Complete Transcript
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 422.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 422. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today, we're going to talk about the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, or as he is more popularly known, “LBJ.” Johnson was a controversial president. He was both loved and hated when he served from 1963 until 1968. We’ll talk about some of the reasons why he was both loved and hated by different parts of the American public, and as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, better known simply by his initials “LBJ,” was born in 1908, in a very small town in Texas called Stonewall. Stonewall is about 250 miles – that would be around 402 kilometers – southwest of a very large city in Texas: Dallas, Texas. Texas is located in the south central part of the United States, right on the border with Mexico. LBJ, growing up in his family, was extremely poor, like most of the other families in that town. However, he was able to get a job at a very young age, and that allowed him to pay to attend and graduate from the university.
While he was growing up, Johnson also got involved in Texas politics, like his father and grandfather before him. In 1931, he traveled to Washington as the secretary for one of the representatives from Texas, a Richard Kelberg. Johnson was so successful in his work in Washington that members of Congress, as well as the president at that time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt – who’s also known by his initials “FDR” – noticed Johnson and encouraged him to continue his career in politics. When we talk about “members of Congress,” we’re referring to elected representatives.
In the United States, we have a Congress made up of two sections: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state sends representatives – officials who represent and speak for the people in that state – to the House of Representatives. The number of representatives your state gets depends on its population, which is recalculated every 10 years using something called the “census” (census), which is when the national government counts everyone who is living in the United States. The total number of representatives currently cannot go above 435. In fact, that is the number of representatives that are elected. How they are distributed depends on the population of the states.
Each state gets two senators, however, regardless of its population. A very large state, like California with 50 million people, gets two Senators. A very small state, such as Wyoming, gets two Senators. Everyone gets the same number of senators. This was part of the compromise when the U.S. Constitution was written more than 200 years ago. The small states were afraid that the large states would dominate the national government. So, they established, or set up, a Congress with two different parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Someone who is elected to Congress is called a “congressman” (congressman). If you know that the person is a woman, you would call that person a “congresswoman,” though the older term that is still used is “congressman.”
Laws are created in Congress. Either the House of Representatives or the Senate can propose laws, although there are certain laws that must originate or begin in the House of Representatives before being approved by the Senate. But basically, either chamber – either section – can propose a new law, but both of these sections of Congress have to approve it. After they approve it, the law is sent to the president who, generally speaking, also has to approve it. Although there are situations where the president can say no and the law can still be passed – can still go into effect – but we won't talk about those exceptions here. The general process is that the House of Representatives and the Senate and the president all have to agree that they want this new law.
In 1937, Johnson ran for Congress. When I say he “ran for Congress,” I mean he tried to get elected to Congress. He was, in fact, elected to the House of Representatives. He was only 28 years old when he was elected, but he already had a very good understanding of how things got done in Washington. He, of course, had been working as a secretary to another representative before. He understood politics and how politicians worked, both from watching his politician father as a boy and from working in Washington with Representative Kelberg. Johnson served or was a member of the House of Representatives for 11 years.
Members of the House of Representatives are re-elected every two years. In the Senate, it's every six years. Johnson served in the house for 11 years, until 1948 when he was elected to the Senate. As a senator, Johnson became a very powerful politician. He was so powerful that he was elected to a leadership position. He was elected to the position of “Senate minority leader” in 1953, and later the “Senate majority leader” in 1955. This is somewhat unusual since he had only been a senator for a relatively short amount of time.
I should explain that the Senate has minority leaders and majority leaders. The “majority (majority) leader” is the leader of the political party that has the most senators in the Senate. That's normally, in American politics of the last hundred years or so, either a Republican or a Democrat. If the Democrats have more senators, then they elect a majority leader. The leader of the party that does not have a majority is, of course, the “minority (minority) leader.”
