I have a mixed opinion of him- he was tough and ruthless, and plunged the country into the tragic war in Vietnam based on fake evidence, yet he had compassion and humanity for those who were on the bottom rung in our society.

Leaving the “political ploy” idea aside (I assume LBJ could count), when I try to come up with a reason, words like “decency” and “integrity” and “compassion” come to mind, but, of course, they have no place in politics. Frankly, I'm stumped.

LBJ has long been one of my heroes.

Crazier than a bag full of ferrets, to be sure. Totally corrupt as well. Yet, he was the true heir to FDR, and somehow empathized with the downtrodden in ways no other modern president has.

His Great Society rejuvenated faded New Deal liberalism . . . and without his deal-making (yes, with northern Republicans too) the civil rights legislation would never have been past.

Yes, tragically, he immersed himself in Vietnam . . . and, as we have heard in his tape-recorded phone calls, believing the war unwinnable as early as 1964.

But he was the last great Democratic titan. The US would have been a poorer place today without him. (I have always appreciated LBJ's wackiness . . . dictating memos while sitting on the toilet . . . and growing his hair like a hippie after leaving the White House. )

Johnson alienated every ally he had in the Democratic party in the South in order to get the legislation passed. In 1968, Nixon had no compunction about capitalizing on the dissatisfaction of the segregationists to win.

And, even if desegregation and the voting rights act WAS accomplished for a cynical motive, it needed to be done. Blacks were living a second class existence as maids and porters. Those who got too “uppity” in the South ran the risk of lynching. The perpetrators usually got off scot-free.

Without Johnson we would have ended up like South Africa- an international embarassment with a white ruling society.