He used his credentials to attend his first Democratic convention in 1928 in Houston with his girlfriend at the time, who ended the relationship shortly afterward. [228], As casualties mounted and success seemed further away than ever, Johnson's popularity plummeted. Johnson gave his children names with the LBJ initials; his dog was Little Beagle Johnson. [24], After Richard M. Kleberg won a 1931 special election to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives, he appointed Johnson as his legislative secretary. The convention became the apparent personal triumph that Johnson craved, but a sense of betrayal caused by the marginalization of the MFDP would trigger disaffection with Johnson and the Democratic Party from the left; SNCC chairman John Lewis would call it a "turning point in the civil rights movement. He continued to support Humphrey publicly in the election, and personally despised Nixon. Johnson decided on a campaign to use a discharge petition to force it onto the House floor. Johnson refused to debate Goldwater and easily won with 61% of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes. [c][143] He turned to themes of Christian redemption to push for civil rights, thereby mobilizing support from churches North and South. Lyndon Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, on his father's ranch in rural southwestern Texas, the first of four children born to Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. and Rebekah Baines. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American. Johnson, Rayburn and President Dwight D. Eisenhower worked well together in passing Eisenhower's domestic and foreign agenda. [121], Woods states that Johnson's religiosity ran deep: "At 15 he joined the Disciples of Christ, or Christian, church and would forever believe that it was the duty of the rich to care for the poor, the strong to assist the weak, and the educated to speak for the inarticulate. [168], Newark burned in 1967, where six days of rioting left 26 dead, 1,500 injured, and the inner city a burned-out shell. Biographer Randall B. 1947). [248] He flew five hundred twenty-three thousand miles (841,690 km) aboard Air Force One while in office. Despite his brother's interference, John Kennedy was firm that Johnson was who he wanted as running mate; he met with staffers such as Larry O'Brien, his national campaign manager, to say that Johnson was to be vice president. Rowe finally joined the Humphrey campaign in frustration, another move which Johnson thought played into his own strategy. New ones were also created. [258] Dallek says that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. "[195] In response to the intensified criticism of the war effort, Johnson raised suspicions of communist subversion in the country, and press relations became strained. One biographer suggests he was "the greatest intelligence gatherer Washington has ever known", discovering exactly where every Senator stood on issues, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses and what it took to get his vote. After leaving the presidency in January 1969, Johnson went home to his ranch in Stonewall, Texas, accompanied by a former aide and speechwriter Harry J. Middleton, who would draft Johnson's first book, The Choices We Face, and work with him on his memoirs entitled The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963–1969, published in 1971. George Reedy, who was Johnson's second-longest-serving aide, assumed the post of press secretary when John F. Kennedy's own Pierre Salinger left that post in March 1964. [184] Long term estimates of the bombing campaign ranged from an expectation that Hanoi would rein in the Viet Cong to one of provoking Hanoi and the Viet Cong into an intensification of the war. Attention, therefore, focused on domestic policy, and, after 1966, on the Vietnam War. [215], By the middle of 1967, nearly 70,000 Americans had been killed or wounded in the war. He developed extracurricular activities, arranged a parent-teacher group, held spelling bees and organized a band, a debate club, and baseball and softball games. The next year he was nominated to run for the Democratic Party for the presidency with Hubert Humphrey as his vice president. Mrs. Fortas expressed disapproval to Johnson personally afterward. [147] With newly urgent attention from legislative director Joseph Califano and Democratic Speaker of the House John McCormack, the bill (which was previously stalled) passed the House by a wide margin on April 10. From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral. [22] The college years refined his skills of persuasion and political organization. Although Vietnam put a cloud over his presidency, on domestic policy (in my opinion) no President has done much since. On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, shot to death in his motorcade during a visit to Dallas, Texas. His health was not good, and he was preoccupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement and his base of support continued to shrink. [173] Together they had two daughters: Lynda Bird Johnson (b. The effort in the Senate was considerably more complicated; however, the Medicare bill passed Congress on July 28 after negotiation in a conference committee. "[253] Johnson had felt Edmund Muskie would be more likely to defeat Nixon; however, he declined an invitation to try to stop McGovern receiving the nomination as he felt his unpopularity within the Democratic party was such that anything he said was more likely to help McGovern.