LYNDON B JOHNSON ================ Johnson Was Born On Aug. 27, 1908, N

LYNDON B JOHNSON ================ Johnson was born on Aug. 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Tex., the eldest son of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father, a struggling farmer and cattle speculator in the hill country of Texas, provided only an uncertain income for his family. Politically active, Sam Johnson served five terms in the Texas legislature. His mother had varied cultural interests and placed high value on education; she was fiercely ambitious for her children. Johnson attended public schools in Johnson City and received a B.S. degree from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. He then taught for a year in Houston before going to Washington in 1931 as secretary to a Democratic Texas congressman, Richard M. Kleberg. During the next 4 years Johnson developed a wide network of political contacts in Washington, D.C. On Nov. 17, 1934, he married Claudia Alta Taylor, known as "Lady Bird." A warm, intel ligent, ambitious woman, she was a great asset to Johnson's career. They had two daughters, Lynda Byrd, born in 1944, and Luci Baines, born in 1947. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House. Johnson greatly admired the president, who named him, at age 27, to head the National Youth Administration in Texas. This job, which Johnson held from 1935 to 1937, entailed helping young people obtain employment and schooling. It confirmed Johnson's faith in the positive potential of government and won for him a group of supporters in Texas. In 1937, Johnson sought and won a Texas seat in Congress, where he championed public works, reclamation, and public power programs. When war came to Europe he backed Roosevelt's efforts to aid the Allies. During World War II he served a brief tour of active duty with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific (1941-42) but returned to Capitol Hill when Roosevelt recalled members of Congress from active duty. Johnson continue d to support Roosevelt's military and foreign-policy programs. During the 1940s, Johnson and his wife developed profitable business ventures, including a radio station, in Texas. In 1948 he ran for the U.S. Senate, winning the Democratic party primary by only 87 votes. (This was his second try; in 1941 he had run for the Senate and lost to a conservative opponent.) The opposition accused him of fraud and tagged him "Landslide Lyndon." Although challenged, unsuccessfully, in the courts, he took office in 1949. Senator and Vice-President. --------------------------- Johnson moved quickly into the Senate hierarchy. In 1953 he won the job of Senate Democratic leader. The next year he was easily re-elected as senator and returned to Washington as majority leader, a post he held for the next 6 years despite a serious heart attack in 1955. The Texan proved to be a shrewd, skillful Senate leader. A consistent opponent of civil rights legi slation until 1957, he developed excellent personal relationships with powerful conservative Southerners. A hard worker, he impressed colleagues with his attention to the details of legislation and his willingness to compromise. In the late 1950s, Johnson began to think seriously of running for the presidency in 1960. His record had been fairly conservative, however. Many Democratic liberals resented his friendly association with the Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower; others considered him a tool of wealthy Southwestern gas and oil interests. Either to soften this image as a conservative or in response to inner conviction, Johnson moved slightly to the left on some domestic issues, especially on civil rights laws, which he supported in 1957 and 1960. Although these laws proved ineffective, Johnson had demonstrated that he was a very resourceful Senate leader. To many northern Democrats, however, Johnson remained a sectional candidate. The presidential nomination of 1960 went to Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kennedy, a northern Roman Catholic, then selected Johnson as his running mate to balance the Democratic ticket. In November 1960 the Democrats defeated the Republican candidates, Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, by a narrow margin. Johnson was appointed by Kennedy to head the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, a post that enabled him to work on behalf of blacks and other minorities. As vice-president, he also undertook some missions abroad, which offered him some limited insights

The variety of hoaxes essay

The variety of hoaxes essay The variety of hoaxes essay The variety of hoaxes essayThe museum of Hoax offers a variety of hoaxes which stirred the public in the past. At this point, the hoaxes depicting images of the Loch Ness monster, which are mainly unclear black and white photos depicting what was presumably treated as the Loch Ness monster. However, neither photo has been approved by scientists that means that they cannot be viewed as the evidence of the existence of the monster. At the same time, these hoaxes show the full extent to which the public was concerned with the existence of the Loch Ness monster. Basically, hoaxes are not credible for any critical mind because there are no clear photos made, while the only one made by Anthony Shiels is not credible because of the reputation of the photographer. At the same time, hoaxes are not credible because, in scientific terms, they cannot be treated as the evidence reliable enough to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. In fact, there should be more evidence of the existence of the monster aside of the photos made in different time throughout the 20th century. In addition, the Loch Ness monster has become the tourist attraction and later photos are apparently fake or staged. In fact, when hoaxes are studied in details, it becomes evident that there are no clear indications that they depict the monster. For instance, if one looks at those photos without captions or without having any background information about them, one would never guess that it is supposed to be a monster depicted on those photos. This is why hoaxes of the past attempting to persuade the public that the Loch Ness monster does exist are not credible but still they stirred the public a lot and made the Loch Ness one of the main attractions of Scotland.

Philosophies of social science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Philosophies of social science - Essay Example The essence of Kuhn’s ideas when it comes to a scientific revolution is a paradigm shift which causes fundamental changes in the way science is approached by the scientists of the time. A scientific revolution as defined by Doppelt (2006) is: â€Å"A large-scale change in the fundamental concepts, theories, or methods that scientists in some area of inquiry employ to understand the course of nature. Such a change is also thought to be revolutionary in so far as it provokes similarly dramatic alterations in the way lay-people see the world around them (Doppelt, 2006, Pg. 3)†. The Cartesian revolution certainly fits the bill in this case since it brought about significant changes in how fundamental concepts were addressed. For instance the approach taken by Descartes to the world around him was unique to the extent that he wanted to see everything as seeing it for the first time. The ideas presented by Descartes can be summed as being in doubt about everything which is not already known to him in a perfect sense. The only thing that he does not doubt is his personal ability to be cognizant of himself and his ability to think about the things which surround him (Pessin, 2007). However, his notion of science begins with a disbelief in the senses which is certainly a paradigm shift from the earlier natural philosophers such as Plato or Aristotle who had firm belief in some value of their senses. Descartes doubts that anything is actually as his senses tell him as they are. Essentially, all that Descartes is surrounded by could be a just dream or created imagery which is forced upon him by some other (more powerful) being while the reality of things could be quite different (Pessin, 2007). The doubts about his senses and the material world as expressed by Descartes go far beyond the simple doubts a person would have about being what day it is or what date it was a week ago. The scientific approach taken