Johnson was first elected as the Senate minority leader when the Republicans controlled the Senate, and then when the Democrats controlled the Senate a few years later, he was elected the majority leader. Senators are elected every six years, but approximately one third of them are elected every two years. So, you have a third elected, and then two years later you have another third elected, and then two years later you have another third elected, roughly. There are a hundred senators, so it's not exactly one third.
As a senator, Johnson was part of two very important pieces of what we would call “legislation.” “Legislation” (legislation) refers to laws that are passed by Congress. The first piece of legislation that he was involved in that was considered important historically was the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The goal of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was to get more African Americans, black Americans, registered to vote. This was a small step towards the larger goal, which was to help eliminate discrimination against African Americans, discrimination that was still very common in many parts of the United States, including in the southern part of the United States, from which Johnson came.
“Civil (civil) rights laws” are laws that try to protect minorities, that try to make sure that everyone has the same legal rights. Even though there were already laws that were supposed to protect African Americans from being treated badly and unfairly, these laws were not always obeyed. African Americans and other nonwhites were not treated equally in many places. Their children had to attend or go to different schools. There was discrimination in terms of hiring, in terms of getting jobs, and so forth. Often, African Americans and other minority Americans were prevented from voting in elections.
This period of American history, sometimes called the “segregation period,” in some ways began after the Civil War in the nineteenth century and continued on at least until LBJ became president and passed new laws, or helped pass new legislation to end the segregation. The word “segregation” (segregation) comes from the verb “to segregate,” which means to separate people into different groups – to treat them, in this case, “unequally,” to treat one group better than the other. That's the practical meaning of the word “segregation.”
Beginning especially in the late nineteenth century, there was the idea that you could segregate people based on their skin color – based on their race – and as long as you treated them the same, it was okay. There was a famous Supreme Court case in 1896 that said just that. The Supreme Court is the highest legal authority when it comes to interpreting what the U.S. Constitution means, our basic law.
However, many people felt that segregation was wrong, and eventually laws were passed by people like LBJ in the 1940s and 50s to end segregation and the separation of people by color. It used to be, before these laws, that in some places there were separate bathrooms for African Americans and white people. The laws that LBJ tried to pass – and did pass – ended these practices, ended this practice of segregation.
While a senator, LBJ also worked on another important piece of legislation: the Space Act of 1958. This was one of the first laws that Congress passed to provide money for space travel – for exploring outer space. In 1960, Johnson was asked to be the vice presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. He was asked by the Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, who is also known by his initials, “JFK.” Together, JFK and LBJ won the election in 1960. They defeated the candidate for the Republicans, a Richard Nixon, who was later to become president after Johnson. In any case, as a vice president, Johnson did a lot of work promoting the United States around the world.
In 1963, the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. The word “assassinated” (assassinated) means killed. We use the verb “to assassinate,” especially when we’re talking about political leaders who are killed. JFK was assassinated on November second, 1963. When the president is killed, the vice president becomes president, and that's exactly what happened. LBJ became president that same day. He went on and tried to continue some of the ideas that Kennedy had started. Most importantly, Johnson decided to continue fighting for civil rights, and so in 1964 he helped pass another law, another civil rights act – a set of laws to help end discrimination in the United States.
LBJ’s Civil Rights Act of 1964 was attempting to end racial discrimination – when people are treated differently because of the color of their skin. It was one of the most difficult and most important laws that Johnson signed. It’s a law that people still talk about today as being an important force in changing America's views about race and discrimination. Johnson was also very interested in trying to end poverty. “Poverty” (poverty) means the condition of being extremely poor, of not having enough money to eat or to rent a place to live or to buy clothing. Johnson knew that there were still many places in the United States where there was extreme poverty, where people were still very poor. Johnson proposed a series of programs that were given the general name of the “Great Society.”
It's very popular in American politics, when a politician wants to propose considerable or large changes in the way that the government works, to give them a name, to give them a name that everyone can identify. Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the 1930s had his “New Deal” programs. LBJ gave the name “Great Society” to the programs that he implemented to try to end poverty. Many of these programs try to give money and help to people who are poor. Today, people argue about whether these programs really did help reduce poverty, but at the time, everyone who supported LBJ's Great Society thought that it was something that was going to end, or at least help end, poverty in the United States. In fact, LBJ used the expression “War on Poverty.”
