Lyndon Baines Jones Info
Born – 27th August 1908
Died – 22nd January 1973
Father – Samuel Ealy Johnson (1877 – 1937)
Mother – Rebekah Baines (1881 – 1958)
Spouse – m. 1934 – Claudia Thompson (Lady Bird) (1912 – 2007)
Children – Lynda (b. 1944), Luci (b. 1947)
President of the United States – 1963 – 1969
Predecessor – John F Kennedy – 1961 – 1963
Successor – Richard Nixon – 1969 – 1974
LBJ Timeline
1908 (27th August)
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas to Samuel Ealy Johnson and Rebekah Baines.
1910 (during)
Lyndon’s sister Rebekah was born.
1912 (during)
The family to moved Johnson City when Lyndon’s father failed as a farmer.
1913 (during)
Lyndon’s sister Josefa was born.
1914 (31st January)
Lyndon Johnson’s brother Samuel Houston Johnson was born in Johnson City, Texas.
1916 (during)
Lyndon’s sister Lucia was born.
1924 (Summer)
Lyndon Baines Johnson graduated from Johnson City High School.
1924 (Summer)
Lyndon spent time taking casual jobs in California.
1927 (Autumn)
Johnson enrolled at Southwest Texas State Teachers’ College.
1930 (Summer)
Lyndon graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers’ College. During his college years he developed an interest in politics.
1930 (September)
Lyndon took a teaching job at Pearsall High School.
1930 (Autumn)
Lyndon campaigned for Texas State Senator Welly Hopkins.
1931 (during)
Lyndon Johnson became Congressional Secretary to Richard Kleberg.
1933 (4th March)
Democrat, Franklin D Roosevelt became President of the United States. Johnson liked his politics, especially his New Deal.
1934 (17th November)
Lyndon Baines Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor who was known as Lady Bird.
1935 (during)
Johnson became National Youth Administrator for Texas. He held the post until he became a member of the House of Representatives.
1937 (10th April)
Lyndon Johnson became a member of the US House of Representatives. He held the seat for 12 years.
1940 (21st June)
Johnson became a Lieutenant Commander in the US Naval Reserve.
1941 (November)
Lyndon ran for Democratic US Senate nomination but was narrowly defeated.
1941 (7th December)
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese made a surprise bombing raid on the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war on Japan entering World War Two.
The Japanese made a surprise bombing raid on the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war on Japan entering World War Two.
1942 (Spring)
Lyndon was sent to the Southwest Pacific to compile a report for President Roosevelt on conditions in the region.
1942 (9th June)
Lyndon volunteered to be an observer for an air strike on New Guinea. He was awarded the Silver Star for his part in the mission.
1942 (7th July)
Johnson was released from active service and given a desk job in the navy.
1944 (19th March)
A daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson was born to Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.
1945 (12th April)
Franklin Roosevelt died of a heart attack. He was succeeded as president by Democrat Harry S Truman.
1945 (6th August)
The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
1947 (2nd July)
A daughter Luci Baines Johnson was born to Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.
1948 (November)
Johnson became a United States Senator for Texas.
1949 (19th October)
Lyndon became a Commander in the Navy Reserve.
1952 (November)
The Democrats lost the election but Johnson held his seat in Texas.
1953 (20th January
Republican Dwight D Eisenhower was sworn in as President of the United States.
1953 (21st June)
Johnson became Senate minority leader.
1954 (2nd November)
The Democrats won the mid term elections with a majority of one seat.
1955 (during)
Johnson became Senate majority leader.
1955 (2nd July)
Lyndon, who was a heavy smoker, suffered a massive heart attack. He immediately gave up smoking.
1958 (29th July)
Lyndon was an influential proponent of the setting up of the National Aeronautics and Space Act (NASA).
1960 (14th July)
Johnson campaigned to be the Democratic candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election but lost to John Kennedy. Kennedy offered Lyndon the Vice Presidential nomination and Lyndon accepted.
1960 (8th November)
John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson won the presidential election. Kennedy was generally referred to as JFK and Lyndon was known as LBJ.
1961 (20th January)
Lyndon Baines Johnson became Vice President to President John Kennedy. However, he frequently complained about his lack of authority and clashed with Robert Kennedy who had been appointed Attorney General.
1963 (22nd November)
President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as President on the same day.
1963 (27th November)
President Johnson addressed Congress where he called on legislators to fulfil Kennedy’s legacy and pass civil rights laws.
1963 (29th November)
LBJ announced that NASA’s Apollo Launch Operations Centre at Cape Canaveral would be renamed the John F Kennedy Space Center.
1963 (29th November)
Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination of John F Kennedy.
1963 (17th December)
The Clean Air Act was introduced to tackle pollution.
