Editing Lyndon B. Johnson (section)

==U.S. Senate (1949–1961)==

===1948 U.S. Senate election===
{{Main|1948 United States Senate election in Texas}}
[[File:Texas U.S. Senate Democratic primary runoff, 1948.svg|thumb|Results of the Democratic runoff primary in the [[1948 United States Senate election in Texas|1948 U.S. Senate election in Texas]] by county. Johnson squeaked out a controversial victory by 87 votes.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=Biography Lyndon B. Johnson |url=https://www.lbjlibrary.org/life-and-legacy/the-man-himself/biography#:~:text=May%2029%2F30%2C%201941.&text=At%20the%20request%20of%20President,in%20the%20US%20Naval%20Reserve. |website=LBJ Presidential Library}}</ref> Johnson counties appear in blue, and Stevenson counties in green.<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[Texas State Historical Association]] |date=1949 |title=Texas Almanac, 1949-1950 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117167/m1/476/ |access-date=March 24, 2022 |website=The Portal to Texas History |publisher=[[The Dallas Morning News]] |page=474 |language=English}}</ref>{{Collapsible list
| title = Johnson|{{legend|#0d0596ff|Johnson—>90%}}|{{legend|#1e1dbeff|Johnson—80–90%}}|{{legend|#584cdeff|Johnson—70–80%}}|{{legend|#6674deff|Johnson—60–70%}}|{{legend|#7996e2ff|Johnson—50–60%}}
}}

{{Collapsible list
| title = Stevenson|{{legend|#5bc75bff|Stevenson—50–60%}}|{{legend|#41b742ff|Stevenson—60–70%}}|{{legend|#309a30ff|Stevenson—70–80%}}|{{legend|#217821ff|Stevenson—80–90%}}|{{legend|#165016ff|Stevenson—>90%}}
}}{{Collapsible list
| title = No vote|{{legend|#656565ff|No vote}}
}}]]
In [[1948 United States Senate election in Texas|1948]], Johnson again ran for the U.S. Senate and won the general election after being declared winner in a highly controversial Democratic Party [[Partisan primary|primary election]] against the well-known former governor [[Coke Stevenson]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Lyndon B. Johnson: Life Before the Presidency |url=https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/life-before-the-presidency |website=Miller Center|date=October 4, 2016 }}</ref> Johnson drew crowds to fairgrounds with his rented [[Sikorsky S-51]] helicopter, dubbed "The Johnson City Windmill".<ref>Caro 1990 p. 231.</ref> He raised money to flood the state with campaign circulars and won over conservatives by casting doubts on Stevenson's support for the [[Taft–Hartley Act]] (curbing union power).<ref>Caro 1990 p. 225.</ref> Stevenson came in first in the primary but lacked a majority, so a runoff election was held;<ref name="auto"/><ref>Dallek 1991, pp. 318–319, 321.</ref> Johnson campaigned harder, while Stevenson's efforts slumped due to a lack of funds.<ref>Dallek 1991, pp. 319, 321.</ref>

The runoff vote count, handled by the Democratic State Central Committee, took a week. Johnson was announced the winner by 87 votes out of 988,295, an extremely narrow margin. However, Johnson's victory was based on 200 "patently fraudulent"<ref name="baum">{{cite journal |title=Lyndon Johnson's Victory in the 1948 Texas Senate Race: A Reappraisal |journal=[[Political Science Quarterly]] |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=595–613 |date=Autumn 1994 |author=Dale Baum and James L. Hailey |quote=To the east in neighboring Jim Wells County{{snd}}home of the notorious Box 13, which happened to be the only box in the county dominated by Parr's operatives{{snd}}LBJ managed to acquire, according to the estimates, a four-percentage-point net gain over Stevenson, or about only 387 votes (of which at least two hundred were patently fraudulent). |jstor=2151840 |doi=10.2307/2151840}}</ref>{{rp|608}} ballots reported six days after the election from [[Box 13 scandal|Box 13]] in [[Jim Wells County, Texas|Jim Wells County]], in an area dominated by political boss [[George Berham Parr|George Parr]]. The added names were in alphabetical order and written with the same pen and handwriting, at the end of the list of voters. Some on this part of the list insisted that they had not voted that day.<ref>{{harvp|Caro|1990|pp=360–361}}</ref> Election judge Luis Salas said in 1977 that he had certified 202 fraudulent ballots, 200 for Johnson, and two for Stevenson.<ref name="'70s">{{cite book |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |year=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-465-04195-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum}}</ref> [[Robert Caro]] made the case in his 1990 book that Johnson had stolen the election in Jim Wells County, and that there were thousands of fraudulent votes in other counties as well, including 10,000 votes switched in [[San Antonio]].<ref>{{harvp|Woods|2006|p=217}}</ref> The Democratic State Central Committee voted to certify Johnson's nomination by a majority of one (29–28). The state Democratic convention upheld Johnson. Stevenson went to court, eventually taking his case before the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], but with timely help from his friend and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice [[Abe Fortas]], Johnson prevailed on the basis that jurisdiction over naming a nominee rested with the party, not the federal government. Johnson soundly defeated [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Homa J. Porter|Jack Porter]] in the general election in November and went to Washington, permanently dubbed "Landslide Lyndon". Johnson, dismissive of his critics, happily adopted the nickname.<ref>{{harvp|Dallek|1991|p=346}}</ref>

