HIST 365 Week Three Question

Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson were temperamental  opposites.   Kennedy was born in comfortable circumstances, well  educated, a decorated veteran of WWII and a candidate whose youthful  appearance and glamorous lifestyle and witty intellect mesmerized the  nation.   Johnson by contrast was born under more humble conditions in  the grasslands of eastern Texas.   Kennedy was charismatic, promised  “New Frontiers” including eradicating injustice and taking meaningful  strides to eradicate domestic inequities.   Johnson lacked Kennedy’s  eloquence although Johnson mastered the complex politics of coalition  building through a combination of threatening and cajoling reluctant  members of Congress to endorse a myriad of legislation entitled the  “Great Society” to comprehensively eradicate categorical social  injustice and providing extensive programs to improve education,  vocational training, neglected urban development and national health  care.  Kennedy reached out to developing nations in South America, South  Asia and Africa while navigating international crises in Berlin, Cuba  and Southeast Asia.   He epitomized hope and global dialogue in contrast  to Johnson’s increasing fixation with maintaining American credibility  in the ongoing crusade against communist territorial expansion at the  cost of sacrificing the notable progress made in acknowledging and  dismantling racial segregation and opening the possibility of long-term  economic improvement for the nation’s least affluent components.  Citing  milestones and controversies, evaluate the impact of both presidents  and the importance of the political dialogue they initiated in  fulfillment of constitutional mandates.