Dinner with Former President Lyndon B. Johnson by Jeena

Dinner with Former President Lyndon B. Johnson by Jeena - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

If I could have dinner with any U.S. President, I would choose to have dinner with former President Lyndon B. Johnson. First of all, I believe that if I were to have dinner with any other president before the time period of President Johnson, it would be awkward, if they even agreed to have dinner with me, as I am an Asian-American female. It is not that I do not respect them; I believe that some of them were exceptional presidents and America would not be the land of opportunity and freedom as seen by the whole world today. It is just that either under no circumstances would they agree to have dinner with me, they would rebuke and tell me that I know nothing, and not listen to any ideas or thoughts of mine, or that the dinner would be awfully awkward with me creating one-sided conversation.
I also picked President Johnson because there would be so much to talk about. Unlike presidents following him, enough time has passed and his term had so many events in them such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Great Society, the War on Poverty, the Vietnam War, and so many other important modern occurrences that the dinner would be filled with so much to talk about. Ever since I learned about President Johnson fully in 9th grade APUSH, I have been fascinated with the time period. It was a time period with not only so much improvement, but with flaws as well. Hearing stories of President Johnson’s bully tactics always make me laugh, and although I may be intimidated if he were to ever yell at me, I would really like to see him preform this tactic on someone else. This may make me appear peculiar, but I would really like to see how it.
It is not only his infamous bully tactics that makes me want to have dinner with him. He aided the Civil Rights Movement, by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and also by nominating the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Kennedy had attempted, but failed to get these bills to fail, while other presidents had not even attempted his feat. I would enjoy talking to him about his work for the Civil Rights Movement, and how his early life affected his opinions. He tried many times to get this bill passed, and failed many times, so I would love to question him about how and why he preserved, and foremost, I would like to profusely thank him for how he helped the Civil Rights Movement gain more success.
I would also want to talk about the Great Society, which included programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and measures aimed at improving education, preventing crime, and reducing air and water pollution. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, and transportation were launched during this period. This legislative agenda created to provide federal health insurance for elderly and poor Americans has survived to this day; Medicare and Medicaid from Johnson’s term still exists, and recently former President Barack Obama created the Affordable Health Care, also known as Obamacare, a federal health insurance similar in concept as Johnson’s Great Society. This has proven to be essential even more than 50 years later, and I would like to thank President Johnson for this as well.
The War on Poverty declared by Johnson soon after taking office is yet another one of his numerous achievements. He pushed Congress to pass legislation that attacked illiteracy, unemployment, and racial discrimination in America. The legacy of the War on Poverty exists to this day, just like Johnson’s Great Society, in programs such as Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and Job Corps. Presidents after Johnson, such as former Presidents Ford and Obama, have also enacted measurements against poverty and signed bills that improved education for everyone, including children born into poverty. Even current president Donald Trump, a republican, and multiple other republican congressmen and congresswomen have declared that poverty needs to be addressed. His wide reaching achievements improved the lives of millions of Americans and contributed to economic growth and prosperity, even in contemporary times.
Even though President Johnson has done so much valuable and exceptional work during his term, he is known most known for his role during the Vietnam War. President Johnson, after he became president, focused on Vietnam, even though South Vietnam was deteriorating. He attempted to rally Americans behind the Vietnam War by presenting the Domino Theory, which proved to be false after the war was lost. Many Americans were against the war, and held protests against America joining the war. Not only did many Americans loose their lives during the war, but also so did many Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. I would like to ask him why he decided to escalate the war in Vietnam, and what caused him to believe in the Domino Theory.
Even though he is remembered mainly for the Vietnam War, I would like to tell him that his domestic policies are still used more than 50 years later, and I would like to thank him immensely for all he has done for America. For these reasons, if I were able to have dinner with one president, I would choose former president Lyndon B. Johnson.