A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 19

Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency after JFK's death and immediately adopted a more vigorous commitment to Vietnam.  The force we sent went from a few thousand "advisers" to a major military commitment, which continued to grow over the next few years.

Johnson succeeded in passing some major legislation in civil rights and in getting Medicare passed.  Ronald Reagan was busily warning the country about the evils of Medicare.  We had racist diehards such as Governor George Wallace proclaiming the evils of the federal government enforcing civil rights and encroaching on states' rights.

Johnson ran against the very right wing Senator Barry Goldwater and crushed Goldwater in the presidential election in 1964.  The Warren Commission was appointed by President Johnson to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy and the Commission concluded that the very strange and previously nondescript Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin.  The Commission's report didn't satisfy many people and questions still linger fifty years later.

Vietnam turned quickly into a quagmire.  The military kept telling us that light was at the end of the tunnel, but the war expanded and increased in ferocity.  Lots of American boys, mostly poor boys, were coming home in body bags.

More to come