However, it was a real war that caused the most problems for LBJ. People loved his economic policies, but many people hated his foreign policies – his policies about how the U.S would deal with other countries. This was particularly true in Vietnam. The country of Vietnam was then separated into two parts: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The United States, beginning with John Kennedy, began to get involved militarily in Vietnam in 1964. When Johnson became president, he increased American involvement in Vietnam. Some people say that he never really wanted to continue in Vietnam, but he didn't think that there was a good way to end American participation without causing more problems.
1964 was an election year, and Johnson was, in fact, elected as president in 1964. He ran against a very conservative Republican named Barry Goldwater. He won the election in what we would call a “landslide.” A “landslide” (landslide) is literally when ground – when earth, when dirt – comes from the top of a hill or a mountain and slides down. That happens sometimes here in Southern California when we get a lot of rain. But in politics, a “landslide” means you won the election with a very large percentage of votes. That's what happened to LBJ.
Because he won his election in a landslide, he was able to help pass a lot of important bills, a lot of important laws that were part of his Great Society program, including in 1965 a law relating to healthcare, primarily for those who were older. This is what we now call “Medicare.” In 1965, he passed or helped pass another law that promoted civil rights, what was called the “Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
Despite his successes, however, the American involvement in Vietnam – in the Vietnam War – became more and more of a problem politically for Johnson. Johnson was sending more troops – more American soldiers – to South Vietnam, something many Americans were against. We don't have time to go over the details of the Vietnam War here, but it was very unpopular among many people in the U.S., and this caused problems politically for Johnson. In fact, the war was so unpopular in 1968 that many, especially young, Americans were protesting. They were going out in the street and shouting and saying that they wanted the war to end.
In part because of this political problem that Johnson had, he decided not to run for re-election in 1968. Instead, his vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey, ran for president. He lost to the Republican, Richard M. Nixon. Johnson returned to his home in Texas and just a few years later, in 1973, he died of a heart attack, just five years after leaving the presidency. He was only 65 years old. Unfortunately, Johnson believed that he would only be remembered for his role in the Vietnam War and not for the great work he did for civil rights and for trying to end poverty.
However, Americans nowadays, when they think of LBJ, don't think of him primarily or at least only as being associated with the American military involvement in Vietnam. Most people recognize the great work that he did, especially in the civil rights legislation.
Now let’s answer a few of the questions that you have sent to us.
Our first question comes from Jun (Jun) in Japan. Jun wants to know the definitions of a couple of related words: “foreigner” and “alien.” Someone who is a “foreigner” (foreigner) is someone from a country not your own – someone from another country, typically, someone who was born in or who is coming from another country. An “alien” (alien) can also refer to someone who is a citizen, or official member, of another country who is in a different country. The word “alien” also has a very different meaning: someone who is from another planet, someone who doesn't come from Earth. Of course, no one that I know has ever actually met a real alien. Although, I think my neighbor might be an alien. I think so, I'm not sure. Anyway, “alien” has that additional meaning.
There are a couple of other terms that we use for someone who is living in a country not their own or not the one they were born in. One of those terms is “foreign-born.” “To be foreign-born” means to be, of course, born in another country. However, if you say someone is “foreign-born,” that doesn't mean they're not a citizen of this country or wherever they happen to be. You can be “foreign-born” and still be a citizen of the United States. A fourth term we sometimes hear is “foreign national.” A “foreign national” is someone who is definitely not a citizen of the country that they are visiting or living in.
Finally, especially in schools in the United States, you will sometimes hear the word “newcomer.” A “newcomer” (newcomer) is anyone who is new to a certain group or environment. In a lot of American schools, the term “newcomer” is used to refer basically to children of immigrants who have recently arrived to the United States. In fact, there used to be schools – there may still be, here in Los Angeles – that were just for newcomers for the first year or so, to help them adapt and get used to the American education system.
