Frame Work
Johnson was one of the most masterful politicians in the history of the Congress of the United States. He was a champion of bipartisan and consensus politics. His positions on public issues were always in line with what he believed to be the middle ground of popular opinion (Bernstein, 1996). He excelled in getting things done. He was not an innovator of programs or ideas.
His domestic program, which he called the Great Society, was an extension of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s and 1940s. In foreign affairs, Johnson pursued the basic U.S. postwar policy of containing Communism. His belief in consensus politics and his unquestioning devotion to accepted political beliefs were both strength and weakness. With these attitudes he won passage of far-reaching domestic legislation, but the same beliefs occasionally trapped him in policies that were no longer relevant to the rapidly changing world.
President Johnson hoped that his administration would be evaluated by the success of his Great Society program. Johnson also hoped to improve the climate of international affairs, chiefly by reaching an understanding with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
At the end of his term, however, it seemed more likely that the frustrations of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War throughout his presidency would overshadow his impressive domestic record and his somewhat less successful efforts to improve relations with the USSR (Bernstein, 1996).
It was in Southeast Asia that Johnson ran into his greatest difficulties. The Vietnam War, a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975, had begun when Communist-led nationalists rose in opposition to the government of South Vietnam.
The Analysis
Johnson's Presidency was dominated by the Vietnam War. Johnson received broad Congressional approval to prevent further aggression against US forces and the South Vietnamese people...........
