At 07:48 AM 1/18/2002 -0500, you wrote: >At 12:16 AM 1/18/02 -0500 Gautam Mukunda wrote: > >>Not to get into the argument, but I actually think that Woodrow Wilson was > >>the second-worst President in American history, after only the pathetic > >>James Buchanan... > > > >I think LBJ belongs below Wilson somewheres...... > > > >JDG > > > >Not even close. For the Civil Rights Act of 1968 _alone_ LBJ gets into my > >"near-great" Presidents list. Screw Vietnam. Yes, he botched it. He > >wasn't alone in that. His efforts on behalf of racial justice - that is, > >the eternal attempt of the United States to redeem itself from its original > >sin - are so much more important that Vietnam shrinks into insignificance in > >comparison. > >Yes, the Vietnam is a big strike against him, but there is more. > >Most important is The Great Society, which probably has produced the least >bang for the buck of any government program in US History. Indeed, it was >the massive spending combiantion of The Great Society and The Vietnam War >that produced the economic debacle of the 1970's. > >As for Civil Rights - every President has their achivements, but on this >issue a lot of credit has to go to Kennedy as well. > >JDG
Only a Southerner and a master of the legislative process could have got the collection of bills known as the Civil Rights Act passed. Johnson knew how to deal with the segregationists and racists, and how to get those bills passed over some serious and formidable opposition. Johnson did more in the first few years of his presidency on this issue than Kennedy was able to achieve during his thousand days in office. As for the Great Society, I call your attention to the Head Start Program, which is one of the most successful government programs in American history, and its outlays are minuscule in proportion to its returns. john
