Most Successful Possible LBJ Political Career?

How successful can we make LBJ and still have it be within the realm of plausibility? with a POD no earlier than the end of WWII, how do we have an LBJ become as objectively popular and successful as possible. Bonus points if he still ends up as President somehow.
 
How successful can we make LBJ and still have it be within the realm of plausibility? with a POD no earlier than the end of WWII, how do we have an LBJ become as objectively popular and successful as possible. Bonus points if he still ends up as President somehow.

One easy way would be to have Northern Democrats focus on economic issues rather than having Civil Rights flare up, preventing the great defection of Southern forces (Among whom Lydon has a lot of political stock and connections). Perhaps having the party adopt the idea of "Camalot" earlier. That, or keep the Cold War more tense and anti-Soviet feelings more intense and salient as a result, perhaps due to the USSR taking a more direct policy in international spats (Russian boys sent to Korea, scandals showing direct Soviet meddling in South America, ect.)
 

Wallet

Banned
No Vietnam War. Great Society has more and bigger programs, including Universal Healthcare. LBJ wins in a landslide in 1968, and presides over the moon landing. More civil rigths acts. He gets compared as FDR 2.0.
 
LBJ wins the Democratic primary for the US Senate that he narrowly lost IOTL in 1940. He rises through the ranks of the Senate as rapidly as he did in real life, then becomes FDR's running mate in 1944. Upon FDR's death, LBJ assumes the presidency and serves out several terms in office.
 
Lyndon Johnson's victory in the 1964 presidential election set a record for nationwide popular vote percentage that still stands, over a dozen elections later. He was the last President to get a sweeping legislative program through Congress, with only Reagan in the conversation, and really one of the few historically to have done so. He was also the only President to also have been a majority floor leader in the national legislature (Ford was a minority leader) and considered still to be the most effective of them.

So yeah, you can get him another term in office, or an earlier administration, or foist Vietnam on another President (I think avoiding a Vietnam situation at some point was impossible given how the US establishment handled things after World War 2), but there is not really that much scope for improvement in the OTL career.

Of the twentieth century Presidents who really just have the two Roosevelts, and maybe Reagan if you don't look too closely at the details/ have ideological blinders on. Everyone else either didn't accomplish nearly as much and/ or fell into even more serious pitfalls than Vietnam.
 
But 40 years of one party, and only 2 Presidents?
Think about it though - this President will have overseen victory in WW2 and the post-war economic boom.

If he can get some sort of victory in Korea, he'll be in a great position to implement the Great Society + Universal Health Care, desegregation, Civil Rights, the interstate highway system, Moon landing etc.

The New Deal Coalition is a winning one for the first decade, and after civil rights sheer institutional advantage should help him along.
 
Lyndon Johnson's victory in the 1964 presidential election set a record for nationwide popular vote percentage that still stands, over a dozen elections later.

Let's be honest on this one. He was riding a wave of sympathy for the fallen JFK in '64. Butterfly that, and there is no way he gets those numbers, in any point in time.
 
Kennedy gets picked as Stevenson's running mate in 1956 and as in OTL Stevenson loses to Ike in a landslide. With the stench of the 56 loses the nomination to Johnson, who picks Hubert Humphrey as his running mate and narrowly defeats Nixon in 1960. Johnson avoids the debacle that was the Bay of Pigs or at least handles it better than Kennedy did, so no Cuban Missile Crisis, and Diem is not taken out in South Vietnam. Military advisers are still there though and Johnson might increase the number while at the same time not escalating the conflict into a full scale war. Medicare and Medicaid are passed in 62 or 63 as is a Tax Cut to fight off the mild recession that took place in the early 60s OTL. We also begin the Space Program and The Peace Corps is created as it was OTL. Johnson is re elected in 1964 decisively (although not by the landslide of OTL) against Goldwater. The Civil Rights Act is passed and signed into law in early 1965 and with it the Voting Rights Act. A bigger Great Society than OTL is implemented through Johnson's second term. With no Vietnam war, less social unrest than OTL, a relatively strong economy, and a popular President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey and his running mate Terry Sanford defeat Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the 1968 Presidential election. Outside of the Moon landing in 1969, Humphrey has a difficult term in office that includes a bad economy (worse than OTL as Humphrey won't go to the extent that Nixon did to prop it up), a Republican take over of Congress in 1970, and South Vietnam falling to Communism. Humphrey is challenged in the primary from the left by George McGovern and from the right from George Wallace. Despite this, he secure renomination, but loses the 1972 General election to California Governor Ronald Reagan and his running mate Charles Percy of Illinois.
 
Johnson as Franklin Roosevelt's running mate in 1944 strains credibility somewhat. First, his age: he'd be all of 36, and still a freshman senator. What would he have done to earn his chops enough to make such a selection viable? Don't forget it was Harry Truman's work on keeping costs in check, ferreting out waste, etc. plus his quasi-southern connections that earned him his slot on the ticket IOTL. I have grave doubts Johnson at that point would have been able to offer anything close. And to add to that, he'd make the second Roosevelt running mate from Texas. I have to wonder how well that would have played with northern Democrats (not all that well, IMO).

I also have to ask how early in his career Johnson got involved with some of the sketchier characters he had associations with IOTL. It's not impossible that one or more of them could have led to the inverse of the premise of this thread; i.e., a Johnson political career that crashed and burned far short of the White House under whatever circumstances.
 
Kennedy gets picked as Stevenson's running mate in 1956 and as in OTL Stevenson loses to Ike in a landslide. With the stench of the 56 loses the nomination to Johnson, who picks Hubert Humphrey as his running mate and narrowly defeats Nixon in 1960. ......................................................................................................... Vice President Humphrey and his running mate Terry Sanford defeat Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the 1968 Presidential election. Outside of the Moon landing in 1969, Humphrey has a difficult term in office that includes a bad economy (worse than OTL as Humphrey won't go to the extent that Nixon did to prop it up), a Republican take over of Congress in 1970, and South Vietnam falling to Communism. Humphrey is challenged in the primary from the left by George McGovern and from the right from George Wallace. Despite this, he secure renomination, but loses the 1972 General election to California Governor Ronald Reagan and his running mate Charles Percy of Illinois.

Why is Humphrey selected as VP in this scenario? It isn't a forgone conclusion that he ends up there. In fact, from what I've read, it doesn't seem as if he'd be interested in the VP slot in 1960. It was only during the changing political landscape leading up to '64 that Humphrey changed his line of thinking. Not saying it's impossible, just seems unlikely.

Also, where is Nixon? Does he not attempt his comeback in '68?
 
Why is Humphrey selected as VP in this scenario? It isn't a forgone conclusion that he ends up there. In fact, from what I've read, it doesn't seem as if he'd be interested in the VP slot in 1960. It was only during the changing political landscape leading up to '64 that Humphrey changed his line of thinking. Not saying it's impossible, just seems unlikely.

Also, where is Nixon? Does he not attempt his comeback in '68?
Humphrey was more or less a place filler for my scenario (although as you said it's not impossible that he be selected and accept, IRC he ad Johnson were friends). As for Nixon, the conditions had to be just right for him to run again, and in 68 TTL, the fundamentals are just too good for the Democrats for Nixon to think he has a shot. 72 is more likely and even then, a Reagan who's a term and a half into his Governorship is likely strong enough to stop Nixon.
 
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