Lyndon Johnson: A Presidency Overwhelmed by Vietnam

He was the 36th presisent of the United States who inherited the office upon the assassination of John Kennedy in November of 1963 and lead the nation through one of its most turbulent periods of unrest and crisis until he left office in 1969.
Born on a farm in Texas on August 27, 1908, he grew up in Johnson City. After excelling in High School he enrolled in Southwest Texas Teachers College from which he graduated in 1930. He taught High School for one year and then went off to Washington to become a congressional aide. He met and married Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1935 who remained his wife until his death.
In 1937, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat where he was a great supporter and protege of President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal policies. He picked up some ideas here that he would later incorporate into his own presidency in the form of the Great Society. During World War 2 he served in the Navy as an officer.
In 1948 he was elected to the Senate but not before a Texas Senatorial Primary where he prevailed by a margin of only 87 votes. It is widely believed that there may have been some impropriety in this particular contest in order to achieve that result.
In the Senate, he becomes Majority Leader by 1955. In July of that year he suffers a heart attack but recovers fully and resumes his career.
After his defeat in the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination to Kennedy, he surprised most observers by accepting the offer to run with him as Vice-President on the ticket.
After J.F.K. was killed, Johnson took over the office and retained the former Presidents cabinet and began to send the first of hundreds of new pieces of legislation up to Congress for consideration. First up, an 11 billion dollar tax cut to stimulate the economy. Next were several bills aimed at fighting a "War on Poverty" including a bill for the establishment of Medicare and medicaid, and a civil rights bill in 1964. That same year he won a decisive victory in the general election to retain the office of President over Rival Barry Goldwater.
At the beginning of his new term, Johnson announced his "Great Society" program for the improvment of life in general for the American people. Among the new laws were a Voting rights act, A new housing department (H.U.D.), the abolition of immigrant qoutas, increased aid for public education, and legislation for gun control.
His foreign policy decisions are what destroyed most of the lagacy of his presidency in the eyes of most citizens and historians, especially his massive escalation of our involvment in Vietnam. In 1964, the U.S. has 17,000 troops in the south east asian nation. By 1968, the number had risen to 550,000 to no positive effect. He was constantly advised by his generals and Secretery of Defense Robert McNamara that victory was possible if we continue to escalate but it did not materialize.
In March of 1968, his popularity at an all time low, and with protests in the streets growing larger over the war, he announced that he would leave office at the end of his term by stating: "I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
Before he leaves office in 1969, he orders a de-escalation of the war and for peace talks to begin in Paris, France with the North Vietnamese.
When his presidency came to an end so too did a period in American Presidential history that was one of the most prolific in terms of legislative initiative. During his roughly 5 years in the office, he sent 252 bills up to the Congress for consideration to be made into law. The Congress passed 226 of them.
After his presidency, he retired to his ranch in Texas with his wife. He wrote his memoirs, "The Vantage Point" and worked on the building of his presidential library. He died of heart disease on January 22, 1973 at the age of 64.