Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–73,) identified as LBJ, was the 36th president of the U.S. 1963–69. He succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was elected for a four-year term in 1964.
Born in Gillespie Country, Texas, LBJ served as a U.S. Representative from Texas 1937–48, U.S. Senator from Texas 1949–61, and vice president 1961–63 before assuming the presidency. His domestic reform programs in health, education, civil rights, and conservation were labeled the Great Society.
LBJ’s presidency was dominated by America’s increased involvement in the Vietnam War and 1965–68 acute race riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.
LBJ was noted for his overpowering personality and his need to forcibly shape his political environment.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Lyndon B. Johnson
Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Journeys, Peace
A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and a mask on his face.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Tyranny
The exercise of power in this century has meant for all of us in the United States not arrogance, but agony.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Power
Where legitimate opportunities are closed, illegitimate opportunities are seized. Whatever opens opportunity and hope will help to prevent crime and foster responsibility.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Opportunity
A nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters will be condemned to wither because of its shortsightedness. The hard lessons of history are clear, written on the deserted sands and ruins of once proud civilizations
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Water
Tell the Vietnamese they’ve got to draw in their horns or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Heck by the time a man scratches his behind, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we’ve already wasted fifteen minutes.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Time, Time Management
Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Presidency
A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he’s going to get sick on it.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Men
A man without a vote is man without protection.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Government
We must not only protect the country side and save it from destruction, we must resort what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities… Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Wilderness
I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Government
You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Learning
There can no longer be anyone too poor to vote.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Voting
Poverty has many roots, but the tap root is ignorance
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Ignorance, One liners
The guns and bombs, the rockets and the warships, all are symbols of human failure.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Invention
We come to reason, not to dominate. We do not seek to have our way, but to find a common way.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Unity
The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Prayer
If we are to live together in peace, we must come to know each other better.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Peace
The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individuals dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
In Asia we face an ambitious and aggressive China, but we have the will and we have the strength to help our Asian friends resist that ambition. Sometimes our folks get a little impatient. Sometimes they rattle their rockets some, and they bluff about their bombs. But we are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
I don’t believe in labels. I want to do the best I can, all the time. I want to be progressive without getting both feet off the ground at the same time. I want to be prudent without having my mind closed to anything that is new or different. I have often said that I was proud that I was a free man first and an American second, and a public servant third and a Democrat fourth, in that order, and I guess as a Democrat, if I had to takeplace a label on myself, I would want to be a progressive who is prudent.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Voting
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: The Future, Tomorrow
The future holds little hope for any government where the present holds no hope for the people.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Government
I report to you that our country is challenged at home and abroad: that it is our will that is being tried and not our strength; our sense of purpose and not our ability to achieve a better America
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Accomplishment
I’d rather give my life than be afraid to give it.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Courage, Bravery
Every man should know that his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life are private. I have urged Congressexcept when the Nations security is at staketo take action to that end.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
When things haven’t gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Attention
Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man. Because all Americans just must have the right to vote. And we are going to give them that right. All Americans must have the privileges of citizenship regardless of race. And they are going to have those privileges of citizenship regardless of race.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
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