Did LBJ want to be president while he was serving has JFK’s VP?
Liberal theory proposes and advances the idea of equality and fairness among all people. They want, and expect people to have the same opportunities, which will enable them to participate in different activities and express themselves freely. They support the ideas of free speech and other forms of expression. They also support the idea of free and fair elections, which they believe is the right of all people. Johnson was interested in helping the poor, true to the democratic traditions. He was especially interested in the welfare and concern of the African Americans who were facing extreme levels of discrimination at the time. Johnson had declared war on poverty, and he was instrumental in the passing of the economic opportunity bill. He was interested in ensuring that the minorities achieved their rights, and he was especially interested in the cause of the African Americans, who had faced severe discrimination. He was able to pass and implement some of the legislations that had been left unfinished after President Kennedy’s assassination. Most of these bills were intended to help the poor, and they included the tax cut bills, the civil rights act, and the farm bill. Those bills targeted the poor and the vulnerable in the society, and they aimed at improving lives. Johnson introduced the great society program, and he pushed for welfare reforms and Medicare, all of which were aimed at helping the vulnerable (Cohen, 1999).
President Johnson displayed his conservative nature when he refused to change his stand on the Vietnam War. He instilled some policies that were in contrast to his democratic ideologies. He was determined to see the country succeed in the war, despite the fact that many people spoke against it, and members from his party discouraged the idea of the war. Johnson had portrayed his liberal nature through the policies and legislations that he had proposed and passed. However, this changed when he continued passing policies in support for the Vietnam War. He continued deploying troops to Vietnam, without further considerations of ending the war. His actions might have been strategic, and he might have supported the war for the sake of improving the economy. However, his refusal to seek other means of resolving the conflict and ending the war shows that he believed in the war strongly. This decision led to his disfavor and declining popularity amongst the voters. He chose not to run for another presidential term because of this. He might have had a chance of securing the presidency seat again, were it not for his decision to support the war that most of the people opposed (Tucker, 2011).
Conspiracy theory suggests that Johnson’s desire for presidency was too strong, that he conspired to kill. He was strategic in his decisions. He supported other candidates for the democratic position, and he showed this publicly. He was a democrat southerner, and this lessened his chances of becoming the president. He had to rely on the friends and acquaintances in the senate to push him forward as the candidate. He accepted the vice president position, although he had not shown full support for JF Kennedy as the president. He saw the vice president position as the only way he could secure a seat on the top job, which was becoming a president. For this to happen, the current president had to be in a position not to rule and govern, and this was only possible if the president died, or if he were impeached. After the death of President Kennedy, Johnson utilized that opportunity in asking the people to enable him to finish the work that Kennedy had already began. Johnson had the best motive to assassinate Kennedy, and he was in a position to cover his tracks. He sought to benefit by becoming the president, and he would not have to follow any person’s orders (Knight, 2003).
References:
Cohen, E. J. (1999). Presidential responsiveness and public policy-making: The public and the policies that presidents choose. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press
Knight, P. (2003). Conspiracy theories in American history: an encyclopedia, volume 1. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO
Tucker, C. S. (2011). The encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO
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