Johnson | Lyndon

: He created Medicare and Medicaid, launched Head Start, and declared a "War on Poverty".

: As Senate Majority Leader, LBJ became arguably the most powerful man in Congress. He was famous for the "Treatment"—towering over colleagues, invading their personal space, and using a mix of flattery, threats, and sheer will to force legislation through. The Presidency: The Great Society and Vietnam lyndon johnson

: He signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , effectively ending legal segregation in the South. : He created Medicare and Medicaid, launched Head

He retired to his Texas ranch, where he grew out his hair, watched the news, and died of a heart attack in 1973—just a few hundred feet from where he was born. Today, he is remembered as a complex figure: a flawed man who did more for civil rights than any president since Lincoln, but whose legacy remains forever haunted by the jungles of Vietnam. The Presidency: The Great Society and Vietnam :

Born in 1908 in the "hardscrabble" Hill Country of Texas, Johnson’s family lived in a farmhouse with no electricity or running water. His father, a local politician, eventually lost the family farm to debt, a humiliation that fueled Lyndon’s lifelong obsession with security and power.

: He won a seat in the U.S. Senate by a razor-thin margin of just 87 votes amidst allegations of voter fraud, earning him the derisive nickname "Landslide Lyndon" .

A turning point came in 1928, when he took a year off college to teach at a segregated school for Mexican-American children in Cotulla, Texas. Seeing the crushing poverty of his students left a "profound impression" on him, forming the emotional bedrock for his future "War on Poverty".