Lyndon B. Johnson

==U.S. Senate (1949–1961)==

===1948 U.S. Senate election===
{{Main|1948 United States Senate election in Texas}}

In the [[1948 United States Senate election in Texas|1948 elections]], Johnson again ran for the Senate and won the general election after being declared winner in a highly controversial Democratic Party [[primary election]] against the well-known former governor [[Coke Stevenson]]. Johnson drew crowds to fairgrounds with his rented helicopter, dubbed "The Johnson City Windmill". He raised money to flood the state with campaign circulars and won over conservatives by casting doubts on Stevenson's support for the [[Taft–Hartley Act]] (curbing union power). Stevenson came in first in the primary but lacked a majority, so a runoff election was held; Johnson campaigned harder, while Stevenson's efforts slumped due to a lack of funds.

The runoff vote count, handled by the Democratic State Central Committee, took a week. Johnson was announced the winner by 87 votes out of 988,295, an extremely narrow margin. However, Johnson's victory was based on 200 "patently fraudulent"<ref name="baum">{{cite journal |title=Lyndon Johnson's Victory in the 1948 Texas Senate Race: A Reappraisal |journal=[[Political Science Quarterly]] |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=595–613 |date=Autumn 1994 |author=Dale Baum and James L. Hailey |quote=To the east in neighboring Jim Wells County{{snd}}home of the notorious Box 13, which happened to be the only box in the county dominated by Parr's operatives{{snd}}LBJ managed to acquire, according to the estimates, a four-percentage-point net gain over Stevenson, or about only 387 votes (of which at least two hundred were patently fraudulent). |jstor=2151840 |doi=10.2307/2151840}}</ref>{{rp|608}} ballots reported six days after the election from [[Box 13 scandal|Box 13]] in [[Jim Wells County, Texas|Jim Wells County]], in an area dominated by political boss [[George Berham Parr|George Parr]]. The added names were in alphabetical order and written with the same pen and handwriting, at the end of the list of voters. Some on this part of the list insisted that they had not voted that day.<ref>{{harvnb|Caro|1990|pp=360–361}}</ref> Election judge Luis Salas said in 1977 that he had certified 202 fraudulent ballots for Johnson.<ref name="'70s">{{cite book |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |year=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-465-04195-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum}}</ref> [[Robert Caro]] made the case in his 1990 book that Johnson had stolen the election in Jim Wells County, and that there were thousands of fraudulent votes in other counties as well, including 10,000 votes switched in [[San Antonio]].<ref>{{harvnb|Woods|2006|p=217}}</ref> The Democratic State Central Committee voted to certify Johnson's nomination by a majority of one (29–28). The state Democratic convention upheld Johnson. Stevenson went to court, eventually taking his case before the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], but with timely help from his friend and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice [[Abe Fortas]], Johnson prevailed on the basis that jurisdiction over naming a nominee rested with the party, not the federal government. Johnson soundly defeated Republican [[Homa J. Porter|Jack Porter]] in the general election in November and went to Washington, permanently dubbed "Landslide Lyndon". Johnson, dismissive of his critics, happily adopted the nickname.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1991|p=346}}</ref>

===Freshman senator to majority whip===
[[File:Senator Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|Johnson's [[United States Senate]] portrait in the 1950s]]
Once in the Senate, Johnson was known among his colleagues for his highly successful "courtships" of older senators, especially Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]], Democrat from Georgia, the leader of the [[Conservative coalition]] and arguably the most powerful man in the Senate. Johnson proceeded to gain Russell's favor in the same way he had "courted" Speaker Sam Rayburn and gained his crucial support in the House.

Johnson was appointed to the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Armed Services Committee]], and in 1950 helped create the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee. He became its chairman, and conducted investigations of defense costs and efficiency. These investigations demanded actions that were already being taken in part by the [[Truman administration]], although it can be said that the committee's investigations reinforced the need for changes. Johnson gained national attention through his handling of media. Johnson ensured that every report was endorsed unanimously by his committee. He used his political influence in the Senate to receive broadcast licenses from the [[Federal Communications Commission]] in his wife's name.<ref name="'70s"/><ref name="new yorker">{{cite magazine |title=The Johnson Years: Buying And Selling |last=Caro |first=Robert A. |author-link=Robert Caro |date=December 18, 1989 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1989/12/18/1989_12_18_043_TNY_CARDS_000356927}}</ref> After the 1950 general elections, Johnson was chosen as Senate Majority Whip in 1951 under the new Majority Leader, [[Ernest McFarland]] of [[Arizona]], and served in this capacity from 1951 to 1953.<ref name="Bioguide.congress.gov"/>

