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Question: Explain why President Johnson was successful at passing social legislation that Kennedy had not been able to!?
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Because President Kennedy died before he had a chance to finish what he started!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

First, because Johnson had a lot of power in the Senate, from his years as majority leader, and he knew how it worked, and who to talk to to get a bill passed!. Second, because of the passage of time and events!. Some of the social legislation you are talking about, like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, Congress was not quite ready to pass until things happened in the Civil Rights movement to create momentum for passage!. So you probably have to credit people like Martin Luther King for doing things to allow these bills to get passed!. They probably would have passed if Kennedy had not been killed!.

But if you are talking about Medicare and Medicaid, those were always dreams of Johnson's and it is not clear those would have happened if Johnson had not been president!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The "social legislation" of which you speak was actually passed by a republican congress!. Amazingly enough, bills such as the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 were filibustered by the democrats!. Johnson himself (along with Sen!. John F!. Kennedy) tried to stop the Civil Rights Bill of 1957!. When he/they found they could not, they so watered it down with verbiage that it was rendered ineffective!. For that, both were called on the carpet by President Eisenhower!. As difficult as it may be to grasp, try and understand that the democrats have never (I repeat NEVER) been in favor of reforms that would help the minorities!. This might also go along way in explaining why their "social programs" are so enslaving!.
Yes, Johnson DID task congress to pass these bills!. But ultimately, if you look at the bottom line, he had not thought through his dream!. He had no idea of how he was going to pay for any of it!. That's why most of it was repealed when Nixon came into office!. Johnson was simply trying to out-o Roosevelt and his "New Deal!." Which by the way, a fair amount of, we are still paying for today!.

Sadly, the REAL social reforms came by way of Eisenhower in '57 when he desegregated both the military AND the public schools -- the latter required the use of the National Guard!. It's sad, because so many are misinformed and simply fail to know the truth!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Kennedy was great at expressing ideals and principles but pretty poor at working with Congress!. Johnson, on the other hand, was a master at the latter!. Armed with the momentum arising from the assassination of JFK, he wheeled and dealed and got lots of stuff through!.
Johnson may not have been the most likeable guy, but he sure knew how to be a president!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Johnson was a southerner and at the time anyone from north of the Mason Dixon line was seen as a "foreigner" in much of the south!. Johnson could speak to the Southern Democrats who had been holding up the whole process and get them to change their votes!. Kennedy, as a Norther "blue blood" who never had to really work for a living didn't impress the hardworking southerners of the early 1960s!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

johnson treatment
he knew everything about every member of senate!. he would call them meet them and badger and cajole them until they saw things his way!. he was a southerner and that helped get the southern senators to agree to the programs!. he was also a wheeler dealer so those same southern senators probably got some federal pork for there state!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Simple!. Johnson had an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress and JFK did not!.Www@QuestionHome@Com