Lyndon B. Johnson

==Personality and public image==
According to biographer Randall Woods, Johnson posed in many different roles:

{{blockquote|"Johnson the Son of the Tenant Farmer, Johnson the Great Compromiser, Johnson the All-Knowing, Johnson the Humble, Johnson the Warrior, Johnson the Dove, Johnson the Romantic, Johnson the Hard-Headed Pragmatist, Johnson the Preserver of Traditions, Johnson the Crusader for Social Justice, Johnson the Magnanimous, Johnson the Vindictive or Johnson the Uncouth, LBJ the Hick, Lyndon the Satyr, and Johnson the Usurper".<ref>Woods, ''LBJ,'' pp. 639, 644–645., quoted in Germany, "Historians and the Many Lyndon Johnsons." p. 1007.</ref>}}

Johnson had his particular brand of persuasion, known as "The Johnson Treatment".<ref name=indy>{{cite news |last=Jardine |first=Lisa |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/presidents/lyndon-b-johnson-the-uncivil-rights-reformer-1451816.html |title=Lyndon B Johnson: The uncivil rights reformer |work=The Independent |date=January 21, 2009 |access-date=September 5, 2010 |location=London}}</ref> "There was no more powerful majority leader in American history," biographer Robert Dallek writes. Dallek stated that Johnson had biographies on all the senators, knew what their ambitions, hopes, and tastes were and used it to his advantage in securing votes. Another Johnson biographer noted, "He could get up every day and learn what their fears, their desires, their wishes, their wants were and he could then manipulate, dominate, persuade and cajole them." As president, Johnson vetoed 30 bills; no other president in history vetoed so many bills and never had a single one overridden by Congress. He was often seen as an ambitious, tireless, and imposing figure who was ruthlessly effective at getting legislation passed. He typically worked 18- to 20-hour days without a break and had no regular leisure activities. He stood {{convert|6|ft|3.5|in|m}} tall.<ref>{{harvnb|Caro|1982|p=146}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dallek |first=Robert |title=An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy |url=https://archive.org/details/unfinishedlifejo00dall_0 |url-access=registration |year=2003 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/unfinishedlifejo00dall_0/page/354 354]|isbn=978-0-316-17238-7 }}</ref>

Johnson's cowboy hat and boots reflected his Texas roots and love of the rural hill country. From {{convert|250|acre}} of land that he was given by an aunt in 1951, he created a {{convert|2700|acre|adj=on}} working ranch with 400 cattle. The [[National Park Service]] keeps a herd descended from Johnson's and maintains the ranch property.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ranching the LBJ Way |url=http://www.nps.gov/lyjo/planyourvisit/lbjranching.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 18, 2013}}</ref>

Biographer Randall Woods argues that [[Social Gospel]] themes Johnson learned from childhood allowed him to transform social problems into moral problems. This helps explain his longtime commitment to social justice, and explicitly inspired his foreign-policy approach to Christian internationalism and nation-building. For example, in a 1966 speech he quoted at length from the [[Social Creed (Methodist)|Social Creed of the Methodist Church]], adding "It would be very hard for me to write a more perfect description of the American ideal."<ref>{{harvnb|Woods|2006|pp=27, 430, 465–466, 486–487}}</ref>