The Kennedy-Johnson years were characterized by promise with the active involvement of the U.S. in foreign countries and the massive domestic effort to address the issues of poverty and civil rights. However, the presidency of Lyndon Johnson ended with the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in defeat and the outbreaks of violent riots and protests in many American cities. In this paper, the underlying causes of the chaos of late 1968 will be identified and analyzed.
One of the most important factors that undermined the presidency of Johnson was the Vietnam War. According to Johnson (1991), President Johnson's self-restraint in restricting the American bombing to protect civilian lives and observe the 1949 Geneva Convention prevented the U.S. from exerting its full power over the North Vietnamese. More significantly, the media that had at first displayed support for American involvement in Vietnam began to project negative images of American soldiers in Vietnam. The media's role was instrumental in swaying the opinions of the politicians and the American public. As a result, Johnson who lost the support of both the American public and his colleagues decided to accept American defeat and withdraw the troops (Johnson, 1991, pp. 636-8).
On the domestic front, Johnson's implementation of a comprehensive series of programs to alleviate the poverty of Americans only succeeded in plunging the Federal Government into greater debt. After the elections in November 1964, Johnson was successful in passing 207 bills to implement the "Great Society." These bills were manifested in a variety of organizations such as Head Start for preschool children and Job Corps for students who had dropped out of school. With Johnson's policies, the Federal Government's spending on welfare began to surpass spending on defense. However, instead of helping poor people, Johnson had essentially created a welfare state that enabled people not to work and...