Lyndon Baines Johnson and Martin Luther King Junior Essay

For Junior, his decision to pursue civil rights for the people of color despite immense resistance made him become an American hero. Being granted the noble peace price in 1964 marked the epitome of his success. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a celebrated American president who is famously known for having played a critical role in US involvement in the Vietnam war. Consequently, being selected as the person of the year by the Time’s magazine was a form of ridicule, since the Vietnam war was a historical failure. In history, one comes to appreciate the role that Time’s magazines played in shaping Martin Luther King Junior’s award of the Nobel peace prize while condemning Lyndon Baines Johnson for not yielding to advice against the Vietnamese war. The historical events associated with Junior’s Time’s award include the non-violent march, which was quite successful despite an encounter with the police.

The march, which started from Selma all the way to Montgomery, became successful after three attempts, and the Times considered the persistence of Junior to be a rare gesture. It is noteworthy that the civil rights movement was also linked to Junior’s concern about issues of poverty and deeper criticism of the war in Vietnam. Junior’s personal convictions that he could use non-violence strategies to convince those in authority to grant civil rights to the black was noteworthy. It is acknowledged that as a Christian, he used his faith as a basis upon which he could achieve greater freedoms for African Americans. Moreover, social welfare programs in addition to developing housing were considered essential for his fame. Despite the immense successes that had been associated within the first years of his presidency, many people consider that the decision to be named as the person of the year by Times was due to his participation in the Vietnam war.

Hence, unlike Junior who was considered from the ‘better’ side, Johnson was perceived from the ‘worse’ side, due to the fact that his advisers and Americas, in general, were against the war, although he insisted to proceed with it. Apparently, Time defined Johnson as a vastly complicated person, who was not only unpleasant but failed to attract the kind of loyalty that his predecessors such as Truman and Roosevelt had enjoyed (Time, 2018). In this regard, Johnson became a president who had many critics. Lyrics such as,’ "Hey! Hey! L. B. J. How many kids did you kill today!’, exist in the song (Rouner, 2012). Such lyrics indicate the causalities that Americans experienced as a consequence of the Vietnam war. Lyrics like, "The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in, and London is Calling" justify Britain's desire for a prosperous and peaceful society (Hello3heihei, 2009).

Before the release of the song, England has faced years of profound inflation and unemployment cases that dwindled the economy of the time. In addition, the multiple strikes witnessed among trade unions left London dysfunctional and in a state that could take tremendous resources to repair. Equally, the late 1970s witnessed one of the coldest winters that have never been experienced in decades. The incidents mentioned above only depicted the unending misery of England. These challenges are explained in the context of the working class citizens where Jo and Geoffrey; the principal performers, lead to the rise of conflicting opinions regarding sexuality and gender roles in their given community (Richardson, 1961). The two struggle to identify with the working class group. Jo who is a pregnant teenager struggles to get a suitable partner (Geoffrey) who is a homosexual, which subject the relationship to face disapproval from the society.

Homosexuality is considered illegal at the particular time and could send someone to jail. The various circumstances make Jo fear for her future attribute to failing to get a heterosexual partner including no settling down with her unborn baby's father. Retrieved from https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=lotkzHsIuoA Newyorker. Dream Songs: The Music of the March on Washington. Retrieved from newyorker: https://www. houstonpress. com/music/6-songs-for-lbj-day-ones-about-his-dick-6491185 Time. Lyndon B. Johnson: 1964, 1967. Retrieved from time: http://content.