Quote:
Originally Posted by David Atkatz
No national support?
Johnson won by a landslide in '64. And as far as "not being Presidential material," Johnson's domestic policy far outshone Kennedy's. It's too bad he didn't get us out of Vietnam, rather than escalating. Had he done so, he'd be regarded today as one of the great Presidents.
(At the time, of course, I hated LBJ. I was one of the kids in the streets of D.C., chanting "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did ya kill today?")
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In 1963, nobody, except perhaps Johnson himself, thought he would ever be president. His 1964 landslide, of course, was almost entirely the product of sympathy for JFK and a desire for continuation of his policies. I agree that without the tarnish of Vietnam, Johnson's presidency would have been regarded as a great one. As Buck Turgeson reminded HIS president, "You can't condemn the whole program because of one little slipup!"