The Use of Presidential Power by Johnson and Nixon
             Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1968) and Richard Milhous Nixon (1968-1974) will be remembered for the different ideals, goals, and failures within their administrations. Johnson was immediately appointed President following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and earned the trust and respect of the American people by implementing various Kennedy domestic policies such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, Johnson was overwhelmed by the growing problems in the international community that ultimately doomed his presidency and opened the door for new presidential candidates.
             Richard Nixon succeeded Johnson and redeemed himself following a failed 1960 election to Johnson's predecessor, John F. Kennedy. It was a different agenda under Nixon for the first time in eight years. Nixon was aware of the nation's concern with the escalating Vietnam War and was able to spend his first term in office trying to compensate for years of American involvement in Vietnam. In their use of presidential power, Nixon's legacy was his accomplishments of opening relations with China and ending the Vietnam War while Johnson is remembered for high casualties in Vietnam and poor maintenance of Great Society programs. "The burden of resolving many problems fell on Lyndon Johnson...who was suddenly elevated to the presidency."
             Johnson's use of power extended solely to domestic issues but ended with the failure to control both the Vietnam War and the lack of maintenance to his Great Society programs. Johnson rode the crest of a wave of earnest popular demands to bring an end to racial discrimination, provide equal opportunity to all people, eliminate poverty, and provide all Americans with adequate healthcare. Yet the scale of this undertaking was so vast that disappointments we...