If the main character ended segregation, made voting more accessible to minorities, expanded the space program, and made affordable healthcare for the elderly and poor, then yep.
If it weren't for the war in vietnam, he would have emerged from the presidency a hero who ended segregation in the law and waged a great war on poverty.
@Engelsjr Polanco You clearly know nothing about anything. Read a book and stop watching OAN. The absolute free market will never provide these people healthcare-it doesn’t make financial sense for them.
A war that he lost. The poverty rate is exactly the same as it was 55 years. Johnson's spending (combined with Nixon's monetary policy) caused the stagflation of the 1970s. The neoliberalism cure for that disease still affects us to this day.
why? how many americans did he send to their death in vietnam? How does Detroit look before and after his model cities program? Because he passed Kennedy's civil rights act? (that he voted against in the senate) he was a souless selfish politician that did nothing but advance his own ego and agenda
He'd be among some of the greats if Vietnam didn't stain his reputation, I could see in ~30 years him becoming way more popular. Akin to how Grant became more popular as lost cause rhetoric started to fall out.
I see what you mean! But I think that LBJ has The Edge! That said R M Nixon was in retrospect (and in spite of the Watergate fiasco) one of the better US Presidents. Also his campaign song 'Nixon Now!' like LBJ's. Is a very good catchy number and far better than today's junk!
@@nicholaskelly6375 comparing Nixon to any Republican today, he most definitely looks like a better president. Ironically one of his biggest legacies, peace in Vietnam, would have been derailed had Watergate never happened as Nixon would’ve continued the war. That being said, Nixon was arguably just about if not more liberal than Clinton and Obama. He actually supported Universal Basic Income which never happened. His legacy much more complex than most admit, though I take issue with Nixon’s governing style- he was the first to start dividing Americans. Ultimately, LBJ was a much better President though, in character and in governance. He accomplished so much in just the 5 years he had in office. Vietnam overshadowed his legacy much how Watergate did Nixon.
@@edwardmedina4321Agreed! I have always felt that the generation that went through the aftermath of WW I and then the horrors of WW II were one of the best generations in history. R M Nixon was one of them He was also a Quaker hence his strong social moral compass. One thing that he should always been remembered for is preventing the all out war between China and the USSR at the end of the 1960's. As in 1969 he told Leonid Brezhnev in no uncertain terms that if the USSR launched an attack China then the USA would support China. Mao Zedong was very grateful and in one of most bizarre events of the 20th Century he adopted David & Patricia Eisenhower (Who of course were R M Nixon's daughter and son in law!) Most unfortunately the Watergate scandal overshadowed everything else.
He was a deeply flawed individual but also the last U.S. president who could really get things done, especially for the disenfranchised and the poor. He was a ruthless man and a master manipulator who actually used those talents for good ends. All along, he apparently sympathized with minorities and the poor but he had to hide those sympathies in order to claw his way into power, and once there, he used that power to work to change their lives for the better. He was remarkable. As bad as Vietnam was, his good will always outweigh his bad, which is saying quite a lot, because Vietnam was very bad indeed. A Shakespearean figure if there ever was one in American politics.
Completely agree with this statement. Whenever people ask why I rank President Lyndon Baines Johnson at #4 (#5 President T. Roosevelt, #3 President F. D. Roosevelt, #2 Washington #1 Lincoln), I say that although he was as unscrupulous as it gets, he was the greatest agent of progress and change America ever had. The reason I rank him at *only* #4 is because he unfortunately didn’t run for a second term. Imagine the good he could have done...though it’s debated as to whether he would have survived that term given that his D.O.D. is January 22, 1973 - just two days after it would have ended. The final thing is this. If America’s greatest agent of progress and change was ruthless and conniving, is that so much a reflection on President L. B. Johnson as it is on *America?* And maybe, we can finally dispel this notion that America is great. And once we do, we can actually *work* on making it *become* great.
@@thedemocraticchristian2348 Actually, it’s a misconception that presidents dont fulfill their promises. Presidents fulfill about 70-80% of their proposed agenda within their first term. Its just that when presidents make progress in areas you don’t agree with, it doesn’t feel like progress to you.
