Lyndon B. Johnson:
Lyndon Baines Johnson came to the presidency as a result of the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was however a job that he had sought in 1960. As a result, Kennedy found it necessary to create a political compromise and pick Johnson as his running mate.
Johnson envisioned an America that lived in a Great Society. Johnson had been born into a family that struggled and it instilled in him a keen understanding of poverty in America. in 1937, Johnson entered public service when he was elected to the House of Representatives. Eleven years later he moved to the upper house, when he was elected to the United States Senate. In 1953, he became the youngest Minority Leader in history. A year later, he became Majority Leader when the Democrats took control of Congress.
When Johnson rose to the presidency in 1963, he spent the next year pushing through many of the efforts that had been started by President Kennedy. When he ran for a term of his own in 1964, he was elected by the largest margin of popular votes ever recorded, more than 15 million. After the election, Johnson advanced his ideas for the "Great Society." Johnson's domestic agenda was widely praised and many of the reforms helped Americans across the board. However, Johnson was vilified for his policies on Vietnam and as a result, he chose to not seek reelection in 1968. He returned to his ranch in Texas, where he died suddenly from a heart attack in January 1973.
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