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Lyndon Johnson: Evaluation
In the end, the man thrust into the presidency on November 22, 1963 destroyed the national cohesion that had been John Kennedy's main accomplishment. The social consensus necessary for a strong president died in the steaming jungles of Vietnam and in the noisy protests of the late 1960s. That Johnson himself realized this in March 1968 does him credit; had he been able to forge a peace with the North Vietnamese before the election, Hubert Humphrey would have been President and 25,000 men would have lived.
But Johnson didn't understand that when he threw away his chance for reelection he threw away most of his political capital, not only in the negotiations with Ho Chi Minh and Le Duc Tho but also with the American political establishment. Caught in a no-win scenario of his own making, Johnson's legacy to his successors was a weakened nation unsure of itself and its right to lead the free world. |
Evaluation
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