VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, I961-1963;
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1963-1969
Accepting the Second Slot.
In 1960 Sen. Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas, a masterful and powerful Senate majority leader since 1954, surprised Democrats and Republicans alike by agreeing to accept the Democratic nomination for vice-president, a job his fellow Texan, Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, described as not "worth a pitcher of warm spit." John F. Kennedy's choice of Johnson for his running mate was also somewhat surprising. Johnson and Kennedy had made bitter remarks about one another while they had battled for the presidential nomination, and Kennedy's staff heartily disliked the Texan. Kennedy...
Source: American Decades: 1960-1969, ©1994 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 1123 words.)
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