“But LBJ wanted a landslide so he could implement his Great Society vision without resistance and go down in history as one of America’s greatest presidents.”
Ha! He was an evil SOB. Evil. Son. Of. A. Bitch. He deserves his own ring of Hell.
In his last months in office, having dropped out of the nomination race, LBJ rammed through Congress the Omnibus Crime Bill, aka GCA ‘68, which plagues gun owners to this day.
But....at the signing ceremony, Johnson was spitting mad that the final bill did not contain what he really wanted; Federal registration of all firearms and licensing of all owners. He railed at those who blocked these draconian measures. 1968 was part of an era when gun control meant outlawing private ownership of handguns, such as in Britain since 1997.
GCA ‘68 was LBJ’s revenge for the assassinations of JFK, MLK, & RFK which he saw as part of a vast right wing plot.
Johnson croaked in 1973, not yet 65 years old. Karma’s a bitch.