LBJ

It's true that I love yet unrelentingly loathe LBJ.  His "Great Society" directive created so many long-standing social programs for our society that we could not imagine living without and his stoic urging to pass The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was truly admirable. Yet, due to his overbearing sense of pride lead our country further into the Vietnam war by using a fabricated incident at The Gulf of Tonkin in August of 1964 as reason to explode troop numbers sent into Vietnam. (1) 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military personnel attempted to intervene but Johnson was completely unwilling to agree with dissent.  A possible reason for this behavior was his personal insecurities involving military strategy of which he had little experience. (2)  The war was such a mess by '68 that Johnson choose to not run for president that year.

He grew his hair long in the early 1970's before dying; had he come to identify with the anti-war movement?  Was he showing remorse? I don't know for sure but his character is forever wrapped in enigma.  

Image courtesy of Google Images 

(1) Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), pg. 328
(2) George C. Herring, "Cold Blood": LBJs Conduct of Limited War in Vietnam (USAFA Harmon Memorial Lecture #33),  http://www.usafa.edu/df/dfh/docs/Harmon33.pdf