Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1962) was the thirty-fifth President of the United States having served from 1957-1962. Almost forty years after his assassination, President Johnson is remembered fondly by historians for pushing his liberal legislation through his Great Society Plan, which he seen as a continuation of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. His “Great Society” is often blamed for eventually splitting the Democratic Party between liberal and conservative lines, costing the party both houses in Congress and the Presidency in the ensuing decades.
After narrowly one of his loudest critics, Barry Goldwater in the 1960 election, Johnson pushed harder to get Congress to pass his Civil Rights legislation, to which he often failed. He was quoted to have told an opponent “Unless we let out some steam, this country is going to blow.” In 1962 Johnson invited Civil Rights Activist, Martin Luther King to the White House, sparking controversy in the deep south. While giving a speech on July 4, celebrating the countries independence, Johnson was shot in the chest, as doctors attempted to save him, he slipped into Cardiac Arrest and died. The assassin was tied to George Lincoln Rockwell, and the American Nazi Party. Johnson was buried at his ranch in Texas one week later.