Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969, who as vice president assumed the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A Southern Democrat from Texas, he served in both houses of Congress and became Senate majority leader in 1954. His Great Society programmes and War on Poverty created Medicare and Medicaid, and he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He also escalated US involvement in the Vietnam War, and after disappointing results in the 1968 New Hampshire primary he withdrew his candidacy; he retired to his Texas ranch and died in 1973.