The First 100 Days
A. Presidential Perspectives. Presidents have approached their own First 100 Days in a variety of
ways. Some do so with great confidence, others bristle against what they see as unfair judgement, while
still others take it as just another part of the job. Read the quotes from Presidents Kennedy and Johnson
and answer the questions that follow.
President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
"All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days.
Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in
the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our
lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest
the final success or failure of our course. Since this country
was founded, each generation of Americans has been
summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty
- Excerpted from his foreign policy-focused Inaugural Address, 1961
Name:
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
"I was just elected president by 15 million votes. Just by
the natural way people think and because Barry Goldwater
scared the hell out of them, I have already lost about 2 of
these 15 million and am probably getting down to 13. If I
get in any fight with Congress, I will lose another couple of
million, and if I have to send any more of our boys to
Vietnam, I may be down to 8 million by the end of the
summer."
- On the need to act quickly after his 1964 reelection victory
1. How did each president respond to the idea of the First 100 Days? Did they embrace it, reject it, or
respond differently? Use evidence from the quotes to explain your answer.
2. Each president references the American public in a different way. Based on these quotes, who is
responsible for achieving the agenda set forth by the president and what role does the public play?