The New York Times: Reviews Landslide by Jonathan Darman, the article notes the following, " What makes Mr. Darman’s book so compelling is his focus on the roughly 1,000 days between Kennedy’s assassination and the midterm elections in 1966, which not only encapsulated the rise and fall of Johnson but also the emergence of Reagan as a national political figure "
Lets Get Real:
Two Presidents, one great the other seen as a failure, if you had asked about them in the early 1960s the reverse argument would have been made, Reagan's film career was coming to a close, while Johnson become President on the death of President Kennedy. The Johnson record on the domestic front is impressive, the Great Society and his various civil rights reforms. Then we come to his FALL, that was the Vietnam War and the failure of of the US to win, it can be argued that Vietnam bought down Johnson and Nixon, the voters do not like losers, Nixon was not helped by Watergate. Thus in most polls Johnson shares the same low numbers as Nixon. Then we come to election of Reagan in 1966 and backlash against the liberal reform in various sectors of civic society. Reagan was a dark horse candidate for President in 1968, but he lost to Nixon, then he challenged President Ford, and lost by only a few votes. Then Reagan was saved by the disaster that was the Carter Presidency, which gave us the revolution in Iran and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The 1st Reagan term, saw tax cuts and the increase in defence spending and Reagan calling the USSR an EVIL EMPIRE. The Reagan found a Soviet Leader he could work with, they almost came close to the removal of ALL nuclear weapons, thus we see the end of the Cold War. Reagan or Kennedy as still seen as the great US Presidents by the public. Will have a read of the Darman book when it comes to the UK.