===Senate Democratic leader===
[[File:Lyndon Johnson and Richard Russell cropped.jpg|thumb|President Johnson giving "The Treatment" to U.S. Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.]] in 1963]]
In the [[1952 United States Senate elections|1952 general election]], [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] won a majority in both the House and Senate. In January 1953, Johnson was chosen by his fellow Democrats as Senate Minority Leader; he became the most junior senator ever elected to this position. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in making appointments to committees while retaining it for chairmanships. In the [[1954 United States Senate election|1954 election]], Johnson was re-elected to the Senate and, with Democrats winning the majority in the Senate, he became majority leader. Johnson's duties were to schedule legislation and help pass measures favored by the Democrats. Johnson, House Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]], and President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] worked well together in passing Eisenhower's domestic and foreign agenda.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldfield|first=David|date=2014|title=Border Men: Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, and Civil Rights|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23796842|journal=The Journal of Southern History|volume=80|issue=1|pages=7–38|jstor=23796842|via=JSTOR}}</ref>

In 1956, during the [[Suez Crisis]], Johnson tried to prevent the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] from criticizing [[Israel]] for its invasion of the [[Sinai Peninsula]]. Along with much of the rest of the nation, Johnson was appalled by the threat of possible [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] domination of space flight implied by the launch of the Soviets' launch of ''[[Sputnik 1]]'', the first artificial Earth satellite, and used his influence to ensure passage of the 1958 [[National Aeronautics and Space Act]], which established [[NASA]].

Historians Caro and Dallek consider Johnson the most effective Senate majority leader ever. He was unusually proficient at gathering information. One biographer suggests he was "the greatest intelligence gatherer Washington has ever known", discovering exactly where every senator stood on issues, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses and what it took to get his vote.<ref>{{harvnb|Woods|2006|p=262}}</ref> Robert Baker claimed that Johnson would occasionally send senators on [[NATO]] trips so they were absent and unable to cast dissenting votes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/video/lbj_05.html#v230 |title=LBJ |work=American Experience |access-date=October 12, 2014 |archive-date=September 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930095709/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/video/lbj_05.html#v230 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Central to Johnson's control was "The Treatment",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afterimagegallery.com/nytjohnson.htm |title=The New York Times, The Johnson Treatment: Lyndon B. Johnson and Theodore F. Green |publisher=Afterimagegallery.com |access-date=October 6, 2008 |archive-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005055014/http://www.afterimagegallery.com/nytjohnson.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> described by two journalists:

{{blockquote|The Treatment could last ten minutes or four hours. It came, enveloping its target, at the Johnson Ranch swimming pool, in one of Johnson's offices, in the Senate cloakroom, on the floor of the Senate itself{{snd}}wherever Johnson might find a fellow Senator within his reach.

Its tone could be supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, and the hint of threat. It was all of these together. It ran the gamut of human emotions. Its velocity was breathtaking and it was all in one direction. Interjections from the target were rare. Johnson anticipated them before they could be spoken. He moved in close, his face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry, humor, and the genius of analogy made The Treatment an almost hypnotic experience and rendered the target stunned and helpless.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Rowland Evans |first1=Rowland |last1=Evans |author-link2=Robert Novak |first2=Robert |last2=Novak |title=Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power |url=https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonex00evan |url-access=registration |year=1966 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonex00evan/page/104 104]|publisher=[New York] New American Library }}</ref>}}

In 1955, Johnson persuaded U.S. Senator [[Wayne Morse]], an Independent, to join the Democratic caucus.<ref name=featuredbio>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_Morse.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Wayne L. Morse: A Featured Biography|date=July 6, 2015|accessdate=April 13, 2021}}</ref>

During his tenure as Majority Leader, Johnson did not sign the 1956 [[Southern Manifesto]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Badger|first=Tony|title=Southerners Who Refused to Sign the Southern Manifesto|journal=[[The Historical Journal]]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|volume=42|issue=2|year=1999|pages=517–534|doi=10.1017/S0018246X98008346|jstor=3020998|s2cid=145083004}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 12, 1956|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=102|issue=4|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=4459–4461|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1956-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1956-pt4-3-1.pdf|access-date=April 12, 2023}}</ref> and shepherded the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957|Civil Rights Acts of 1957]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|1960]] to passage—the first civil rights bills to pass Congress since the [[Enforcement Acts]] and the [[Civil Rights Act of 1875]] during [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]].{{refn|name=1957 & 1960 civil rights bills|<ref>{{cite episode|title=LBJ (Parts 1–2)|title-link=LBJ (1991 film)|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=September 30, 1991|season=4|number=1|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lbj/|access-date=November 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title=JFK (Part 1)|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=November 11, 2013|season=25|number=7|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>}}

On July 2, 1955, at age 46, Johnson, a 60-cigarette-per-day smoker, suffered a near-fatal [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]], which inspired him to discontinue smoking. Five months later, Johnson's doctors reported he had made "a most satisfactory recovery", and Johnson announced that he would remain as his party's leader in the Senate.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=A7-hzOuI2KQC&dat=19560101&printsec=frontpage |title=Lyndon Johnson To Retain Post |date=January 1, 1956 |newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ie8Y0QrpMWAC&dat=19560101&printsec=frontpage |title=Johnson To Continue As Demo Leader |date=January 1, 1956 |newspaper=Times Daily}}</ref>