===Freshman senator to majority whip===
[[File:Senator Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|Johnson's [[United States Senate]] portrait in the 1950s]]

During his two terms in the Senate, Johnson drifted rightward.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zeitz |first1=Joshua |title=Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House |date=2019 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=13}}</ref> He felt he had to tread carefully lest he offend politically powerful conservative [[Texas oil boom|oil and gas interests in Texas]],{{sfn|Patterson|1996|p=530}} and in part to curry favor with the chamber's powerful southern chairmen, most notably Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]], Democrat from Georgia and leader of the [[Southern Caucus]]{{sfnp|Caro|2002|loc=Ch. 7. A Russell of the Russells of Georgia}} within the [[Conservative coalition]] that dominated the Senate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayer |first1=Michael S. |title=The Eisenhower Years |date=2009 |page=356}}</ref> With Russell's support, Johnson won election as Democratic whip in 1951, serving in this capacity until 1953.<ref name="Bioguide.congress.gov"/> While serving as whip, Johnson increased his ability to persuade people to reach agreement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schultz |first1=Randy |title=Lyndon B. Johnson |date=2002 |page=22}}</ref>

As a member of the [[Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce]], he was chairman of the Senate subcommittee that [[Leland Olds hearing|refused]] the re-nomination of [[Leland Olds]] as [[Chairman of the Federal Power Commission]] on the grounds that he had been sympathetic towards Communism.{{sfnp|Caro|2002|loc=Ch. 10–12}}

Johnson was appointed to the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Armed Services Committee]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 |url=https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/lbj |website=LBJ Presidential Library}}</ref> and became increasingly concerned with the country's military preparedness in the [[Cold War]] with the [[Soviet Union]]. He became chairman of the [[Senate Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee]], and conducted investigations of defense costs and efficiency.<ref>{{cite book |title=The American Presidents |date=1992 |publisher=Grolier Incorporated |page=171}}</ref> After the [[Korean War]] began in 1950, he called for more troops and for improved weapons.<ref>Dallek (1991), pp. 394–396.</ref> Johnson ensured that every report was endorsed unanimously by his committee.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://concordhistoricalsociety.org/bipartisan-quadrille/ | title=Bipartisan Quadrille |website=Concord Historical Society | date=January 23, 2018 }}</ref> He used his political influence in the Senate to receive broadcast licenses from the [[Federal Communications Commission]] in his wife's name.<ref name="'70s"/><ref name="new yorker">{{cite magazine |title=The Johnson Years: Buying And Selling |last=Caro |first=Robert A. |author-link=Robert Caro |date=December 18, 1989 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1989/12/18/1989_12_18_043_TNY_CARDS_000356927 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Senate Democratic leader===
[[File:Lyndon Johnson and Richard Russell cropped.jpg|thumb|President Johnson giving "The Treatment" to U.S. Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.]] in 1963]]
In the [[1952 United States Senate elections|1952 elections]], Republicans won a majority in both the House and Senate. In January 1953, Johnson was chosen by his fellow Democrats as Senate [[Minority Leader]]; he became the most junior senator ever elected to this position.{{sfn|Patterson|1996|p=529}} He reformed the seniority system so that Democratic senators, including freshmen, were more likely to receive a committee assignment that closely aligned with their expertise rather than an assignment based solely on their seniority.{{sfnp|Caro|2002}}{{page needed|date=November 2024}}

====Senate Majority Leader====

In [[1954 United States Senate election|1954]], Johnson was re-elected to the Senate and, with Democrats winning the majority in the Senate, he became [[majority leader]].<ref name="auto"/> President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] found Johnson more cooperative than the Senate Republican leader, [[William F. Knowland]] of California. Particularly on foreign policy, Johnson offered bipartisan support to the president.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lyndon B. Johnson Master of the Senate |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/parties-leadership/johnson-b-lyndon.htm |website=United States Senate}}{{PD-notice}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldfield|first=David|date=2014|title=Border Men: Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, and Civil Rights|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23796842|journal=The Journal of Southern History|volume=80|issue=1|pages=7–38|jstor=23796842}}</ref>

Historians Caro and Dallek consider Johnson the most effective Senate majority leader ever.<ref>Dallek (1998), p. 6.</ref><ref name="CaroSite">{{cite web|url=https://www.robertcaro.org/master-of-the-senate|title=The Years of Lyndon Johnson III: Master of the Senate| website = Robert A Caro - author's site| access-date = August 27, 2024}}</ref> He was unusually proficient at gathering information.<ref>Shesol, Jeff. ''Mutual Contempt''. p. 12.</ref> One biographer suggests he was "the greatest intelligence gatherer Washington has ever known", discovering exactly where every senator stood on issues, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses, and what it took to get his vote.<ref>{{harvp|Woods|2006|p=262}}</ref> [[Bobby Baker]] claimed that Johnson would occasionally send senators on [[NATO]] trips so they were absent and unable to cast dissenting votes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/video/lbj_05.html#v230 |title=LBJ |work=American Experience |access-date=October 12, 2014 |archive-date=September 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930095709/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/video/lbj_05.html#v230 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Central to Johnson's control was "The Treatment",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afterimagegallery.com/nytjohnson.htm |title=The New York Times, The Johnson Treatment: Lyndon B. Johnson and Theodore F. Green |publisher=Afterimagegallery.com |access-date=October 6, 2008 |archive-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005055014/http://www.afterimagegallery.com/nytjohnson.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> described by two journalists:

