Before Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, what were Lyndon Johnson's political aspirations? Did he want to be president or was he content with the Vice President role?

by lets_get_historical

Did LBJ's views change after JFK's assassination? For instance, was he content to be VP before his assumption of power but then becoming president led to him running for the Oval Office in the next election? Or did he always harbour political ambitions of a higher role?

Subs-man

Lyndon B. Johnson was not at all content with Vice presidency, He ran alongside JFK as a democrat (JFK was a democrat) in the 1960 presidential elections. JFK obviously won the presidency with LBJ taking vice presidency.

Robert Caro states that LBJ's loss at the 1960 election humiliated him. It seems to me that LBJ relished in as much as he could (in such time of mourning) when he was given presidency upon JFK's 1963 assassination. I'm not all that familiar with the period in US political history but I recommend Robert Caro's tome of a biographical series on LBJ entitled The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1982 - 2012), so far 4/5 books have been published. The book you should read if you'll wanting to learn about LBJ's ascension to power is The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Volume 4: The Passage of Power (2012) which discusses LBJ's life between 1958 & 1964.

Hopefully this helps :)