Lyndon B. Johnson.
If you just wanted the name, there it is. LBJ was the man in the Oval Office for every single day of 1967. But honestly, just saying his name doesn't really tell you the whole story of what it was like to have him leading the country during one of the most chaotic years in American history. 1967 wasn't a normal year. It was the "Summer of Love," but it was also the year of some of the deadliest race riots in the U.S. and the peak of the Vietnam War.
When you ask who is the president in 1967, you're looking at a guy who was basically trapped between his massive dreams for a "Great Society" and the nightmare of a jungle war he couldn't seem to win. Johnson had been in office since the JFK assassination in 1963, and by '67, the honeymoon phase was long, long over. He was a Texas-sized personality, a man who would lean over people—the famous "Johnson Treatment"—to get what he wanted.
He was powerful. He was tired. And he was increasingly isolated.
The Man Behind the 1967 Presidency
Lyndon Baines Johnson didn't grow up with a silver spoon. He was a product of the Texas Hill Country, and he never forgot what it was like to be poor. That’s why his presidency was so focused on domestic reform. By the time 1967 rolled around, he had already passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But 1967 was different.
The momentum was stalling. While Johnson was the president in 1967, he was dealing with a Congress that was starting to sour on his spending. He wanted to fund "guns and butter"—meaning he wanted to pay for the war in Vietnam while also paying for massive social programs like Medicare and Medicaid. You can't really do both forever without breaking something.
His daily routine was grueling. He’d wake up early, read the casualty reports from Vietnam, and then spend his day arm-twisting Senators. He was a master of the legislative process, maybe the best the White House has ever seen, but even his skills were being pushed to the limit.
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What Was Happening While LBJ Was in Charge?
To understand the 1967 presidency, you have to look at the world around the White House. It was a pressure cooker.
In June, the Six-Day War broke out in the Middle East. Johnson had to manage the U.S. response to the conflict between Israel and its neighbors while trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union. It was a high-stakes poker game.
Then came the "Long Hot Summer."
Riots broke out in Newark and Detroit. These weren't just small protests; they were full-scale urban collapses. In Detroit alone, 43 people died. Johnson had to send in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions—federal troops—to restore order on American soil. It’s hard to overstate how much that hurt him. Here was a man who genuinely believed his Great Society programs would fix the roots of racial inequality, yet the cities were burning.
The Vietnam Shadow
You can't talk about who is the president in 1967 without talking about Vietnam. It’s the elephant in the room. By 1967, the U.S. had about 485,000 troops in Vietnam. The casualties were mounting, and so was the domestic opposition.
- General William Westmoreland was telling the public there was "light at the end of the tunnel."
- The public wasn't buying it.
- Protests were becoming more frequent and more violent.
In October 1967, the March on the Pentagon happened. Over 100,000 protesters gathered in Washington D.C. LBJ stayed inside the White House, watching the crowds. He was becoming a prisoner in his own home. He couldn't go to most universities to give speeches because the "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, LBJ how many kids did you kill today?" chants were too loud.
The Thurgood Marshall Appointment
One of the most significant things Johnson did in 1967—and something people often overlook—was nominating Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court.
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It was a bold move. Marshall was the first African American justice. In a year defined by racial tension, Johnson didn't blink. He knew there would be a fight in the Senate, but he used every bit of his political capital to make it happen. On August 30, 1967, the Senate confirmed Marshall. It was a massive win for the Civil Rights movement and a defining moment for the LBJ legacy.
The Health of the President
Johnson’s health was always a concern, too. He’d had a massive heart attack in the 1950s, and the stress of 1967 was visible on his face. He looked a decade older than he actually was. He worked late into the night, often fueled by coffee and a relentless drive to fix everything.
His Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, was in a tough spot. Humphrey was a loyalist, but he was also a liberal who was increasingly uncomfortable with the war. The tension between the two men reflected the tension in the entire Democratic party. The party was splitting into "hawks" (who supported the war) and "doves" (who wanted out).
