The Façade of Faith- Presidents Johnson & Nixon

-Blog Post #5, Question 1

     In his book God in the White House, Randall Balmer juxtaposes presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Nixon as two examples of the leveraging of Christian beliefs to win over a voting majority and garner support for policy decisions. Lyndon B. Johnson was born into a family of Baptist and Christadelphian influences, but, according to his sister, he “never seemed to give much thought to formal religion”. Johnson was a member of the liberal Disciples of Christ evangelical denomination. The denomination’s emphasis on good works was apparent in Johnson’s social justice reforms within his “Great Society.” Rarely invoking the name of God, Johnson proclaimed the “golden rule” as his creed. “Looking after the smaller ones” was a theme of Johnson’s childhood as well as his presidency.

On the issue of civil rights, Johnson urged religious (mainly Christian) groups to “correct the mistakes of [their] youth” and “be the first to awake to individual suffering,” emphasizing the importance of Christian charity. Johnson’s belief that “the strong must care for the weak” echoed into his approach to the Vietnam conflict. While many Christian groups, especially those in the American South pleaded with Johnson to withdraw troops and end the violence in Vietnam, Johnson pressed forward in his fight against Communism and for “independence, freedom, and self-determination of the people of South Vietnam.” Eventually Johnson saw the importance of peace negotiations and an end to war in Southeast Asia but not until after the deaths of countless American G.I.s. These losses humiliated Johnson and prompted him to bow out of any future presidential race.

           Richard Nixon, Johnson’s successor, was also a self-proclaimed evangelical Protestant. Unlike Johnson, Nixon’s Christianity was overt and far-reaching, in an attempt to win favor from Christian voters. Nixon was active in his church community as a child, playing piano for Sunday school and singing in his church choir. Both Johnson and Nixon enjoyed support from popular Protestant minister Billy Graham, but Graham’s friendship with Nixon was unmatched. Graham praised Nixon for this “[giving] moral and spiritual leadership to the nation at a time when we desperately needed it.” Nixon held worship services in the White House but welcomed preachers from the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths, pandering to the wealthy invitees with political influence. Behind this religious façade, Nixon perpetrated schemes like the Watergate scandal, which led to his impeachment.