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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon Johnson stories: 29 news summaries

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analysis

 Is Obama's 
 Afghanistan  
 Turning Into 
 LBJ's Vietnam? 

Both presidents tried to push big home agendas during war

Aug 23, 09 9:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - As the war in Afghanistan rages alongside President Obama’s sweeping domestic battles, he’s keenly aware of the dangers of becoming a modern-day LBJ, an insider tells the New York Times. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program at home was dogged by the Vietnam war, a historian says; Obama... More »

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Vietnam • Lyndon Johnson • Afghanistan war • Great Society • Obama administration • President Obama

(Newser) - The governor of Alaska and the architect of the Vietnam War both make fine examples of how not to quit a government post, David Broder writes in the Washington Post. Robert McNamara waited 28 years to explain that he stepped down as defense secretary because of his grave doubts... More »

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Alaska • Lyndon Johnson • resignation • death • Vietnam War • defense secretary • governor • Sarah Palin • Republican governor • Robert McNamara

Non-Appreciation

 Rot in Hell, Mr. McNamara 


Jul 7, 09 7:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - At long last, Robert Strange McNamara has “shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of hell,” writes journalist and author Joseph Galloway, who couldn’t be more pleased. “McNamara was the original bean-counter—a man who knew the cost of everything but... More »

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Vietnam • Lyndon Johnson • John F. Kennedy • defense secretary • appreciation • Robert McNamara

OPINION

RNC Recycles LBJ 'Daisy'
Ad to Bash Obama on Gitmo

Classic incendiary spot doesn't age well in Michael Steele's hands

May 22, 09 10:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - RNC chairman Michael Steele has rolled out an ad remixing an LBJ classic on nuclear war to warn about the danger of closing Guantanamo. The infamous 1964 spot used images of a little girl plucking petals off a daisy juxtaposed with a nuclear explosion to illustrate the risk of Armageddon.... More »

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RNC • Lyndon Johnson • Barry Goldwater • Guantanamo Bay • Guantanamo prisoners • Daisy Ad • Obama administration • President Obama • Michael Steele

Obama's Plans Require a Lot More Hands

Federal workforce
could expand by 100-250K, experts say

Mar 3, 09 8:57 AM CST
(Newser) - President Obama’s ambitious budget and stimulus plans will require the government to hire scores of new workers, the Washington Post reports. Analysts put the number between 100,000 and 250,000 spread among various agencies, the biggest expansion of the federal workforce since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society days.... More »

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Barack Obama • Newt Gingrich • Lyndon Johnson • budget • federal employees • economic stimulus package • Great Society • Obama administration • President Obama • hiring

OPINION

Conservatives Must 'Obstruct and Delay' Obama: Kristol

GOP can check rush toward big government

Feb 26, 09 11:57 AM CST
(Newser) - The “day of reckoning” has come for Republicans, writes William Kristol in the Washington Post. On Tuesday, President Obama delivered “the most unabashedly liberal and big-government speech” since Lyndon Johnson, and seems poised to undo the whole Reagan agenda. “Conservatives can’t win politically right now,”... More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • conservative • US government • FDR • President Obama • conservative movement • William Kristol • Republicans

Lone Star Political Clout Rides Into Sunset

After fifty years of political clout, Texas has lost its primacy as national king-maker

Feb 23, 09 10:13 AM CST
(Newser) - The booming voices of Texas politics have, for the first time in half a century, fallen silent, writes Bryan Burrough in the Washington Post. After vast deposits of oil wealth propelled Lone Star personalities like LBJ and both Bushes to the White House, as well as several influential leaders like... More »

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Texas • Lyndon Johnson • Tom DeLay • Ron Paul • George HW Bush • George W. Bush • Dick Armey

Hoover's FBI
Launched Gay Probe on Valenti

LBJ aide turned Hollywood figure was secretly scrutinized

Feb 19, 09 6:31 AM CST
(Newser) - Before his long presidency of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti served as a top White House aide to LBJ. Recently declassified files show that, at the same time, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover was investigating whether Valenti, who died in 2007, was gay. Although no proof... More »

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FBI • Jack Valenti • Lyndon Johnson • homosexuality • 1960s • J. Edgar Hoover • gays

glossies

 LBJ Biographer 
 Aims for Eternity 

Tireless writer published average of one book every ten years

Feb 8, 09 6:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Lyndon Johnson's biographer takes his work seriously—so much so, he didn't cover LBJ's presidency for 30 years, Newsweek reports. Rising from the tabloid world in the 1960s, Robert Caro first wrote a painstaking biography of New York mogul Robert Moses. Next came a volume on LBJ's youth; Caro even... More »

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Newsweek • Lyndon Johnson • Pulitzer Prize • biography • nonfiction books • writers • authors

Belafonte, Sotheby's Cancel MLK Auction

King estate disputes ownership of papers

Dec 10, 08 9:23 PM CST
(Newser) - Sotheby's has canceled the auction of three Martin Luther King documents amid an ongoing feud between their owner—Harry Belafonte—and the King estate, the New York Times reports. MLK's heirs contend that Belafonte is not the rightful owner of the papers, which include an important King speech on Vietnam... More »

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Lyndon Johnson • history • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • Coretta Scott King • Harry Belafonte

