Timeline: LBJ and the Nation
1908-1919 1920-1929 1929-1940 1941-1945 1946-1953 1954-1960 1960-1963 1963-1969 1969-1973
1960-1963
Events that foreshadowed the future dominated the early sixties—the “Cold War,” the conflict in Vietnam, civil rights protests, and the space program. Losing the nomination for president to Senator John F. Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic convention, Johnson was invited by Kennedy to become his running mate.
Although most of Johnson’s advisers and associates opposed the idea, he accepted and was elected as Kennedy's vice president. The Cold War reached a crisis point when the U.S. discovered Soviet missiles installed in Cuba and aimed at the U.S., ninety miles away.
On November 22, 1963, a day the nation would not forget, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in a motorcade on the streets of Dallas, Texas. As wife of the vice president, Lady Bird Johnson took on many social duties requested of her by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. With Kennedy's assassination, Vice President Lyndon Johnson became president of the United States.
Events
John F. Kennedy ( May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963)
Lady Bird Johnson began recording her White House diary on November 22, 1963 as follows:
Friday, November 22, 1963 DALLAS
It all began so beautifully. After a drizzle in the morning, the sun came out bright and clear. We were driving into Dallas. In the lead car were President and Mrs. Kennedy, John and Nellie Connally, a Secret Service car full of men, and then our car with Lyndon and me and Senator Ralph Yarborough. The streets were lined with people—lots and lots of people—the children all smiling, placards, confetti, people waving from windows.
It sounded like a shot. The sound seemed to me to come from a building on the right above my shoulder. A moment passed, and then two more shots rang out in rapid succession.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.
Civil Rights
On the mall in Washington, D.C., the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the foremost leaders of the civil rights movement, addressed a huge rally with words that remain imbedded in the story of the time: "I have a dream..."
On the one hundredth anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg, Vice President Johnson called for racial equality to become reality at last. Reaffirming his own commitment to civil rights, Johnson went further than any other national political leader in seeking a redress of racial wrongs.
On the one hundredth anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg, Vice President Johnson called for racial equality to become reality at last. Reaffirming his own commitment to civil rights, Johnson went further than any other national political leader in seeking a redress of racial wrongs.
Crisis in Cuba
The first major crisis in the Kennedy administration came in Cuba, now a communist country led by Fidel Castro. In 1961, an army of anti-Castro Cubans, organized by the U.S. government, attempted to invade Cuba and was soundly defeated at the Bay of Pigs.
Eighteen months later the world stood on the brink of war when the U.S. discovered Soviet missiles installed in Cuba and aimed at the U.S., ninety miles away.
In an effort to stop the steady flow of Berliners leaving the communist east zone for life in the west, the East Berlin government, guided by the Soviets, erected a wall that cut across the city, giving tangible evidence of the "iron curtain" that sealed off the communist world.
Vietnam
When Communist North Vietnam launched a camp arms of the SEATO treaty, sent in military "advisers." By the end of the Kennedy administration, 16,000 advisers were in South Vietnam.
The green beret, worn by the United States Army's special forces, was authorized for wear in the early 1960s by President John F. Kennedy. The special forces provided military and medical assistance to the Montagnard tribes and served as advisors to the army of South Vietnam.
In South Vietnam, the world was stunned by the image of a Buddhist priest immolating himself on a Saigon street to demonstrate dissension within that troubled country. The dissension reflected dissatisfaction with the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem. That dissension ended—but a new period of turmoil began—with the assassination of Diem on November 2, 1963.
Space Exploration
On direction from President Kennedy, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, chaired by Vice President Johnson, determined that the U.S. had the capability to land a man on the moon during the decade.
The first step on that journey was taken by Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., who in May 1961 shot out of the earth's atmosphere and reached 116 miles in space. Then on February 20, 1962, Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the earth. On his triumphant return, he was welcomed by Vice President Johnson, at Kennedy's request, in a parade in New York City.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson as Presidentcredit: Cecil Stoughton
Losing the nomination for president to Senator John F. Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic convention, Johnson was invited by Kennedy to become his running mate. Although most of Johnson's advisers and associates opposed the idea, he accepted and was elected as Kennedy's vice president.
On January 28, 1961, Kennedy assigned the vice president responsibilities in space and civil rights. Johnson chaired the National Aeronautics and Space Council, and welcomed Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., in a parade in New York City on his triumphant return from orbiting earth.
On the one hundredth anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg, Vice President Johnson called for racial equality to become reality at last. Reaffirming his own commitment to civil rights, Johnson went further than any other national political leader in seeking a redress of racial wrongs.
Vice President Johnson took on the role of Good Will Ambassador with trips to thirty-four countries as a representative of the administration.
With Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Vice President Lyndon Johnson became president of the United States. Immediately he set out to reassure the people that their government was not crippled, despite the tragedy and trauma of the assassination—and to mold the public's grief into action to improve American society.
Lady Bird Johnson
In the Johnson home in Washington known as "The Elms," Lady Bird Johnson, as wife of the vice president, took on many social duties requested of her by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Mrs. Johnson began recording her diary in the White House on an inexpensive tape recorder borrowed from the teenage son of her friend and assistant, Liz Carpenter. The diary, started on November 22, 1963, recorded in words her images of that eventful day.