Today marks the 39th anniversary of the death of Lyndon Baines Johnson who was President of the United States (1963-1973).
The second-longest serving American President, Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights bills of 1964 and 1965 into law, created Medicare and Medicaid, and successfully pushed tax cuts which included urban enterprise zones. The Vietnam War ended in 1971 with a peace treaty affirming the division of the north and south, and earning LBJ and Secretary of State George Ball the Nobel Peace Prize.
What could have made LBJ the most hated President in history rather than the most popular (he left office with 70 percent job approval ratings)? And how might such an unpopular Johnson Presidency affect the Democratic Party down the road?