Lyndon B. Johnson"LBJ"

Lyndon B. Johnson Nickname: "LBJ" (his initials became his popular shorthand, echoing FDR's own initialism). He was also known as "Landslide Lyndon," a somewhat sarcastic nod to his razor-thin (and disputed) 1948 Senate primary win in Texas. Short bio: Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) was the 36th President of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He assumed the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was elected in his own right in 1964 in a landslide victory. Before the presidency, he had a long career representing Texas, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, where he became one of the most powerful and effective Senate Majority Leaders in history. As president, he pushed through sweeping domestic legislation known as the "Great Society," including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. His presidency was ultimately overshadowed by the escalating and increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, which led him to decline to seek re-election in 1968.