There have been two great periods of presidentially-initiated Congressional legislative activity in the 20th century: the first two years of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term in office, 1933 and 1934 - and the first two years of the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidency, from November 1963 through the end of 1965. Roosevelt, or "FDR" as he was nicknamed, pushed through a willing Congress a barrage of domestic economic programs that he declared would cut a better, "New Deal" for the average American, who was being buffeted by the effects of the Great Depression in which the country was in the midst of wallowing. Johnson, emulating his hero's moniker with his own "LBJ" brand, also commandeered an ambitious set of domestic programs through the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate and on into the reality of federal law and administration. He faced a far less "willing" legislative branch, though, and his programs were much more intentionally socially-oriented than the FDR package. There was no Great Depression to contend with; during LBJ's term, the United States of America was still the same economic king of the mountain it had been since the end of World War II. Johnson, moreover, was the presidential captain of two sets of legislative initiatives: the "New Frontier" programs left pending when his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated, and his own "Great Society" vision of federal activism. The chronicle of Lyndon Baines Johnson's first two years in office is one of accomplishment in the face of adversity - and the beginnings of failure when poised on the brink of success.
To understand the scope of Johnson's activity, one must start first with a brief examination of his career prior to assuming the presidency upon the death of JFK in 1963. Lyndon Johnson was the son of a respected, very honest - and very poor - Texas state legislator, Sam Johnson. From his father and his poverty, Johnson developed a stron...