Even on Vietnam he was in the right place at the wrong time. His first instinct was to use soft power and dollar diplomacy to make Vietnam a friend. That tactic would work one day; eventually it would actually make Vietnam arguably the most pro-American government in Southeast Asia. It only worked, though, after the Vietnamese communists fought wars against the Chinese and Khmer communists, clearly demonstrating that there was no such thing as monolithic communism. (There were clear signs that this was true even in Johnson’s time, but they weren’t dramatic enough to disrupt the narrative drummed into the skulls of dogmatic Cold Warriors.) Thus, it was politically impossible to say “Look, we know you’re commies, but that’s cool; we can still be friends.” It was also politically impossible to stand by while the communists took over South Vietnam without befriending them. It was diplomatically impossible to shore up support for the RVN because its regime was hopelessly corrupt, and it was militarily impossible to beat the Viet Cong into submission without using such overwhelming force that the USSR would have felt compelled to intervene. When every single option is impossible, there’s nothing you can do.
Lyndon B. Johnson is my favorite President of the United States because he expanded Civil Rights and because he sent US Marines to South Vietnam to aid it. God Bless The USA and God Bless President Johnson. However my favorite part is here: 0:24
Hello Lyndon, Well, hello, Lyndon We'd be proud to have you back where you belong You're lookin' swell, Lyndon, We can tell, Lyndon, You're still glowin', you're still crowin', You're still going strong. We hear the band playing And the folks saying, That the people know that you've got so much more So flash that smile, Lyndon, Show us that winning style, Lyndon Promise you'll stay with us in sixty-four! We hear the band playing And the folks saying "Let's all rally 'round the one who knows the score!" So, be our guide, Lyndon, Ladybird at your side, Lyndon, Promise you'll stay with us in sixty-four!
Perhaps, but disadvantaged people get infinitely more benefit from a powerful person who helps them for insincere reasons than from one who refuses to help for sincere reasons.
Yes! obviously Vietnam was awful but he introduced Medicare ,Medicaid and got the democrats behind civil rights. He was a bigot but even if he just wanted the black vote he still did good stuff for the community. He knew how to throw his weight around WITHOUT alienating the common folk (you don't see that in Washington anymore) as the song says he knew how to get things done. he had more balls than any president since. he was basically FDR lite witch is a massive complement.
@@wilmcdnu1586 THANK YOU! And, the people voted for Lyndon because at least he's not Barry Goldwater. Barry NEVER supported civil rights in the first place!
@@johnjamele LBJ was an opportunist when he signed the civil rights act and the great society. He said ‘I’ll have those n*ggers voting Democratic for 200 years’.
No he put poor people into an endless cycle of poverty... safety net policies are necessary, but need to be properly implemented ... ironically the only leader who dies l implemented them properly was Republican Eisenhower
My father really admired LBJ; my father once commented LBJ got things done -- until (LBJ) was tragically stymied by the conflict in Vietnam. About ten years ago, while in TX, I visited both the LBJ Library and Ranch w/my father and mother. I was glad my father got to experience both places.
LBJ could have been a dictator in another life. The man was scary and very effective best legislative batting average amongst modern Presidents. If it weren't for Vietnam his Presidency might be the gold standard.
@@TheAntiWokeRepublicans Medicaid, signing civil rights acts, great society, war on poverty, etc. One of his only flaws was his response to Vietnam, but damn-it, if he handled that better, he'd be among the greats.
@@solipsistinen7662 Hi! I’ve been evaluating by beliefs on LBJ for the past few weeks and I’d like to think he was not that bad. Sure his response in Vietnam was bad, but all presidents have had big flaws.
@@TheAntiWokeRepublicans For sure, not a perfect man and Vietnam tarnished his reputation (and he definitely isn't one of the greatest say ~5 presidents in history) but he was good imho.
@@harsamc123 the great society and civil rights act was to mainly to continue JFKs legacy after he was assassinated there’s no credible source proving that Even if he was an opportunist I don’t care he got some of the best legislation passed in history in essentially 1 term only FDR was better and he had 3 terms
Guarantee you he was no TED CRUZ... for starters, he was BORN HERE... was a poor boy, worked FOR the poor, not AGAINST them, and was utterly the 180 degree opposite of the religious nutcase fanatic Cruz is.
and when RFK decided to run for president in march 1968, LBJ run away and dropped out of the race, because he feared humiliation due to the war in vietnam and a possible defeat against kennedy in the democratic primaries.
