During his term his performance deeply divided his party. Furthermore, public opinion and academic assessments of his legacy have fluctuated greatly ever since. Historians and scholars rank Johnson in the upper tier because of his accomplishments regarding domestic policy. His administration passed many major laws that made substantial changes in civil rights, health care, welfare, and education.[9] Conversely, Johnson is strongly criticized for his foreign policy, namely escalating American involvement in the Vietnam War.[10][11]

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Early life
Seven-year-old Johnson with his trademark cowboy hat, c. 1915.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas, in a small farmhouse on the Pedernales River.[12] He was the eldest of five children born to Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. and Rebekah Baines.[13][14] Johnson had one brother, Sam Houston Johnson, and three sisters, Rebekah, Josefa, and Lucia.[15] The nearby small town of Johnson City, Texas, was named after LBJ's father's cousin, James Polk Johnson,[16][17] whose forebears had moved west from Georgia.[18] Johnson had English-Irish, German, and Ulster Scots ancestry.