1964 (18th January)
LBJ resigned from the Navy Reserve.
1964 (23rd January)
The 24th Amendment to the US Constitution made it illegal for anyone have to pay to vote.
1964 (22nd May)
Johnson made a speech at the University of Michigan where he declared that he wanted to create a Great Society where all citizens were free of poverty.
1964 (2nd July)
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
1964 (15th July)
Barry Goldwater was declared the Republican nominee for President.
1964 (4th August)
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights workers participating in the Mississippi Freedom Summer, were found dead.
1964 (7th August)
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave Johnson the power to escalate military action in Vietnam.
1964 (26th August)
Johnson was nominated as Democratic candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election. Johnson chose Hubert Humphrey as his running mate.
1964 (30th August)
President Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act beginning his war on poverty.
1964 (27th September)
The Warren Commission reported that Kennedy was assassinated by a lone marksman.
1964 (14th October)
Martin Luther King was given the Nobel Peace Prize.
1964 (3rd November)
Lyndon Johnson was unanimously elected President of the United States.
1965 (4th January)
Johnson gave his State of the Union address. He outlined his vision for a ‘Great Society’
1965 (20th January)
LBJ was inaugurated as President of the United States.
1965 (9th February)
President Johnson began bombing North Vietnam.
1965 (21st February)
Civil Rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City.
1965 (7th March)
Civil Rights protesters from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were attacked by state troopers.
1965 (15th March)
LBJ introduced the Voting Rights Act. In a speech he called on white Americans to make the cause of African Americans their own.
1965 (28th July)
LBJ increased the number of troops in Vietnam.
1965 (30th July)
Legislation was signed creating Medicare and Medicaid.
1965 (6th August)
The Voting Rights Act passed both houses and became law. The Act banned discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests.
1965 (11th August)
The Watts Riots broke out in Los Angeles. Sparked by tension between black Americans and the police, the riots left 34 people dead and around 1,000 injured.
1966 (6th June)
James Meredith, the first black American to be accepted by the University of Mississippi, was shot dead.
1966 (October)
Lyndon Johnson made an official visit to Australia.
1967 (Summer)
The Hippie Movement began. Followers protested against the Vietnam War by preaching ‘Make Love Not War’.
1968 (30th January)
The Tet Offensive was a surprise attack on the Americans by the Vietnamese.
1968 (16th March)
The My Lai Massacre saw the mass killing of ordinary Vietnamese people by American troops. Television broadcasts of the massacre shocked the American people and provoked renewed calls for an end to the war.
1968 (31st March)
LBJ announced that he would not seek re-election. Robert Kennedy became the favourite Democratic candidate.
1968 (4th April)
Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his motel in Memphis by James Earl Ray.
1968 (5th June)
Robert Kennedy was assassinated by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan.
1968 (20th August)
The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia to end the independence movement known as Prague Spring.
1968 (25th August)
Hubert Humphrey was nominated as Democratic candidate for President.
1968 (22nd October)
Gun Control Act
This act was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. It had been introduced following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy earlier in the year. The act imposed regulations on the owning and sale of firearms. It banned the sale of rifles and shotguns by mail order and prohibited criminals, drug users and those with reduced mental capacity from owning firearms.
This act was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. It had been introduced following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy earlier in the year. The act imposed regulations on the owning and sale of firearms. It banned the sale of rifles and shotguns by mail order and prohibited criminals, drug users and those with reduced mental capacity from owning firearms.
1968 (November)
The Democrats lost the election to Republican Richard Nixon.
1969 (January
LBJ retired to his ranch in Stonewall, Texas where he began writing his first book The Choices We Face.
1969 (March)
Johnson’s book ‘The Choices We Face’ was published.
1970 (March)
Lyndon, who had gained weight and started smoking again, was taken to Brooke Army General Hospital suffering from angina.
1971 (Summer)
Lyndon, had another serious angina attack. He immediately went on a strict diet.
1971 (October)
Johnson’s book ‘The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963 – 1969’ was published.
1972 (April)
LBJ suffered another heart attack while visiting his daughter in Virginia.
1972 (Summer)
Lyndon, learned that his heart was so badly damaged that surgical intervention had to be ruled out.
1973 (22nd January)
Lyndon Baines Johnson died of heart failure in Johnson City, Texas.
First published 2017; updated and republished Aug 18 2022 @ 6:27 pm – Updated – [last-modified]
Harvard Reference for LBJ Timeline:
Heather Y Wheeler. (2017 – 2022). Lyndon B Johnson LBJ Timeline 1908-1973. https://www.thetimelinegeek.com/lyndon-b-johnson-lbj-timeline-1908-1973 Last accessed [date]