{{blockquote|The Treatment could last ten minutes or four hours. It came, enveloping its target, at the Johnson Ranch swimming pool, in one of Johnson's offices, in the Senate cloakroom, on the floor of the Senate itself{{snd}}wherever Johnson might find a fellow Senator within his reach.

Its tone could be supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, and the hint of threat. It was all of these together. It ran the gamut of human emotions. Its velocity was breathtaking and it was all in one direction. Interjections from the target were rare. Johnson anticipated them before they could be spoken. He moved in close, his face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry, humor, and the genius of analogy made The Treatment an almost hypnotic experience and rendered the target stunned and helpless.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Rowland Evans |first1=Rowland |last1=Evans |author-link2=Robert Novak |first2=Robert |last2=Novak |title=Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power |url=https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonex00evan |url-access=registration |year=1966 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonex00evan/page/104 104]|publisher=[New York] New American Library }}</ref>}}
In 1956, during the [[Suez Crisis]], Johnson tried to prevent the U.S. government from criticizing [[Israel]] for its invasion of the [[Sinai Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Future Foretold: Lyndon Baines Johnson's Congressional Support for Israel |url=https://www.clementscenter.org/press/the-future-foretold-lyndon-baines-johnson-s-congressional-support-for-israel/ |website=University of Texas at Austin}}</ref> Along with much of the rest of the nation, Johnson was appalled by the threat of possible Soviet domination of [[space exploration]] implied by the launch of ''[[Sputnik 1]]'', the first artificial Earth [[satellite]], and used his influence to ensure passage of the [[National Aeronautics and Space Act|National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958]], which established [[NASA]].<ref name="auto1"/> Johnson helped establish the [[United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences|Senate Aeronautical and Space Committee]], and made himself its first chairman.<ref>{{cite web |title=Senate Papers of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1949-1961 |url=https://discoverlbj.org/exhibits/show/loh/prepres/sen |website=LBJ Presidential Library}}</ref>

During his tenure as Majority Leader, Johnson did not sign the 1956 [[Southern Manifesto]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Badger|first=Tony|title=Southerners Who Refused to Sign the Southern Manifesto|journal=[[The Historical Journal]]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|volume=42|issue=2|year=1999|pages=517–534|doi=10.1017/S0018246X98008346|jstor=3020998|s2cid=145083004}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 12, 1956|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=102|issue=4|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=4459–4461|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1956-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1956-pt4-3-1.pdf|access-date=April 12, 2023}}</ref> and shepherded the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957|Civil Rights Acts of 1957]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|1960]] to passage {{mdashb}} the first civil rights bills to pass Congress since the [[Enforcement Acts]] and the [[Civil Rights Act of 1875]] during [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]].{{refn|name=1957 & 1960 civil rights bills|<ref>{{cite episode|title=LBJ (Parts 1–2)|title-link=LBJ (1991 film)|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=September 30, 1991|season=4|number=1|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lbj/|access-date=November 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title=JFK (Part 1)|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=November 11, 2013|season=25|number=7|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>}} Johnson negotiated a middle course between Northern liberal senators and the Southern bloc of senators who had opposed such legislation by removing key enforcement provisions,<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography Lyndon B. Johnson |url=https://www.lbjlibrary.org/life-and-legacy/the-man-himself/biography#:~:text=May%2029%2F30%2C%201941.&text=At%20the%20request%20of%20President,in%20the%20US%20Naval%20Reserve. |website=LBJ Presidential Library}}{{PD-notice}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lyndon B. Johnson Master of the Senate |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/parties-leadership/johnson-b-lyndon.htm |website=United States Senate}}</ref> such as Title III, which authorized the attorney general to initiate civil action for preventive relief in a wide range of civil rights matters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayer |first1=Michael S. |title=The Eisenhower Years |date=2009 |page=359}}</ref> Being a Southerner was seen as an impossible barrier for a presidential candidate{{sfnp|Caro|2002|loc=Ch. 5. The Path Ahead}} and towards the end of his Senate career as well as not signing the Southern Manifesto, he distanced himself further from the Southern Caucus in 1959 by joining the Democrat's Western regional conference.<ref name=TimeWest>{{cite web |url=https://time.com/archive/6888376/national-affairs-go-west-lyndon/|title= National Affairs: Go West, Lyndon|last= |first= |date= February 23, 1959|website= [[Time Magazine]]|publisher= |access-date= August 29, 2024|quote=}}</ref>