GLOSSARY: LYNDON JOHNSON

LYNDON JOHNSON

36th President of the United States

KEY DATES:

1908: Born August 27, near Stonewall, Texas
1948: Elected in November to the U.S. Senate from Texas
1960 : John Kennedy elected President of the United States on November 8, with Lyndon Johnson as Vice President.
1963: John Kennedy is assassinated, November 22. Johnson becomes President of the United States.
1964: Johnson is elected President on November 3, in his own right. He decided not to seek reelection in 1968.
1973 : Johnson dies on January 22.

EVERETT DIRKSEN (1896-1969): Served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1933-49 as a Republican from Illinois. He was a U.S. Senator from 1951-69, and was Minority Leader of the Senate from 1959-69.
VIETNAM WAR: A U.S.-led effort assist to South Vietnam in repelling communist forces from North Vietnam. The first U.S. ground forces arrived in Vietnam in 1965. The war continued and spread into neighboring Laos and Cambodia. More than 57,000 U.S. troops were killed. U.S. forces withdrew in 1973 after the signing a peace accord in Paris. Communist forces triumphed in 1975 with the capture of South Vietnam's capital city, Saigon.
VIETNAM PROTEST MARCHES: Protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam began in the late 1960's. Seventy-five thousand people demonstrated at the Pentagon in 1967. There were widespread protests and sit-ins by university students in 1968. Two hundred and fifty thousand protesters marched on Washington in 1969. National Guard troops killed four anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970.
GEORGE D. AIKEN (1892-1984): A Republican U.S. Senator from Vermont from 1941 until 1975. He opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT (1905-1995): A Democratic U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1945 until 1974. He was an outspoken critic of U.S. policy during the Vietnam War.
EUGENE MCCARTHY (b. 1916): A Democratic U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1959 unitl 1971. He ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1968 as an opponent of President Johnson's Vietnam War policies. He lost the nomination to Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey.
GEORGE MCGOVERN (b.1922): A Democratic U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1962 until 1981. He was an outspoken opponent of U.S. policy in Vietnam. He was the Democratic candidate for president in 1972 running against incumbent President Richard Nixon. His campaign focused largely on opposition to the war.
WAYNE MORSE (1900-1974): U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1945 until 1969 (Republican 1945-1952, Independent 1952-1955, Democrat 1955-1969). He opposed U.S. policies in Vietnam.