LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

[LBJ Library Photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto]

1908-1973

36th President (1963-1969), Vice President (1963)

Biographical Data
Religious Views
Quotations
References, Links, & Further Reading

Education: Southwest Texas State Teachers College

Occupation: teacher

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Religious Affiliation: Disciples of Christ

Summary of Religious Views:

Views on Religion & Politics:

Quotations:

"I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office -- and by personal conviction -- I am sworn to uphold that tradition." -- Interview, Baptist Standard, October, 1964

"This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose. The great phrases of that purpose still sound in every American heart, North and South: 'All men are created equal'--'government by consent of the governed'--'give me liberty or give me death.' Well, those are not just clever words, or those are not just empty theories. In their name Americans have fought and died for two centuries, and tonight around the world they stand there as guardians of our liberty, risking their lives.

"Those words are a promise to every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man. This dignity cannot be found in a man's possessions; it cannot be found in his power, or in his position. It really rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others. It says that he shall share in freedom, he shall choose his leaders, educate his children, and provide for his family according to his ability and his merits as a human being.

"To apply any other test--to deny a man his hopes because of his color or race, his religion or the place of his birth--is not only to do injustice, it is to deny America and to dishonor the dead who gave their lives for American freedom." -- Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise, 15 March 1965

References, Links, & Further Reading: Books, Articles, Links

Books

Works By Lyndon B. Johnson

ed. by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Johnson Presidential Press Conferences, Coleman, 1978
ed. by Philip R. Rulon, Letters from the Hill Country: The Correspondence Between Rebekah and Lyndon Baines Johnson, Thorp Springs Press, 1982
My Hope for America, Random House, 1964
A Time For Action: A Selection from the Speeches and Writings of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1953-1964, Atheneum Pub., 1964
The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969, Holt, Rinehart Winston, 1971

Biographies

John A. Andrew, Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (The American Ways Series), I. R. Dee, 1998
Bernard Bard, LBJ : The Picture Story of Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Lion Press, 1966
Vaughn D. Bornet, The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (American Presidency Series), Univ. Press of Kansas, 1983
Robert A. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, 3 vols., Alfred A. Knopf, 1982
Paul Keith Conkin, Big Daddy from the Pedernales: Lyndon B. Johnson (Twayne's Twentieth-Century American Biography Series), Twayne, 1986
Frank Cormier, LBJ: The Way He Was, Doubleday, 1977
Robert Dallek, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960, Oxford Univ. Press, 1991
Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973, Oxford Univ. Press, 1998
ed. by Robert A. Divine, Exploring the Johnson Years, Univ. of Texas Press, 1981
Ronnie Dugger, The Politician: The Life & Times of Lyndon Johnson, W.W. Norton, 1982
Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power, New American Library, 1966
Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1970
Sam Houston Johnson, My Brother Lyndon, Cowles, 1969
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, Harper, 1976
Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral Biography, Putnam, 1980
Joe Phipps, Summer Stock: Behind the Scenes with LBJ in '48: Recollections of a Political Drama, Texas Christian Univ. Press, 1992
William C. Pool, Emmie Craddock, and David E. Conrad, Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Formative Years, Southwest Texas State College Press, 1965
Julie Leininger Pycior, LBJ and Mexican Americans: The Paradox of Power , Univ. of Texas Press, 1997
George Reedy, Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir, Andrews and McMeel, 1982
Herbert Schandler, The Unmaking of the President: Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, Princeton Univ. Press, 1977
Jack Valenti, A Very Human President, W.W. Norton, 1975
Brian VanDeMark, Into the Quagmire: Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, Oxford Univ. Press, 1991
Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1964, Atheneum, 1965
Tom Wicker, JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality Upon Politics, William Morrow Co., 1968
Randall Woods, LBJ: Architect of American Ambition, Simon and Schuster, 2006

Articles

Robert Dallek, "Three New Revelations About LBJ," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 281, No. 4; pp. 42 - 44
Lewis J. Gould, Harry McPherson, and Jack Valenti, "Reconsidering LBJ," Wilson Quarterly, 24, Spring 2000, pp. 80-96

Links

Works By Lyndon B. Johnson

Selected Speeches of Lyndon Baines Johnson (Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum)
Lyndon B. Johnson: Historic Speeches (Presidential Rhetoric)
LBJ in the Oval Office (History Out Loud Homepage)
Telephone Conversations (Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum)
Inaugural Address of Lyndon Baines Johnson (The Avalon Project -- Yale Law School)
Inaugural Address (AMDOCS)
Inaugural Address (American Rhetoric)
Great Society Speech (MATRIX -- MSU)
The Great Society (American Rhetoric)
First State of the Union Address (American Rhetoric)
The American Promise (US Department of State)
Let Us Continue (American Rhetoric)
Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Voting Legislation -- We Shall Overcome (American Rhetoric)
On Vietnam and Not Seeking Reelection (American Rhetoric)
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 (Vincent Voice Library -- Michigan State University)

Biographical Sites

Lyndon Baines Johnson [alternate site] (POTUS)
Lyndon B. Johnson (White House)
JOHNSON, Lyndon Baines, 1908-1973 (Biographical Directory of the US Congress)
Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) (USA Presidents)
Lyndon Baines Johnson (American President)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963) (Vice Presidents of the United States -- U.S. Senate)
A Biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) (Hypertext on American History)
Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Celebration
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Spartacus Encyclopedia)
Johnson, Lyndon Baines (Handbook of Texas Online)
Lyndon B. Johnson (Character Above All -- PBS)
Lyndon Johnson (From Roosevelt to Bush: The American Presidency: Transformation and Change -- lecture by Vernon Bogdanor, Gresham College)
Lyndon B. Johnson (Famous Texans -- Lone Star Internet) [alternate site]
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Texas Online)
Lyndon Johnson: A Brief Biography, by Miland Brown
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
LBJ's Domestic Policy, 1963-69 (Historical Text Archive)
Commander Lyndon B. Johnson, USNR (Naval Historical Center)
Lyndon Johnson (Medical History of the Presidents of the United States)