The United States president preserves, protects, and defends the U.S. Constitution. Each president’s term influences events in America and around the world for years to come. This biography introduces young readers to the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson, beginning with his childhood in Stonewall and Johnson City, Texas. Information about Johnson’s education at Southwest Texas State Teacher’s College and his early career as a teacher is discussed. In addition, his family and personal life, as well as his retirement years at the LBJ Ranch, during which he wrote The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969, and saw the opening of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, is highlighted. Easy-to-read text details Johnson’s military service during World War II and his political career as a legislative assistant to Representative Richard M. Kleberg, director of the National Youth Administration in Texas, a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was a member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, a member of the U.S. Senate, Democratic whip, Senate minority leader, the youngest Senate majority leader in Senate history, and vice president under President John F. Kennedy. Finally, students will explore key events from Democratic president Johnson’s administration, including his rise to the presidency after Kennedy’s assassination, the Civil Rights Act, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Job Corps, the Voting Rights Act, and Johnson’s appointment of Robert C. Weaver, the first African-American head a cabinet department, and Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice. Beautiful graphics showcase the primary source documents and photographs. A timeline, fast facts, and sidebars help put essential information at students’ fingertips. In addition, a quick-reference chart provides easy access to facts about every U.S. president. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.