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LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ON JOHNSON’S PRESIDENCY, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND VIETNAM
Johnson’s Presidency
1. What are some ways in which Johnson’s early life and upbringing were reflected in his later political career?
2. After Johnson was defeated by Kennedy in the primaries for the 1960 Democratic nomination, Kennedy and his advisors
considered several possible choices for the vice-presidential slot on the ticket. What are some of the factors that presidential
nominees consider when choosing vice-presidential nominees? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages that came
from choosing Johnson?
3. Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. What are some of the unique
challenges Johnson had to face by becoming president through the death of his predecessor rather than through election in
his own right?
Civil Rights
1. What was the NAACP’s main strategy for civil rights progress? Do you think it was effective? Why or why not?
2. What was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s main strategy for civil rights progress? What are some of the main factors that led to its
success in the 1950s and early 1960s?
3. What do you think were the biggest challenges faced by civil rights advocates before 1900? From 1900-1945? From 1945-1964?
4. Read Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and answer the following questions. The full text of the Letter from
Birmingham Jail can be found at the King Center:
• Does King consider himself an “outsider” by staging a protest in Birmingham? What reasons does he give in response to
this criticism?
• List and explain the four-step process King outlines for the nonviolent campaign.
• How does King justify breaking laws in order to change them?
• What is King’s response to the clergymen’s approval of how the police kept order during the demonstrations?
Vietnam
Watch the video on Johnson’s decision to escalate the war in Vietnam and answer the following questions:
1. How is situation similar to and/or different from Obama’s presidency?
2. What does “neutralize” mean in this video?
3. What role does Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara play in this decision?
4. Why is the game of dominos an appropriate analogy for Vietnam War?
5. How does the 1964 Presidential election play into Johnson’s decision?
6. What is Richard Russell’s knowledge and opinion of the situation?
7. What is McGeorge Bundy’s stance on the issue?
8. Why is Johnson and Robert Kennedy’s relationship complicated?
9. Do you think Johnson still deserves to be blamed for Vietnam?
10. Why do you think history often picks one man to be either the hero or the villain?
11. How do you think the Vietnam War affected Johnson’s decision not to run for president in 1968?
