So yeah, the silly neocon that brought forth the Great Society and CRA of 1964 is definitely superior to the silly neocons who also bring forth silly Reaganomics

'Other presidents were just as bad/worse' is not an argument for LBJ being a good president

[Sumner 1868]

No (D), although he is sadly the best of the post-WWII presidents.

[Mr. Smith]

Best president in the past 50 years.

Cry me a river about Vietnam, because literally every President since sans Carter is guilty of something like it.

So yeah, the silly neocon that brought forth the Great Society and CRA of 1964 is definitely superior to the silly neocons who also bring forth silly Reaganomics

'Other presidents were just as bad/worse' is not an argument for LBJ being a good president

Sure it is, can't have a good President without bad Presidents to compare.

Truth be told that was rebuttal to ElectionsGuy, and a rebuttal to all those people who would throw out good programs just because "muh Vietnam".

But sans that, the man's pretty much the second coming of FDR where it counts.

He's the one we have to thank for Mr. Roger's (which Nixon almost gutted the next year), he's the one to thank for the moon-landing (sure Eisenhower started NASA and Kennedy had a good speech, but most of the research was under LBJ...with Nixon finishing it up) he's the one to thank for Medicare, and indirectly the one to thank for some of the environmental clean-up (courtesy of Lady Bird's campaign).

[AggregateDemand]

Best president in the past 50 years.

Cry me a river about Vietnam, because literally every President since sans Carter is guilty of something like it.

So yeah, the silly neocon that brought forth the Great Society and CRA of 1964 is definitely superior to the silly neocons who also bring forth silly Reaganomics

Other presidents got 58,000 Americans killed in a half-assed symbolic military campaign?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Best president in the past 50 years.

Cry me a river about Vietnam, because literally every President since sans Carter is guilty of something like it.

So yeah, the silly neocon that brought forth the Great Society and CRA of 1964 is definitely superior to the silly neocons who also bring forth silly Reaganomics

Other presidents got 58,000 Americans killed in a half-assed symbolic military campaign?

Attributing Vietnam solely to Johnson ignores the fact that Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon all supported the war and probably would have done the same thing Johnson did had they been in office.    That doesn't excuse LBJ's actions, but it does put them into perspective. Judging presidents outside the context of their times is a useless endeavor and serves only to pad our fragile modern egos.

[OSR stands with Israel]

NO

Vietnam

Failed  so called "war on poverty"(Poverty has not improved as this war on poverty doesnt fix the main issues of poverty: not having a good education, growing up in a broken family, and high living costs)

Rioting all over the country

Inflation Crises of 70s started to become a problem in his last year in office(1968)

[Samantha]

Great Society aside, absolutely not. The worst sort of power hungry Washington insider who gets way too much credit for a Civil Rights Act that he probably wouldn't have supported under different political circumstances. Overall, a broken clock that was right twice a day.

[Cory]

Best president in the past 50 years.

[AggregateDemand]

Attributing Vietnam solely to Johnson ignores the fact that Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon all supported the war and probably would have done the same thing Johnson did had they been in office.    That doesn't excuse LBJ's actions, but it does put them into perspective. Judging presidents outside the context of their times is a useless endeavor and serves only to pad our fragile modern egos.

I don't judge LBJ for thinking he should stop the aggression of North Vietnam and communism. I judge him for using American troops as armed political ambassadors rather than battlefield troops. Tens of thousands died unnecessarily. When Nixon took over, he carpet bombed and withdrew. Not pretty but at least Nixon looked like he wanted to win and go home.