LBJ does a Reagan

Ronald Reagan took incredibly good care of himself and that's why he lived to 93 even with the Alzheimers.

Now what if LBJ did the same "take incredibly good care of himself", too?
 

Pangur

Donor
Ronald Reagan took incredibly good care of himself and that's why he lived to 93 even with the Alzheimers.

Now what if LBJ did the same "take incredibly good care of himself", too?

Lived longer most likely however beyond that how would this change what he did/did not do and hence change history (beyond his DOD)?
 
If Lyndon Johnson still has some manner of political will, then I can see him trying to return to the Senate in '70 by challenging Ralph Yarborough, whom had by then become a staunch opponent. Some would then mention an attempt to take on Nixon in '72, but he would be quick to deflate those rumors, and initially support Edmund Muskie for the Democratic nomination.

Come '76, in the Post-Watergate environment, he might then choose to throw his hat into the ring again an' become what many thought Humphrey was supposed to be if he had chosen to run; effectively the candidate all but nominated. Course, whether he would win in such a match-up is a different matter entirely, where the odds favor him slightly were it still Ford, but the odds are against him were it Reagan.

Course this is all radical speculation; chances nothing would seriously change and he would remain happily retired, just for a longer period of time.
 
LBJ had it in him to live longer (many of his immediate family members lived into 70s and 80s, I think). The problem was Johnson was a Texan. He drank heavy, smoked heavy, and ate a properly unhealthy diet. His life style gave him a heart attack in 1955, and lead him to quit smoking. He went on to pick his bad habits up again after the presidency, which you have to believe has something to do with just not caring in the aftermath of his hellish terms in office where he was stressed every day and pressed with an increasingly unpopular war, people hating him, and his desire to get his domestic plans through and create his Great Society America against the backdrop of all that. You put all this weight on this guy, its a wonder he lived as long as he did.
 
In all honesty, Reagan left the stage in '94 or '95, I don't think think the world heard anything out of him after that point.

An analogous active lifespan for LBJ takes him almost to the nomination of Clinton, though.

I can see a lot of competition between him and Tricky in the presidential rehabilitation department during the seventies and eighties.

What does it matter? Well, for starters, there's the little fact that the US economy never tanked during Johnson's term, and that it's possible for economic history to be influenced in apportioning whatever blame he does or doesn't deserve for the rise of stagflation. Hello, debate about Nixon ending the international exchange rate system.

Looking at this stuff, I genuinely think the absence of LBJ during the seventies played a part in shaping opinions toward the subject of 'the strange death of postwar economic prosperity'; a favourite Australian economics writer of mine wrote a book where he went into great, well-researched detail about our political economy during that era, but all he says about America at the time is 'huh, Great Society and Vietnam, government deficit/debt'. That's a mistake, and yet it's prevalent in popular history.
 
Johnson men died in their 60s. LBJ lived remarkably long for a male Johnson, especially given that he had the stress of the race riots and Vietnam, and that he basically tried to smoke himself to death after leaving the Presidency. If Johnson runs again in '68, and wins, then he has the discipline to prolong his life until his term is up, but not much after.

In all honesty, Reagan left the stage in '94 or '95, I don't think think the world heard anything out of him after that point.

An analogous active lifespan for LBJ takes him almost to the nomination of Clinton, though.

I can see a lot of competition between him and Tricky in the presidential rehabilitation department during the seventies and eighties.

What does it matter? Well, for starters, there's the little fact that the US economy never tanked during Johnson's term, and that it's possible for economic history to be influenced in apportioning whatever blame he does or doesn't deserve for the rise of stagflation. Hello, debate about Nixon ending the international exchange rate system.

Looking at this stuff, I genuinely think the absence of LBJ during the seventies played a part in shaping opinions toward the subject of 'the strange death of postwar economic prosperity'; a favourite Australian economics writer of mine wrote a book where he went into great, well-researched detail about our political economy during that era, but all he says about America at the time is 'huh, Great Society and Vietnam, government deficit/debt'. That's a mistake, and yet it's prevalent in popular history.

If Johnson was alive though, this is a good ticket. Hell, he could be rehabilitated enough by 1976 to affect the nominee with his endorsement.
 
Top