50 Fun Facts About Lyndon B. Johnson

Which number president of the United States was Lyndon B. Johnson?

He served from November 1963 to January 1969, between Kennedy and Nixon.

Near which Texas town was Johnson born in 1908?

He was buried in 1973 in the family cemetery near the same farmhouse on the Pedernales River.

In which town did Johnson spend nine months teaching Mexican-American children in a segregated school?

He never forgot their faces, he said in 1965, and the pain of knowing college was closed to nearly all of them.

What subject did Johnson teach at Sam Houston High School in Houston?

He had graduated in 1930 with a Bachelor of Science in history and a high school teaching certificate.

What was the maiden name of Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson?

She came from Karnack, Texas, and Johnson proposed on their very first date in 1934.

What did Johnson do on his first date with Lady Bird?

Many dates later she agreed, and they married at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio.

What were the names of the Johnsons' two daughters?

Everyone in the family shared the initials LBJ.

In which year did Johnson win a special election to the US House of Representatives?

Texas's 10th district included Austin and the Hill Country, and he served until January 1949.

Which general awarded Johnson the Silver Star in 1942?

It was for gallantry during an aerial combat mission over New Guinea.

By how many votes did Johnson win the 1948 Democratic Senate primary in Texas?

Out of 988,295 cast, a margin that earned him the mocking nickname Landslide Lyndon.

What nickname did the 1948 primary result permanently attach to Johnson?

He went on to beat Republican Jack Porter comfortably in the general election.

What name was given to the rented Sikorsky helicopter LBJ campaigned in during 1948?

It drew crowds to fairgrounds across the state.

In which year did Johnson become Senate majority leader?

Historians Robert Caro and Robert Dallek consider him the most effective majority leader ever.

What was the "Johnson Treatment"?

He kept biographies of every senator and used his 6 ft 3½ in frame to loom over them.

Which 1958 law, creating NASA, did Johnson push through the Senate after the launch of Sputnik?

He also set up the Senate Aeronautical and Space Committee and made himself its first chairman.

How many votes did Johnson get on the only ballot at the 1960 Democratic convention, against Kennedy's 806?

He had asked Tip O'Neill for support on the second ballot; O'Neill replied there would not be one.

Why did Kennedy choose Johnson as his running mate in 1960?

AFL-CIO president George Meany called Johnson "the arch-foe of labor".

What unusual double candidacy did Johnson pursue in 1960 after having Texas law changed?

He won both but never took the Senate seat, and William Blakley was appointed in his place.

Which judge swore Johnson in aboard Air Force One after Kennedy's assassination?

He remains the only US president sworn in by a woman.

What did Johnson do the moment the door of Air Force One closed after the swearing-in?

He was convinced an immediate show of transition was needed to steady the nation.

Which body did Johnson set up to investigate Kennedy's assassination?

He publicly backed its findings but privately voiced scepticism.

On what date did Johnson sign the landmark Civil Rights Act into law?

He had told Congress in his "Let Us Continue" speech that no eulogy could honour Kennedy more than passing the bill.

What did Johnson call his domestic programme of civil rights, health care and anti-poverty measures?

He later called it "the woman I really loved" and regretted that Vietnam overshadowed it.

In which speech did Johnson declare an "unconditional war on poverty in America"?

The programme later grew to include the Demonstration Cities urban renewal effort.

Which 1965 legislation created Medicare and Medicaid?

Ways and Means chairman Wilbur Mills designed the three-layer structure to blunt Republican opposition.

What was the 1964 campaign ad showing a girl picking petals before a nuclear explosion called?

It implied that electing Barry Goldwater risked nuclear war and aired only once, on September 7, 1964.

Whom did Johnson defeat in the 1964 presidential election?

Goldwater's supporters carried bumper stickers reading "In your heart, you know he's right".

What share of the popular vote did Johnson win in 1964, the highest ever recorded?

He carried 44 states and won the Electoral College 486 to 52.

How many electoral votes did Johnson win in 1964?

Goldwater took just 52 electoral votes from six states.

With which Republican senator did Johnson ally to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

Their alliance precluded a Senate filibuster from defeating the bill.

Which early education programme for disadvantaged children did Johnson establish?

Education was the top priority of the Great Society, and the Higher Education Act added federally insured student loans.

Which 1967 act did Johnson sign to create educational television programming?

He had set up the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities two years earlier.

Which 1965 law signed by Johnson repealed the National Origins Formula?

It laid the groundwork for US immigration policy today.

Whom did Johnson appoint to the Supreme Court in 1967, the first African American justice?

Fortas was his other appointment, in 1965.

How many acres of forestland did the 1964 Wilderness Act preserve from industrial development?

Johnson also signed the law creating the Land and Water Conservation Fund the same month.

Which 1965 act did Lady Bird Johnson lead the push for?

Her press secretary Liz Carpenter later urged the president to take "quick dramatic actions" on gun violence in 1968.

Which August 1964 act of Congress gave Johnson blanket approval to use force in Vietnam?

It passed on August 7, 1964, after reported attacks on US destroyers.

Which 1968 event convinced Johnson's 'Wise Men' that Vietnam escalation would not work?

New Defense Secretary Clark Clifford reached the same conclusion.

On what date did Johnson announce he would not seek re-election?

He also announced a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam in the same televised speech.

Which panel, headed by an Illinois governor, did Johnson create to study urban riots?

Otto Kerner led the 11-member panel.

What is the title of Johnson's 1971 presidential memoir?

Former speechwriter Harry Middleton helped him write it at the ranch in Stonewall.

With which newsman did Johnson record an hour-long interview at his ranch ten days before he died?

He discussed his legacy, particularly the civil rights movement.

What was renamed in Johnson's honour in Houston in 1973?

The Department of Education headquarters in Washington was also named after him in 2007.

Which national emergency telephone number was created by the FCC in 1968 during Johnson's presidency?

It appears in the list of significant regulatory changes of his administration.

In July 1969 Johnson became the first former or sitting president to witness what?

He watched Apollo 11 lift off, six months after telling the Apollo 8 crew they had taken the world 'into a new era'.

Whom did Johnson choose as his 1964 running mate after grilling him in a gauntlet of interviews?

Johnson knew how frustrating the vice presidency was and wanted to be sure of his loyalty first.

To which country did Johnson send more than 20,000 Marines during a 1965 civil war?

He acted on the advice of Abe Fortas, aiming to keep another Cuba from emerging in the Caribbean.

Which Soviet premier met Johnson at the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference?

The amicable meeting preceded the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty and laid groundwork for the SALT talks.

Whom did Johnson nominate to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice in 1968, only to see him filibustered?

Johnson had put him on the court in 1965 partly to serve as his 'mole' for inside information.

As a young aide, Johnson was elected speaker of which group of congressional staffers?

He used the post to cultivate congressmen, newspapermen and lobbyists, foreshadowing his later mastery of the Senate.