Johnson followed Kennedy admirably

I was 16 years old when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was the first of three tragic assassinations during the ’60s; Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were also assassinated during those turbulent times. Those were sad moments in our history. But 50 years later, I can’t help but feel that the aftermath and result of JFK’s assassination transformed America in ways that have not only dramatically affected my life, but the lives of millions of Americans then, now and in the future. I’m referring to the elevation of Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the presidency.

Johnson was the most effective president of my lifetime, despite being mired in an inherited war that eventually drove him out of office. No president in my lifetime has come even close to his record of legislative achievement, including Great Society anti-poverty programs like Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid, landmark civil rights and voter protection laws, the passage of environmental protection acts, and the creation of laws that protect consumers. These often-considered-as liberal programs have not only stood the test of time, but most have earned the support of hard-nosed political conservatives. President Reagan told his budget folks to zero out Head Start; they came back telling him that Head Start was one of the most cost-effective programs run by the federal government and should not be axed. Even today’s anti-Obamacare attack dogs have the sense to support Medicare. And when I travel to the South, there are only men’s and women’s public washrooms, not separate ones for African-Americans.

Fifty years later, I’m thankful that the change that JFK promised was not extinguished by his untimely assassination. Instead, it was turned into enduring reality by LBJ.

George Peternel

Arlington Heights