If LBJ hadn't escalated Vietnam--how would he be remembered today?

[WI_DEM]

Had LBJ decided that Vietnam was a lost cause and not escalated the war, how would he be remembered today as a president, in your opinion.

[liberaliraqvet26]

1. civil rights act, medicare...

other good things

[madrchsod]

15. in the top 10 of our presidents

and one of the best politicians in our history

[SteppingRazor]

2. I dunno, but...

I'm guessing it wouldn't include the word "babykiller." :evilgrin:

Seriously, though, I imagine he'd be recognized for his other major programs -- the War on Poverty, the Great Society, etc.

[ET Awful]

3. People would say "Lyndon WHO?"

:)

[Protagoras]

4. Given the Bushco's revisionism and dumbing down of America

I suspect in a few more years LBJ won't be remembered. They want us to forget about Vietnam. And they're doing a pretty good job of having us forget about a hell of a lot of things...give them another generation and who knows.

[BuyingThyme]

5. As the guy who made the JFK assassination a failed policy?

[terrya]

6. He would be remembered as a good President.

As has been mentioned here, he had a domestic record that any President could be proud of: the Civil Roghts Act, Medicare, the War on Poverty...that's a decent record. And he wouldn't have been consumed by Vietnam to focus more on the domestic agenda.

[GRLMGC]

7. As one of the greatest Presidents

He did so much good yet the Vietnam war was so horrible

[unblock]

8. they'd be saying "nixon who?"

oh yeah, ike's veep. who cares?

[onehandle]

9. I think that depends on your point of view.

I remember LBJ for his great social accomplishments first, Vietnam second.

I remember Nixon first as a crooked SOB, second for the EPA and other Presidential accomplishments.

This is likely because I am a Democrat.

I won't remember Clinton in thirty years for a fucking blowjob.

[GRLMGC]

10. but you know a Republican

would only remember a blowjob. That's kind of funny in a pathetic way

[William769]

11. The same as I view him now

The man for civil rights!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

12. He would be remembered as the president

who got us through the darkest days of the Kennedy assassination by proving that our republic would go on. And I personally think he and his wife did it with the right combination of class and confidence.

Plus I will remember he picked up his dog by his ears and showed the world his belly scar!

And his wife and daugther were named Lady and Linda Bird. Very odd.

[TahitiNut]

14. "class and confidence"?? Lyndon "Look At My Belly Scar" Johnson?

"Class"? Well ... I've heard a lot of ways Lyndon's been described, but "class" sure ain't one of them.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

18. well...LOL

he was crude, but he navigated the hours, days and years after the assasination gracefully.

[unblock]

13. i got a better one -- what if reagan had won in 1976?

and reagan got the blame for stagflation and the hostage crisis?

of course, we all know reagan cut a deal with the hostage takers, so that crisis would probably have been "successfully" resolved before the 1980 election....

my personal view is that carter was f-*-c-k-e-d by simple virtue of picking the absolute worst 4-year period to be president. ANYONE in office at that time would have been remembered as a disaster.

[Justitia]

16. Among the most liberal - reduced poverty by 50% !!! Civil Rights, Medicar

Medicare, etc., etc.

LBJ did a lot of good for this country and while he deserves the fire he gets for escalating Vietnam, no president has been as progressive since.

It will be hard to ever match those achievements again.

Very conflicted man, very complex - as a real leader usually is.

[Zynx]

21. I've been reading a book about LBJ's senate years. He was a very strange

guy. He had a lot of conflicts.

[leveymg]

17. Imagine if all that money and energy had gone into other things.

If there had been no Nixon, no Ford, Reagan and Bush. No Dubya. What might we have done with all that's been wasted?

What can we do after them to recapture the future they took away, and to get past the present they left us?

[bleedingheart]

19. Civil Rights and the War on Poverty

major accomplishments but the war was his undoing...

juxtapose him alongside Bush...War for no Reason and Tax Breaks for the Rich

[Zynx]

20. As a top five president. Impressive legislative achievements, civil rights

, medicare, etc... and a good economy to top it off.