I want to be the president
who educated young children to the wonders of their world
in nineteen twenty eight a young school teacher in Cotulla, Texas wrote a letter home to his
mother
asking her to send two hundred tubes of toothpaste
I want to be the president
who helped the poor find their own way
his students he explained lacked the most basic necessities
and protected the right
of every citizen
to vote in every election
his name
was Lyndon Baines Johnson I want to be the president who
helped to end hatred among his fellow men
I think his vision and values were shaped by the land he came from
so he understood firsthand what poverty was
what lack of education would cause people's lives to not be complete
Daddy was a teacher first foremost and always but he was also a student of the Congress
he would go on to be elected to the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate
where he would serve
as Majority Leader
in nineteen sixty three Vice President Lyndon Johnson was catapulted into the U.S. presidency
All I have I would have given gladly
I would have given gladly
not to be standing here today
Lyndon Johnson would never forget his students in Cotulla and all the others he met
along the way to the White House
This is a man who
truly wanted
to make a difference in the world
He wanted to do anything he could
to level the playing field
Just five days after he was sworn in as president
Lyndon Johnson appeared before a joint session of Congress urging members
to enact a civil rights bill
no memorial oration or eulogy
but more eloquently honor
President Kennedy's memory
than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long
it was the first comprehensive civil rights legislation
in the United States since eighteen seventy five
the key to his success the ability to work across the aisle
The quote he used to say all the time from Isiah, 'Come let us reason together'
he thought that we can solve these problems together he would get people who didn't want to reason together
find reasons it was in their best interest to do so
The Johnson treatment is a sort of a one-on-one
of him dealing with people and he would get right in someone's face
once he got you in his sights and he needed your help to pass a legislative program
you were a goner because Lyndon Johnson was not going to take no for an answer
Lyndon Johnson was a doer Lyndon Johnson was a people person
the phone was his constant friend and pal if he were alive today
he would want two or three or four cellphones going at once But don't beat me on that now you can do it
if you want to you uh... hard bargain.. when you He knew he had the power and he wanted
to
make a more just society
My first job after college
was as a teacher
it never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance
the sons and daughters of those students
and to help people like them alll over this country
but now I do have that chance
and I'll let you in on a secret I mean to use it
over the next five years President Johnson would sign into law on more than one thousand
pieces of legislation
he wanted to make this a great society for all of us and Daddy didn't do things in small
measures
There's so many people whose lives have been transformed because of laws that were
passed as part of the Great Society programs his accomplishments in civil rights immigration
reform scholarship programs
Job Corps the environment Medicare
the Voting Rights Act the National Endowment for the Arts
the Head Start program the Clean Air Act
Medicaid
the Higher Education Act I think he would tell you the Voting Rights Act was the most important the most significant because
he knew that if every citizen had the opportunity to participate in the political process
the other benefits would flow
Lyndon Johnson was greatest legislator
that ever occupied the White House
and became the most powerful president
in perhaps the history of the United States in terms of passing legislation
After leaving the White House President and Lady Bird Johnson returned to their Texas
ranch
their focus was now on building a presidential library that would preserve the records of
the past and a school that would educate
a new generation of public servants
This library will show the facts
the story of
our times
with the bark off
It's the bark off that makes us a unique
institution Lyndon Johnson wanted scholars to see everything in his administration
he didn't want to hide anything
You and everyone else who sees that legacy can make yoru own judgment about it Give it your own grade
It's almost incalculable the progress that was made
at that time that he oversaw
he had accomplished so much that makes America what it is today
the legacy of what he did
is amazing
President Johnson didn't want this institution just to look he wanted it to look forward
and to address the pressing issues
of our time now
the LBJ Foundation supports the LBJ Library and Museum and the LBJ School of Public
Affairs
at the University of Texas Johnson wanted the school to be a place where young people could come
and study public policy but he wanted it to also
be a launchpad for young men and women to get involved
I'm inspired by our students I see the school as the living legacy
Every student here and faculty too wants to change the world in some way
At LBJ everybody has a sense of urgency I have got to get out so that I
can do something to impact the community and that's where I'm at
Our job is not only to give them the skills but give them the vision the understanding
of how they can use their talents
to really do something special
and Lyndon Johnson
believed in the possibility
not the impossibilities of life
at that was very much at the heart of who Lyndon Johnson was
I hope it may be said
a hundred years from now man that by working together
we helped to make our country more just for all of its people
I believe at least it will be said that we tried.