You have to be careful about which of these words you use and in which circumstances you use them. “Foreigner,” for example, can be used neutrally, just to refer to anyone who is not an American citizen. However, in recent years it has taken on a very negative association. In some situations, people may complain about too many foreigners living in this country. That's usually a case where the word “foreigner” is being used as a criticism, in a negative way. Unfortunately, it’s hard to think of a really good neutral word that will work in every circumstance.
“Alien” is a word that the U.S. government has used to describe someone who is not a citizen of the U.S. and living here, but many people consider that a negative description as well. “Foreign national” is usually not a problem, but it is not applicable. It doesn't apply to – it isn't relevant to – a lot of people here living in the U.S. “Foreign national” has a more diplomatic, official sound to it. Some people also use the term “illegal alien” to describe someone who is living in the United States without official permission from the U.S. government to live here. Most people try to avoid that term nowadays. Instead of saying “illegal alien,” they may use some other expression – someone “born in another country.”
“Foreign-born,” as I mentioned, is not very precise. It's not very specific, since you can be “foreign-born” and still be a citizen of the United States. “Newcomer” is used in schools, but not very commonly to describe people born in another country and living, for example, here in the U.S. Only in the schools will you typically see or hear that word.
Montse (Montse) in Spain wants to know the difference between two very common phrases: “provided that” and “assuming that.” Let's start with “provided that,” or simply “provided.” “Provided that” means on the condition or on the understanding that something else is true or something else will happen. For example, “Provided that we arrive by ten o'clock, we will have enough time to get on the 10:20 train.” If we arrive by ten o'clock, then we will be able to take the 10:20 train. “Provided that” is sort of like an “if/then” situation. “Provided that we have enough money, we are going to take a trip to Paris, London, Tokyo, and Mexico City.” “Provided that we have enough money” – if we have enough money, which I'm sure I will not.
“Assuming that” is similar. It also means on the condition or on the understanding that something else is true. However, we usually use “assuming” or “assuming that” in cases where we are making an argument, where we are trying to talk about, perhaps, general policies or general situations. “Assuming that our economy gets better next year, will we have enough money to open a new store?” “Assuming that,” here, is stating the condition under which you are operating. That is, it states the assumptions – and hence the word “assuming” – that you have about a certain situation.
In most situations, you can use either expression. “Provided that” is used a little more commonly in negotiations, when you are asking someone to give you something in return for something you're giving them. “Assuming that” is used more to talk about what we would describe as “hypothetical situations,” “possible situations” – “What would happen if this were true?”
Finally, Hani (Hani) from Jordan wants to know the difference between the word “urgency” and “emergency.” “Urgency” (urgency) refers to a situation that requires immediate action or immediate attention. We often use the adjective “urgent” to describe something that has to be done right now, something that has to be done immediately. “I have an urgent request of you.” I have something that I need to ask you right now, and you need to answer right now. Or, “I have an urgent message.” I have something to tell you that you must hear immediately.
“Emergency” (emergency) is a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation that requires something be done immediately. So, there's a connection between the two words. However, you can have something that's “urgent” that's not an “emergency.” To be an emergency, it has to be typically very serious, very dangerous – something bad will happen – and in most cases, unexpected. When you have an earthquake and you have a lot of damage to a city, that's an emergency. That's a situation that's very serious, that’s very unexpected, and that you have to try to do something about right away.
Something that is “urgent” isn't necessarily something that happened suddenly, whereas “emergencies” usually describe situations that happen suddenly and unexpectedly. You could say that every “emergency” involves some “urgency,” but not everything that is “urgent” is an “emergency.”
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.
ESL Podcast’s English Café was written and produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Tse. Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
Glossary
representative – a person who is elected to the House of Representatives in Congress to speak and vote for the people of his or her hometown
* The representative from New York City votes on laws that he or she thinks are important to people who live in New York City.
senator – a person who is elected to the Senate in Congress to speak and vote for the people of his or her state
* The senator from California introduced laws to protect the oceans.
congressman/congresswoman – any representative and/or senator who serves in Congress
* Congressmen and congresswomen get information and ask questions before voting on proposed laws.
