Lyndon B Johnson and Richard M Nixon
Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon were presidents during one of the most turbulent periods in American history. Both grappled with significant social unrest and the question of whether to continue involvement in the Vietnam War. Although these two presidents faced similar problems during their presidency, their presidential style and approach to these problems was fundamentally different. However, Johnson and Nixon shared a willingness to mislead the public and their associates in order to pursue their own course of action. Johnson and Nixon had fundamentally different presidential styles which explains much of the differences in their approaches to domestic and foreign policy. Johnson had a grandiose and domineering political style which he learned in part from his father who was a local politician in Texas. He was gifted at persuading people to his point of view, often relying on heavy-handed tactics that have been referred to as "The Treatment." The Treatment included: supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, the hint of threat . . . Its velocity was breathtaking, and it was all in one direction. Interjections from the target were rare. Johnson anticipated them be
Privately, Nixon devised a "secret plan" to escalate the war in Vietnam and to convince the North as well as Russia and China that he was capable of deploying nuclear weapons if provoked. However, Johnson's desire to outshine those who came before him led him to define his own domestic policy that was not tied to Kennedy. Johnson ended his presidential term bitter and frustrated by the emerging criticism of his policy in Vietnam. Johnson used deception, charm and coercion to achieve the support of persons with very different opinions. The raid in Cambodia was not successful and resulted in massive public protest both in the United States and internationally. Finally, he subscribed to the "domino theory"-that a failure to stop the takeover of South Vietnam by North Vietnam would raise the possibility that all of Southeast Asia would be lost to the communists. He began to take the war very personally, viewing it as "his war being fought by his boys, with his helicopters and his guns. Although he actually achieved the passage of significant progressive social legislation, including welfare reform, strict environmental laws, and consumer protection legislation, Nixon's legacy was to begin the assault on liberal ideology that has characterized all subsequent Republican administrations. He catered to the right by vetoing national daycare legislation as "counterculturish" and by taking a stance against abortion. He always wanted the approval of his advisors and the American public, and he viewed criticisms of his policies as personal attacks which led him to double his resolve and intensify his efforts.
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