Lyndon Johnson's Life

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 in Stonewall, Texas. He attended public schools and after realizing how hard it was to find a job without a college degree, enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College. He graduated in 1930. He taught for one year in the Texas schools and left to enter politics. Lyndon Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor aka Lady Bird Johnson. Together they had two children named Lynda and Luci. Johnson was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1937. He joined the Navy when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and he fought in the Pacific theater. He returned from the war in July, 1942 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered all members of Congress, in military service, to return their duties. In 1948 he was elected to the United States Senate and became the Democratic majority leader in 1954. He was elected Vice President of the United States when John Fitzgerald Kennedy won the presidential race on November 9, 1963 against Nixon. Lyndon took the oath of office as President of the United States ninty-nine minutes after John F. Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963. Johnson ran for President in 1964 and fortunately he won. He passed Kennedy's bills on civil rights, poverty and conservation. During his administration he was known for creating the "Great Society" that promoted equal rights for all and provided health insurance to the elderly. Lyndon decided not to run for President of the United States in 1968 and retired to move back to San Antonio, Texas. He suffered two heart attacks in his retirement and his last one proved fatal. He died of the fatal heart attack in San Antonio on January 22, 1973. Note: Johnson was President from 1963 through 1969 and the Vice President was Hubert Horatio Humphrey.