President Lyndon B. Johnson Essay Example

vote. With Johnson’s fight against poverty he began the economic betterment of our country by helping the poor and uneducated to better themselves.Johnson helped to pass revolutionary bills such as food stamps which enabled the poor to eat descent meals why trying to work themselves up the ladder to the middle class. But, educational reform is by far the greatest accomplishment achieved by Johnson.

He believed that if the poor were given the opportunity to get an education they could escape the choke hold of poverty. If the poor escaped poverty they could eventually become members of society that that attributed to economic growth. Johnson focus on educational reforms lead to the head start program, the elementary and secondary school act, the work training and work study programs.The head start program allowed young impoverished children to attend pre-school.

The elementary and secondary school act provided a large increase in government funding for primary and secondary school all across the nation, but it especially focused on schools in the inner cities that needed funding for libraries and text books. The work training and work study programs helped young adults complete their higher education. These programs gave the children and young adults of the inner city and even the slums a way to get an education so that they could increase their chance of getting out of the cycle of poverty.Johnson’s presidency unfortunately was marked by the Vietnamese war. He believed in the domino theory, if one country fell the red wave would continue across the east.

During his presidency the number of troops on the ground increased from 16,000 to 550,000. The war in Vietnam was

a war that needed to be won by the United States quickly; America was divided into three fractions doves, hawks, and the observer. Doves did not want any part of the war to escalate, hawks wanted more offensive measures to be taken to quickly end the fighting, and the observer sat quietly on the sidelines.As the war progressed more observers moved from the sidelines to the picket lines of the dove movement, few observers became hawks.

Johnson’s popularity began to decrease as the war dragged on. By the end of Johnson’s term the war was still in full swing and had no signs of slowing down. The war in Vietnam became a stain on the face of American foreign policy for years to come, but Johnsons decision to escalate the fighting no doubt help to slow the red wave from sweeping the east. President Lyndon B.

Johnson started life as a poor Texas boy and ended his life as one of the most powerful men in the world. He did much for his country and its people. Johnson used his knowledge of the legislative system as well as his knowledge of the law makers themselves to get the bills that helped to shape his presidency passed. His educational reforms and his war on poverty helped the United States to continue to dominate the world as a superpower in both economic strength and military power. Works Cited Halsall, Paul.

"Modern History Sourcebook. President Lyndon B. Johnson war on poverty. July 1998. 13 Oct. 2008 <http://http://www.

fordham. edu/halsall/mod/1964johnson-warpoverty. html>. "Johnson, Lyndon Baines.

" The American Presidency. Encyclopedia Americana. 12 Oct. 2008 <http://http://ap.

grolier. com/article? assetid=0224340-00>. LBJ Library Archives

Staff. "Lbj Biography. " President Lyndon B. Johnson's Biography.

LBJ Library. 13 Oct. 2008 ;http://http://www. lbjlib. utexas. edu/johnson/archives.

hom/biographys. hom/lbj_bio. asp;.