We have entered an age in which education is not just a luxury permitting some men an advantage over others. It has become a necessity without which a person is defenseless in this complex, industrialized society. We have truly entered the century of the educated man.

W. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in appointment to a committee while retaining it in terms of chairmanships. Though Kennedy may have intended this to remain a more nominal position Taylor Branch in Pillar of Fire contends that Johnson served to push the Kennedy administration's actions for civil rights further and faster than Kennedy originally intended to go.

Johnson a Democrat from Texas served as a United States Representative from 1937–1949 and as a Senator from 1949–1961 including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. The involvement stimulated a large angry antiwar movement based especially on university campuses in the U. Republican Richard Nixon was elected to succeed him.