Introduction

Throughout his career Lyndon Johnson was known as a man who got things done. Some observers saw him as a pompous, overbearing bully, while others saw him as a skilled negotiator. Perhaps he was all these things. In any case, his personality was very strong and played a significant role in all the momentous decisions that he made. Molded by his own experiences of the Great Depression and the New Deal programs that attempted to alleviate American suffering, Johnson viewed the government as a tool of reform. This made Johnson an unabashed liberal. His decisions as president would greatly influence the future of liberalism in the United States.