(Newser) - As the tumultuous 1968 presidential campaign closed, Lyndon Johnson learned of attempts by Richard Nixon's aides to undermine peace efforts in Vietnam, actions he referred to as "treason," The final batch of audio recordings made during LBJ's administration, released yesterday by his presidential library, capture the frustration of... More »

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Lyndon Johnson • Richard Nixon • Vietnam War • Hubert Humphrey • 1968

OPINION

 Washington Faces Seismic Shift 

Obama will be one of the most powerful presidents of the modern era, says Politico

Nov 5, 08 11:41 AM CST
(Newser) - The election of a relatively young black man to the presidency carries obvious historical significance—but beyond the symbolism, John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei write for Politico, last night marked one of the most momentous political transformations in modern American history. The rout of the Republican party means that... More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • Washington • Republican Party • Democratic Party • Election 2008 • party politics • President Obama

OPINION

An Obama
Win Would Belong to LBJ

Run is confirmation of slow change since
Civil Rights Act

Nov 4, 08 12:02 PM CST
(Newser) - Unless the polls are wrong, the winner of today’s election is clear: Lyndon Baines Johnson. “We have lost the South for a generation,” Johnson said when he signed the Civil Rights Act. Well, “for that generation, time’s up,” Richard Cohen writes in the More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • race relations • Voting Rights Act • Obama 2008 • racial equality • Election 2008

ANALYSIS

 White Obama Support 
 Defies Doubters 

 

44% of white voters swing to Obama

Nov 3, 08 8:04 AM CST
(Newser) - A minority of white voters—44%—are now supporting Barack Obama, but he trails by less than previous Democratic presidential candidates, reports the New York Times, including Bill Clinton. Both the impact of racial attitudes and the proportion of white voters in the electorate have diminished, analysts say. In a... More »

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Barack Obama • abortion • race • Al Gore • gun control • Lyndon Johnson • John F. Kennedy • religion • Bill Clinton • Barry Goldwater • Herbert Hoover • white voters • the race card • Hispanics • Michael Beschloss

OPINION

 How Would 
 Cool Hand 
 Obama 
 Govern?

Brooks asks: How would someone so calm actually govern?

Oct 17, 08 7:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama, like LBJ and Bill Clinton, may rise from an outsider's position to the highest echelon of American politics. But while those presidents sought power for respect or public adoration, writes David Brooks, Obama exudes an "untroubled self-confidence" in the mold of FDR and Ronald Reagan. Watching Obama's... More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • Bill Clinton • Ronald Reagan • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Election 2008 • former presidents

OPINION

After 43 Years, LBJ's Dream Is Realized Tonight

Voting Rights Act paved the way for Obama's candidacy, writes Caro

Aug 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination tonight, author Robert A. Caro will be remembering another speech: Lyndon Johnson's 1965 address to Congress urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In that speech, which reduced Martin Luther King to tears, LBJ "adopted the great anthem of the civil... More »

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Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • Voting Rights Act • civil rights • voting rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

Candidates' Family Trees Have Far-Flung Limbs

Jolie-Pitt family could be split by ties to Clinton, Obama, genealogist finds

Mar 25, 08 5:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt household might have trouble choosing a Democratic candidate: It turns out Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Pitt’s and Hillary Clinton is a relative of Jolie’s. The author of a new genealogical survey cautions voters not to be too swayed—but it seems... More »

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Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • John McCain • Angelina Jolie • Brad Pitt • Lyndon Johnson • Laura Bush • George HW Bush • Gerald Ford • genealogy • George W. Bush

 Bush Approval
 Rating Hits
 New Low: 31% 

Ratings hit their lowest yet on war's 5th anniversary

Mar 20, 08 6:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - More than two-thirds of Americans now think George W. Bush is doing a poor job, according to a new poll that pegged his approval rate at 31%—a new low. The director of the CNN poll noted that the hefty 40-point drop in Bush's approval ratings since the start of... More »

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War on Terror • Lyndon Johnson • Bush approval ratings • poll • George HW Bush • Harry Truman • approval ratings • Iraq war • George W. Bush

Family, DNA Cast Doubt on JFK Love Child

His mother says she never met Kennedy;
hair sample no match

Mar 1, 08 11:43 AM CST
(Newser) - A Texas-born investment banker's claim to be the love child of JFK is suddenly looking far less credible. The person who would know—his mom—says she never met John F. Kennedy, or any Kennedys for that matter, ABC News reports. Jack Worthington's reputable career and resemblance to Kennedy has... More »

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Texas • Canada • Lyndon Johnson • John F. Kennedy • paternity test • love child • Kennedy family • Jack Worthington

Clinton Rolls Out 'Nuclear Option' TV Spot

'Red phone'-style ad asks: Who will keep your children safe?

Feb 29, 08 3:25 PM CST
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton today debuted an ad hinting at dire consequences of electing a commander in chief who isn’t “tested," ABC News reports. "It's 3am and your children are asleep," a voice says over images of sleeping infants. "There's a phone in the White House,... More »

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Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Lyndon Johnson • children • Barry Goldwater • political advertising • Gary Hart • Texas primary • Ohio primary • campaign commercials • red phone ad • Walter Mondale • Roy Spence • daisy ad

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