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Published: July 28th 2010
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LBJ Library
@ University of Texas at Austin Lyndon Baines Johnson Today, we started our day with a visit to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. Located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. I has some reservation about this library having grown up in a home with a dad that vehemently disagreed with this particular president and held LBJ single handedly responsible for the Vietnam War. But it is hard not to get sucked into the "hometown boy" sentiment prevalent in Texas - they LOVE LBJ!
LBJ was born in Johnson City, Texas to a modest family with strong political roots
Throughout his political career, he was
driven by ambition.
LBJ inspired the nation with the promise of "the great society."
He was an FDR new dealer with a
talent for attaching himself to people with power.
While in Congress, his remarkable skills in
personal persuasion helped him
form core support groups to ensure that legislation was passed.
Like many dynamic men, Johnson didn't like the job of vice president (didn't find it very challenging), and Kennedy understood. He gave Johnson a number
of responsibilities and he made sure that Johnson stayed well informed about what the administration was doing. .
Ninety minutes after Kennedy was declared dead, Johnson was sworn in as president on the plane back to Washington. "Our institutions cannot be interrupted by an assassin's bullet." Johnson
inherited the legacy left by Kennedy and immediately set about passing sweeping civil rights legislation in Kennedy's memory.
The most notable feature of the interior of the LBJ library was the Great Hall. A large marble staircase and a five-story, glass-encased view of the archives collection.
In working on his "War on Poverty" and Great Society - Johnson was always an
excellent and strong consensus builder; bringing together both sides of tough issues and
negotiating common ground.
"
The Great Society asks not how much, but how good; not only how to create wealth but how to use it; not only how fast we are going, but where we are headed. It proposes as the first test for a nation: the quality of its people".
"Johnson can be
as gentle and solicitous as a nurse, but as ruthless and deceptive as a riverboat gambler." - Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Lyndon Johnson was a real "down-home" Texan: bold, brash, vulgar and informal to a fault. He had a
passion for hard work, and expected everyone around him to share it.
Few men in public life ever had as much experience as a
public speaker as Lyndon Johnson.
His swift assumption of
confident leadership after the Kennedy assassination, his support of civil rights, and successes of his sweeping social programs leave an unquestionably positive legacy - despite escalation of the Vietnam War. Throughout the library, evidence of monumental events: Kennedy's assassination, Bay of Pigs, Assassination of MLK and RFK, Vietnam War - made me wonder how different the world would be had even one of those world event had not occurred.
Victories: "The Great Society", War on Poverty, Civil Rights
Negative Legacy: escalating American involvement in the Vietnam War
Notable leadership qualities: fierceness and determination with which he grabbed for political advantage, willingness to take ownership over his own fate,
decisiveness, inspirational leadership and and effectively powerful personality. LBJ was very effective in adjusting his leadership style to fit an audience. He was a visionary leader. He knew how toget what he wanted and when.
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Brian J.
non-member comment
Long live LBJ
Any luck on finding Peewee's bike