Senate Minority Leader – a senator who is the leader of the political party that does not have a majority (more people than the other group) in the Senate
* Today, the Senate Minority Leader is a Republican because there are 42 Republicans and 52 Democrats in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader – a senator who is the leader of the political party that has a majority (more people than the other group) in the Senate
* The Senate Majority Leader works with the other members of his political party to get laws passed that are important to them.
legislation – a law or group of laws; an act or bill voted on by Congress and, if passed, may be signed into law by the President
* In 1920, Congress passed legislation that allowed women to vote in elections.
civil rights – the right or ability of every person to be treated equally and have the same opportunities as everyone else in society
* The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed all people, regardless of the color of their skin, to go to any public school they wanted.
segregation – requiring people to use different buildings and separate services, go to different schools, and be treated differently because of their skin color
* During segregation, African-Americans were required to use different water fountains and entrances to buildings.
to be assassinated – for an important person to be killed by someone; to be murdered for political or religious reasons
* John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 when someone shot him while he was riding in a car in Dallas, Texas.
poverty – having little or no money, and not being able to pay for a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear and/or other things one needs every day
* Many people who live in poverty do not have enough money for food.
racial discrimination – a situation where people are treated badly and/or unfairly because of the color of their skin
* Before the 1960’s, most people who weren’t white suffered racial discrimination in one form or another in daily life.
landslide – receiving many more votes than the other person running in an election; winning with much more support than others
* Jamie had a landslide victory in the election for class president when she got 80 votes and Paul only got 20.
foreigner – someone from another country; someone born in or are coming from another country
* This is a popular bar with foreigners, especially those from Britain.
alien – someone belonging to another country; a being from another planet
* Fill out this form if you’re not a citizen, but an alien from another country.
provided (that) – on the condition that; on the understanding that; if something happens or some condition is satisfied then
* We should be able to get to the theater before the play begins provided that we leave right now.
assuming (that) – on the condition that; on the understanding that; if something happens or some condition is satisfied then
* Assuming that we have good weather this weekend, we should be able to finish putting a new roof on the house.
urgency – feeling as though something requires immediate action or attention
* There’s no urgency in getting this report done. It’s not due for another month.
emergency – a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation that requires something be done immediately
* This is an emergency! I have a test in 20 minutes and my car won’t start!
What Insiders Know
The Harlem Riot of 1964
Just two weeks after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the most serious “riots” (violence caused by a crowd of people) took place in New York City that is now called The Harlem Riot of 1964. The riot was “sparked by” (caused by) the death of a 15-year-old African American named James Powell. Powell was shot three times by a police officer, Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan. The “incident” (event) “outraged” (shocked and made angry) many people.
The riots lasted seven days, from July 16 to July 22. A total of 4,000 New Yorkers participated in the riots “vandalizing” (causing damage or destroying property), “looting” (stealing from) stores, and even attacking the New York City Police Department. By the end of the riots on July 22, 118 people had been “injured” (hurt), 465 “arrested” (taken officially by the police), and one person dead.
There is “conflicting” (not in agreement) information about what really happened between James Powell and Lieutenant Gilligan. “Witnesses” (people who saw what happened) said that Powell and his friends were throwing bottles at a man named Patrick Lynch, a “superintendent” (person whose job is to take care of property) of three apartments in the mostly white area of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The superintendent was seen “hosing down” (using a water hose to spray water on) black students and “insulting” (saying hurtful and mean things to) them. This made Powell and his friends angry and they decided to “retaliate” (take action in response).
Lieutenant Gilligan was then “off-duty” (not working at one’s job) at that time and shot Powell three times – the third “bullet” (small piece of metal shot from a gun) killed him “instantly” (immediately).