Life in the 1967 White House
It wasn't all gloom. The White House in 1967 still saw its share of celebrations.
In December, LBJ's daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson, got married in the East Room to Charles Robb. It was a major social event, a brief moment of normalcy in a year that felt like it was spinning out of control. But even then, the war was present—Robb was a Marine captain who would soon be heading to Vietnam.
The President also spent a lot of time at his ranch in Texas. He loved that place. It was his sanctuary. He’d drive his amphibious car into the lake to scare guests, laughing the whole time. It was the only place he could truly be himself, away from the "credibility gap"—the term the press used to describe the difference between what LBJ said and what was actually happening.
Why People Still Study the 1967 Presidency
We look back at LBJ in 1967 because it’s a masterclass in the limits of presidential power. He was arguably the most powerful man in the world, yet he couldn't stop the war and he couldn't stop the riots.
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His story is a tragedy in the classical sense. A man with grand ambitions for his people who gets undone by a foreign entanglement he didn't fully understand. If you're researching who was the president in 1967 to understand the political climate of today, you'll see a lot of parallels. Polarization, distrust of the media, and a nation divided over its role in the world—it all started peaking right here.
Key Legislation and Events of 1967:
- The Outer Space Treaty: Signed in January, it banned nuclear weapons in space.
- The 25th Amendment: Ratified in February, clarifying what happens if the president becomes disabled.
- Public Broadcasting Act: LBJ signed this in November, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (think PBS and NPR).
- The Stop the Draft Week: Massive anti-war protests in December.
Basically, Johnson was a whirlwind. He signed the Public Broadcasting Act because he believed in education and culture for the masses. At the same time, he was authorizing more troops for a war that was tearing the country apart.
Misconceptions About LBJ in 1967
A lot of people think LBJ was just a "war president." That’s not quite right. Honestly, he hated the war. He called it "that bitch of a war" that destroyed "the woman I really loved"—the Great Society. He felt he had no choice but to fight it because of the "Domino Theory," the idea that if South Vietnam fell to Communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would follow.
Another misconception is that he was unpopular with everyone. While his approval ratings were dropping, he still had a core base of support among older voters and those who benefited from his social programs. He wasn't the caricature of a villain that the anti-war movement made him out to be, but he wasn't the flawless hero either.
The Actionable Insight: How to Research the 1967 Era
If you're looking into this period for a school project, a book, or just personal interest, don't just stick to the history books.
- Listen to the Tapes: Johnson recorded a lot of his phone calls. You can find them at the LBJ Presidential Library website. Hearing his actual voice—the way he wheedled, joked, and complained—gives you a much better sense of the man than a dry textbook.
- Look at the Photography: 1967 was a visual explosion. Look at the work of White House photographer Yoichi Okamoto. He had unprecedented access to LBJ and captured the raw, unedited moments of the presidency.
- Read the Kerner Commission Report: Released just after 1967, it explains why the riots happened. It’s a brutal, honest look at race in America that LBJ actually tried to bury because it was so critical of the status quo.
- Check the Primary Sources: Go to the New York Times or Washington Post archives from 1967. See what the headlines looked like on a random Tuesday in July. It helps you feel the "real-time" stress of the year.
The president in 1967 was a man trying to hold the world together with his bare hands. Whether you think he succeeded or failed usually depends on which part of his legacy you're looking at. He left the White House just over a year later, declining to run for re-election in 1968, exhausted by the very office he had spent his whole life trying to reach.
To truly understand LBJ, you have to look at 1967 as the year the dream and the reality finally collided.
Explore the LBJ Library's digital archives for the 1967 phone logs to hear the "Johnson Treatment" in action. Then, compare the 1967 State of the Union address with the actual events of the "Long Hot Summer" to see how the administration's goals shifted under the weight of domestic unrest.