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| LBJ; American Experience Documentary | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 22 2012, 10:05 AM (154 Views) | |
| tomdrobin | Oct 22 2012, 10:05 AM Post #1 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Last night I watched a 4 hr long documentary on the life and politics of LBJ. It was originally on PBS's American Experience, but is now available for streaming on netflix. I remember the era and LBJ, but mostly impressions and bits and pieces, and wanted to learn the whole story. Any time LBJ is brought up the term "Great Society" comes to my mind. It was his ambitious goal to fight poverty and provide opportunity. I always assumed it was mostly about welfare, but he accomplished much more than that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson It appears that after Kennedy was assassinated he felt it was his duty to follow Kennedy's platform, and he did so quite aggressively. With his arm twisting and other persuasionary abilities he was able to get most of what he wanted. It's hard to say if he was motivated by true conviction or the desire of his own legacy. The Viet Nam war was his biggest failure. Even after his close advisors had changed their minds on the war, he still would not bail out, fearing he would be tagged as being the 1st president who lost a war. |
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| Brewster | Oct 22 2012, 10:11 AM Post #2 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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From what I remember, and what I've read, if it weren't for Viet Nam, he would rank very close to the top as one of the most effective Presidents ever. As you say, many of his accomplishments were originally Kennedy's ideas, but he was far better at actually getting things done - Kennedy was a dreamer. |
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| Neutral | Oct 22 2012, 10:19 AM Post #3 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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"I am the President" with his hands in the air.
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"I am the President" with his hands in the air.
3:23 AM Jul 12
