The 36th president of the United States was Lyndon Baines Johnson, more commonly referred to as LBJ. LBJ was originally the vice president under John F. Kennedy until Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 when LBJ was sworn in shortly after and held the position until 1969. Before his presidency, LBJ served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve and was called to active duty immediately following the attack on Pear Harbor in 1941. In April of the same year, Texas Senator Morris Sheppard died calling for a special election that allowed LBJ to run for office but lose, thus opening the door to his military service. LBJ’s streak of not achieving his goals continued in his service as he requested to be stationed in Washington D.C. where he was trained but was instead sent to Texas to inspect shipyards. LBJ would later be sent to Australia and put under the command of Douglas MacArthur. LBJ volunteered to act as an observer for a bombing run over New Guinea. The plane he had been assigned to faced
mechanical failures and was forced to return to base. This created scrutiny as many people would later argue that Johnson’s combat experience was a lie. LBJ would receive several awards regardless of the rumors circling him before being discharged in 1942 while remaining in the Naval Reserves. In 1949, Johnson would finally have his way when he won the US Senate Election in Texas. In 1960, John F. Kennedy approached LBJ, asking him to be his vice-presidential candidate.
Despite the unfortunate means of which he ascended to president, LBJ stayed the course on
many of his predecessor’s goals. LBJ pushed hard to pass the Revenue Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, both major goals of John F. Kennedy. He also kept JFK’s cabinet as it was despite his well-documented feud with Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy. Johnson would run for president again in 1964. Although he was not confident in his chances, LBJ won 486 of the electoral college votes. With his second term, LBJ would pass the Voting Rights Act, the fair housing Act, a Healthcare Reform, and launch the “War on Poverty.” All these actions were met with varying success but immortalized Lyndon B. Johnson as a man of the people. Though his presidency was met with controversy in the later years. Since 1955, the Vietnam War had been raging and unrest was growing exponentially. Couple that with the Urban Riots and general heating up of the Cold War, LBJ’s popularity quickly plummeted. Although he was eligible for the presidency in 1968 because he had served less than two years completing JFK’s term, President Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection. Instead, Richard Nixon would win the presidency. With LBJ embracing the moniker, “quit while you’re ahead,” he retired to his ranch in Stonewall, Texas.
At the Arkansas Air and Military Museum, we have a bust of Lyndon B. Johnson to commemorate
his long political career. This bronze bust was sculpted by Jimilu Mason, a renowned sculptor and friend of Johnson. She frequently worked with LBJ in both the Whitehouse and his Texas ranch. She also created works of Constantino Brumidi and Audie Murphey. Mason’s final work was a memorial to 9/11. Jimilu Mason passed away in 2019, having left her mark all over the country.
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