My Grandmother's Involvement In Vietnam

My Grandmother was a young mother when Lyndon B. Johnson came to the presidency in a way that shocked the entire nation. Understandably, she most strongly remembers the image of young Jackie Kennedy standing on Air Force One, covered in her husband’s blood, as she watched Johnson take the Oath of Office. She also remembers various conspiracy theories at the time, claiming that after feeling held back by America’s Golden Boy, Kennedy, Johnson took it upon himself to have Kennedy assassinated. Aside from that, my Grandmother mostly remembers the horror that Johnson inflicted upon her own personal life with his involvement in the Vietnam War, or as my Grandmother still refers to it, “A war we knew we could not win.”

As the middle of fourteen siblings, my Grandmother had a life filled with hard work in her rural town outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents worked as subsistence farmers, growing only enough food to feed their large family with little leftover to sell in town. Her upbringing leads her to have conflicting views regarding Johnson. As a person, she remembers him as a bullying politician who “dropped more f-bombs in one conversation” than my Grandmother had heard in her young life. She remembers his ruthless personality and ability to control the conversation, but also the side that

presented him as a loving father to his children and apparent caring husband to Ladybird. This dual view continues with Johnson’s politics, where my Grandmother praises certain programs like Head Start and the Beautification of America, but condemns others.
My Grandmother spoke fondly of the good intentions behind Johnson’s Great Society, such as the advances in the Civil Rights Movement and the effort he made to help those who could not help themselves, however her tone turns sour when she speaks of how his reforms affect her now.

During Johnson’s presidency, she held the most frustration with the new Social Security system. As she recalls, Social Security kept public taxes from going to other work projects, like fixing up the roads of New Orleans, a city in constant need of repair. Furthermore, she believed he had good policies in the beginning, however claims that the Vietnam War shrouded his entire

legacy.
While my Grandmother pulled herself out of poverty and raised four young boys mostly as a single mother, she recalls having to watch as others made more money than her by not working and instead living off government checks. She also watched her brothers ship off to Vietnam and as her hard earned income fell victim to tax programs like Medicare and Medicaid that she now cannot benefit from. Her personal situation and the frustrations she faced from Johnson’s later years and lasting impact causes her to view him in a negative light. Overall, she believes that the programs initiated were originally good, but quickly fell to abuse that the government could not monitor.
Johnson’s Great Society affected many people with different circumstances and perspectives, leading each person to view him in a completely different light. With no doubt, my Grandmother’s personal situation shrouds her memory, and she admits that the errors of the Vietnam War often cause her to disregard the good Johnson initially did.