Lyndon B. Johnson

===Backlash against Johnson (1966–1967)===
[[File:Marcos visit Johnson 1966.jpg|thumb|[[Lady Bird Johnson]] and Johnson with [[Ferdinand Marcos|Ferdinand]] and [[Imelda Marcos]] on September 12, 1966]]
In 1966, the press sensed a [[credibility gap]] between what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was happening in the [[Vietnam War]], led to less favorable coverage of Johnson and his administration.<ref name="american chronicle">{{cite news|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|publisher=American Chronicle|date=March 15, 2006|title=Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference – 93 years young!|first=Robert|last=Rouse|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913094418/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|archive-date=September 13, 2008}}</ref>

By the end of 1966, the Democratic governor of [[Missouri]], [[Warren E. Hearnes]], warned that Johnson would lose the state by 100,000 votes, despite winning by a margin of 500,000 in 1964. "Frustration over Vietnam; too much federal spending and ... taxation; no great public support for your Great Society programs; and ... public disenchantment with the civil rights programs "had eroded the President's standing, the governor reported.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Phillips|first=David|title=On This Day|publisher=iUniverse|year=2007|isbn=978-0-595-46288-9|location=|pages=177}}</ref> There were bright spots; in January 1967, Johnson boasted that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a 13-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever; a 4.5&nbsp;percent jump in consumer prices was worrisome, as was the rise in interest rates. Johnson asked for a temporary 6&nbsp;percent surcharge in [[income tax]]es to cover the mounting deficit caused by increased spending. Johnson's approval ratings stayed below 50&nbsp;percent; by January 1967, the number of his strong supporters had plunged to 16&nbsp;percent, from 25&nbsp;percent four months before. He ran about even with Republican [[George W. Romney|George Romney]] in trial matchups that spring.

Asked to explain his diminished popularity, Johnson said, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don't always please all the people."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nelson|first=Phillip|title=LBJ: From Mastermind to the "colossus" : The Lies, Treachery, and Treasons Continue|publisher=Skyhorse|year=2014|isbn=978-1-62873-692-2|location=New York|pages=}}</ref> Johnson also blamed the press, saying they showed "complete irresponsibility and lie and misstate facts and have no one to be answerable to", and "the preachers, liberals and professors" who had turned against him.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|pp=391–396}}</ref>

In the [[1966 United States elections|congressional elections of 1966]], the Republicans gained three seats in the Senate and 47 in the House, reinvigorating the [[conservative coalition]], which made it more difficult for Johnson to pass additional [[Great Society]] legislation. However, Congress ultimately passed almost 96&nbsp;percent of the administration's Great Society programs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ideainfanttoddler.org/pdf/AppA.pdf|title=The Impact of the Great Society Upon The Lives of Families and Young Children|publisher=Infant & Toddler Coordinators Association|date=August 2005|access-date=December 4, 2013}}</ref>