Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: White House photograph, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain
Lyndon B. Johnson
- Country
- United States
- Era
- 1908–1973
- Tradition
- New Deal liberalism
President who passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid in two years — the largest expansion of American social provision since Roosevelt — and destroyed his presidency in Vietnam.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ending legal segregation and federal tolerance of disenfranchisement
- Created Medicare and Medicaid, establishing public health coverage for the elderly and the poor
- Launched the War on Poverty through Head Start, food stamps, legal services and community action programmes
- Signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, abolishing national-origin quotas
- Escalated American troop numbers in Vietnam from roughly 16,000 to over 500,000
- Signed the first major federal environmental legislation, including the Wilderness Act and Clean Air Act amendments
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
26
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
30
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
55
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
84
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
55
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
60
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Documented
Environment and growth
62
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Religion and the state, Crime and punishment
Sources
- Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at the University of Michigan: The Great Society · 1964
- Robert A. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power · Knopf · 2012
Last verified: