Presidency · Presidents

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president · Democrat · November 22, 1963 – January 19, 1969

Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 37th vice president under President John F. Kennedy, assuming the office upon Kennedy's assassination. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

How to read this

Each card takes a series from one of the site’s Presidency, Congress or Supreme Court pages and shows only the time Johnson was in office. Monthly figures run from the month of the inauguration to the month the term ended; a fiscal or calendar year counts for the president who held office for most of its days. Cards whose data begins after 1963 say where it starts, and a card with no data for the term is left out.

These are conditions during a presidency, not a scorecard. Congress, the courts, the Federal Reserve, the business cycle and events abroad move every one of these numbers, and many policies take effect years after they are signed, so a change during a term is not a measure of what the president caused.

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← John F. Kennedy

Richard Nixon →

5 years, 1 monthIn office1,886 days

—Laws signedData starts 1973

—Executive ordersData starts 1994

2Justices appointed

Who held power

Party control of Congress

Democrats held both chambers of Congress throughout the time in office.

91st Congress1969House: Dem.243 D · 192 RSenate: Dem.57 D · 43 R
90th Congress1967–1969House: Dem.248 D · 187 RSenate: Dem.64 D · 36 R
89th Congress1965–1967House: Dem.295 D · 140 RSenate: Dem.68 D · 32 R
88th Congress1963–1965House: Dem.258 D · 176 R · 1 otherSenate: Dem.66 D · 34 R

Seats are at the start of each Congress. Democrats and Republicans include the independents who caucused with them.

Data notes

Each Congress is clipped to the days this president was in office. A chamber’s majority is the party that held it for most of those days; seat counts are at the start of the Congress, with independents counted with the party they caucused with. From the House and Senate historians’ party divisions.

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Supreme Court appointments

Lyndon B. Johnson appointed 2 justices: Fortas (1965) and Marshall (1967).

Thurgood Marshall · Associate justiceNominated Jun 13, 1967 · confirmed 69–11
Abe Fortas · Associate justiceNominated Jul 28, 1965 · confirmed by voice vote

Data notes

A justice counts for the president who nominated them (a recess appointment from the day it began, if earlier). An associate justice later made chief by another president, like William Rehnquist, counts as an elevation for the second. Failed and withdrawn nominations are not listed. Dates and Senate votes from the Federal Judicial Center.

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Supreme Court →

Economy

Misery index

The misery index (unemployment plus inflation) was 7 in November 1963 and 8.1 in January 1969, with a high of 8.2 in July 1968.

Misery index

Nov 1963 7 → Jan 1969 8.1

Unemployment and inflation

Nov 1963 5.7% → Jan 1969 3.4%

Unemployment rateInflation

Data notes

The misery index adds the unemployment rate to inflation (consumer prices, change from a year earlier) for the same month. Unemployment is the BLS rate, seasonally adjusted, from 1948; inflation is from the consumer price index, from 1948. The first reading is the month the president took office, the last the month the term ended. Both are national averages and are revised.

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Misery index
Period	Value
Nov 1963	7
Dec 1963	7.1
Jan 1964	7.2
Feb 1964	6.8
Mar 1964	6.8
Apr 1964	6.8
May 1964	6.6
Jun 1964	6.5
Jul 1964	6
Aug 1964	6
Sep 1964	6.3
Oct 1964	6.3
Nov 1964	6.2
Dec 1964	6.2
Jan 1965	6
Feb 1965	6.3
Mar 1965	5.9
Apr 1965	6.2
May 1965	6.2
Jun 1965	6.5
Jul 1965	6.2
Aug 1965	6
Sep 1965	6
Oct 1965	5.9
Nov 1965	5.8
Dec 1965	5.9
Jan 1966	5.9
Feb 1966	6.4
Mar 1966	6.6
Apr 1966	6.7
May 1966	6.7
Jun 1966	6.2
Jul 1966	6.6
Aug 1966	7.3
Sep 1966	7.3
Oct 1966	7.5
Nov 1966	7.2
Dec 1966	7.2
Jan 1967	7.1
Feb 1967	6.7
Mar 1967	6.3
Apr 1967	6.3
May 1967	6.1
Jun 1967	6.7
Jul 1967	6.7
Aug 1967	6.4
Sep 1967	6.4
Oct 1967	6.6
Nov 1967	7
Dec 1967	7.1
Jan 1968	7.3
Feb 1968	7.4
Mar 1968	7.6
Apr 1968	7.4
May 1968	7.7
Jun 1968	7.9
Jul 1968	8.2
Aug 1968	8
Sep 1968	7.9
Oct 1968	8.1
Nov 1968	7.8
Dec 1968	8.1
Jan 1969	8.1

Unemployment and inflation
Period	Unemployment rate	Inflation
Nov 1963	5.7%	1.3%
Dec 1963	5.5%	1.6%
Jan 1964	5.6%	1.6%
Feb 1964	5.4%	1.4%
Mar 1964	5.4%	1.4%
Apr 1964	5.3%	1.5%
May 1964	5.1%	1.5%
Jun 1964	5.2%	1.3%
Jul 1964	4.9%	1.1%
Aug 1964	5%	1%
Sep 1964	5.1%	1.2%
Oct 1964	5.1%	1.2%
Nov 1964	4.8%	1.4%
Dec 1964	5%	1.2%
Jan 1965	4.9%	1.1%
Feb 1965	5.1%	1.2%
Mar 1965	4.7%	1.2%
Apr 1965	4.8%	1.4%
May 1965	4.6%	1.6%
Jun 1965	4.6%	1.9%
Jul 1965	4.4%	1.8%
Aug 1965	4.4%	1.6%
Sep 1965	4.3%	1.7%
Oct 1965	4.2%	1.7%
Nov 1965	4.1%	1.7%
Dec 1965	4%	1.9%
Jan 1966	4%	1.9%
Feb 1966	3.8%	2.6%
Mar 1966	3.8%	2.8%
Apr 1966	3.8%	2.9%
May 1966	3.9%	2.8%
Jun 1966	3.8%	2.4%
Jul 1966	3.8%	2.8%
Aug 1966	3.8%	3.5%
Sep 1966	3.7%	3.6%
Oct 1966	3.7%	3.8%
Nov 1966	3.6%	3.6%
Dec 1966	3.8%	3.4%
Jan 1967	3.9%	3.2%
Feb 1967	3.8%	2.9%
Mar 1967	3.8%	2.5%
Apr 1967	3.8%	2.5%
May 1967	3.8%	2.3%
Jun 1967	3.9%	2.8%
Jul 1967	3.8%	2.9%
Aug 1967	3.8%	2.6%
Sep 1967	3.8%	2.6%
Oct 1967	4%	2.6%
Nov 1967	3.9%	3.1%
Dec 1967	3.8%	3.3%
Jan 1968	3.7%	3.6%
Feb 1968	3.8%	3.6%
Mar 1968	3.7%	3.9%
Apr 1968	3.5%	3.9%
May 1968	3.5%	4.2%
Jun 1968	3.7%	4.2%
Jul 1968	3.7%	4.5%
Aug 1968	3.5%	4.5%
Sep 1968	3.4%	4.5%
Oct 1968	3.4%	4.7%
Nov 1968	3.4%	4.4%
Dec 1968	3.4%	4.7%
Jan 1969	3.4%	4.7%

Economy →

Federal deficit and debt

The federal budget balance, as a share of GDP, was −0.9% in FY1964 and +0.3% in FY1969, with a low of −2.7% in FY1968.

Budget balance, % of GDP

FY1964 −0.9% → FY1969 +0.3%

Public debt, % of GDP

Data starts January 1966

Q1 1966 40.3% → Q1 1969 36.2%

Data notes

The budget balance is the federal surplus (above zero) or deficit (below) as a share of GDP, by fiscal year (July to June through 1976, October to September since); a year counts for the president in office for most of it, though its budget was usually passed the year before. Debt is total public debt as a share of GDP, quarterly from 1966, including debt the government holds in its own trust funds.

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Budget balance, % of GDP
Period	Value
FY1964	−0.9%
FY1965	−0.2%
FY1966	−0.5%
FY1967	−1%
FY1968	−2.7%
FY1969	+0.3%

Public debt, % of GDP
Period	Value
Q1 1966	40.3%
Q2 1966	39.3%
Q3 1966	39.6%
Q4 1966	39.5%
Q1 1967	39.2%
Q2 1967	38%
Q3 1967	38.8%
Q4 1967	39.1%
Q1 1968	38.4%
Q2 1968	37%
Q3 1968	37.3%
Q4 1968	37%
Q1 1969	36.2%

Economy →

Security and energy

Troops abroad

Troops stationed abroad numbered 595k in September 1964 and 1.04M in September 1968. Vietnam hosted the most in 3 of those years.

Active-duty troops abroad

Sep 1964 595k → Sep 1968 1.04M

Data notes

Active-duty U.S. military personnel stationed outside the United States and its territories (afloat and unassigned included where the source reports them), one snapshot a year (September; June for 1953–56), from the Defense Manpower Data Center’s tables and, for years it did not publish, troopdata. The year in progress shows its latest quarter, hatched. From December 2017 DMDC counts permanent assignments only, so later figures leave out most deployed forces.

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Active-duty troops abroad
Period	Value
Sep 1964	594,569
Sep 1965	704,100
Sep 1966	883,646
Sep 1967	1,030,229
Sep 1968	1,043,973

Troops abroad →

Source: the site’s Presidency, Congress and Supreme Court data, each named in its card’s Data notes; party control of Congress from the House and Senate historians; appointments from the Federal Judicial Center. Portrait: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Built October 19, 2026.