ABSTRACT
In conventional constitutional and political science parlance, Lyndon Baines Johnson was a strong president. He exploited the cumulative precedents for presidential leadership and authority in domestic, foreign, and military policy. The agenda Johnson confronted was unique in a particular respect. Johnson faced them together from his first day of responsibility and they stayed with him to the end, abating somewhat in the second half of 1968 but remaining explosive elements in domestic and international life. By personality and conviction, Johnson was a man driven to grapple with and try to master the problems before him. While momentum slowed after mid-1965, Johnson in fact proved capable of carrying the Congress on some significant domestic legislation virtually to the end of his term. Johnson believed the presidency was the central repository of the nation’s ideals and the energizing agent for change in the nation’s policy.
