LBJ and Adolfo Mateos

Lyndon B. Johnson and Adolfo Lopez-Mateos

By Jena Youngflesh

President Johnson’s Speech at UCLA

On February 21, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at UCLA. Johnson was the first president to speak at UCLA while he was in office. On the 21 st, President Johnson, along with the president of Mexico at that time, Adolfo Lopez-Mateo, were flown in onto the athletic field by U.S. marine helicopters. The speech was to take place in Drake Stadium. The stadium at this time was only a temporary one. The permanent stadium had not been constructed yet. 34,00 people awaited the arrival of the two presidents. Over two thousand high school students also attended the event. They were selected based on their ability, leadership skills, drive, and their potential to eventually attend college. The event began at 9AM and was free. The tickets were restricted to two per applicant so that as many different people as possible could see and hear the leaders speak.

President Johnson and President Mateos

In honor of the two presidents, Sproul hall was covered in the colors of the American flag on one side, and those of the Mexican flag of the other. A greeting of “UCLA Welcomes Presidents” was placed in the middle. Also, the C that used to be in the stadium was painted red, white, and blue for the occasion. Johnson and Adolfo Mateos were on a tour of Southern Californian discussing politics and policies at a variety of locations. They spoke at UCLA 96 th Charter Day ceremony. Charter Day is a celebration of the founding of the University of California. This occurred in 1868 at the Berkeley campus. The two presidents recieved honorary degrees.

The two presidents spoke of the close relationship between the United States and Mexico. They emphasized the importance of education and knowledge in the pursuit for freedom. The Mexican president was quoted saying, “Knowledge and freedom can not be kept apart.” He declared that students were the future leaders of not only the country, but also the world and they were the ones who would have the power to change the wrongs that burden society. The two speakers discussed the prestige that comes with attending a University of California school, and that the wisdom the students would gain through their education should be implemented in order to change the world.

Audience for LBJ and Mateos Speech

President Johnson also discussed the “dangers of today” during his speech. These dangers included the Vietnam War situation, the troubled relationship with Cuba, and issues dealing with Panama and Cyprus. Johnson stated that intelligence and rational thinking would be necessary in dealing with these issues if freedom and peace were the ultimate goals. This speech was broadcast on national television and received press throughout the world. The speech was considered a major foreign-policy address and showed the world that students, especially those at institutions like UCLA, were important to the president and the nation.

Biographies

The names of leaders such as Lyndon B, Johnson are well known, but often their life stories are not. These stories are important when attempting to understand the impact that they had on society and the importance of their speeches at UCLA. The lives of other leaders such as Adolfo Lopez-Mateos are unknown to many Americans, and it would be foolish to simply disregard them. Knowledge of the leadership of other countries is important for U.S. citizens, even if at the most simple level as a way of judging and adjusting our own leadership.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Early Life

Lyndon B. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 in Texas near Johnson City. He grew up in rural poverty due to the build up of debt and the loss of the family. His childhood experience would render him empathetic to the struggles of the poor later in his political career. His family had a long history in Texas and had fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Johnson was a poor student but eventually attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1927. He worked with many students of Mexican decent and developed a sense of compassion for their strife. He taught briefly in Cotulla, Texas, but in 1931 he was appointed to be the aid of a congressman and left he teaching career. Johnson met Claudia Alta Taylor in 1934 and they were married in three months. She was a charming woman and had family money that would later be beneficial to Johnson and his real estate empire. They would later have two children, Lynda Bird Johnson and Luci Baines Johnson.

Early Politics

In 1937 Johnson resigned his position as his state’s direct of the National Youth Administration and campaigned, using his New Deal platform, for a spot in the House of Representatives. He was successful. Johnson brought many improvements to his district, such as electricity, however he lost against W. Lee O’Daniel for a place in the Senate in 1941. Johnson was a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War Two and received a Silver Star. Roosevelt demanded that Congress members return for war and in 1948, Johnson was elected to the Senate in a controversial Democratic primary. In 1953, during Eisenhower’s term, Johnson was the Minority Leader, and then became the Majority Leader in 1955.

Vice Presidency

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ran and won together in 1960. Johnson had announced his own candidacy, however Kennedy was elected at the Democratic convention. Johnson brought balance in the way of politics and geography to Kennedy’s ticket. Johnson awarded Kennedy the South, however they still had the smallest popular margin in that century. Even though Johnson was bitter about his lesser position as Vice President, while in office he made many advances. He was the leader of the space program, worked on a nuclear test ban treaty, and worked for equal opportunity for minorities. He was supportive of sending American military advisers to the south of Vietnam. Johnson was still frustrated that he did not have as much influence as he believed he deserved.

Johnson’s Presidency

On November 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in as president. He took over for Kennedy after his assassination. Johnson had been only two cars behind Kennedy when he was shot in Dallas. Johnson worked to pass Kennedy’s tax cut and his civil rights bill. Johnson also declared his own “War on Poverty”. In contrast to Kennedy’s election, when Johnson ran for president in 1964, he won by the largest popular margin in history, over 15,000,000 votes, against Republican Berry Goldwater (who spoke at UCLA in 1964). In 1965 and throughout his term, Johnson, through his Great Society program, passed the Medicare program, put money into education, and passed three civil rights bills concerning interstate commerce, voting, and housing freedom.

Rioting

Despite the money Johnson put into housing and help for the poor, rioting was becoming more popular. Black ghettos throughout the country erupted. Johnson used his influence to battle segregation through the law, but the growth of Black Power and Black Nationalism proved that this peaceful method was not enough. The African Americans were ready for a rapid change, even if violence was needed to cause the change.

Vietnam Intensifies

In 1965, the American advisors had transformed into over 100,00 combat troops. In three years this number would be over 500,00. American causalities increased proportionately with the anti-war movement. The North Vietnamese and National Liberty Front were winning. Johnson’s popularity went down to below 30 percent. On the 31 st of March 1968, Johnson announced that he would not accept another nomination. He was finished as president. He died on January 22, 1973, and was buried in his hometown.

Adolfo Lopez-Mateos

Adolfo Lopez-Mateos was born in Atizaphan de Zaragoza, Mexico on May 26, 1909. He was the son of Mariana Lopez who was a dentist, and Eleano Mateos, a schoolteacher.

Adolfo’s father died when he was a young child and his mother became the director of an orphanage in order to support the family. In 1926 Adolfo entered the Scientific and Literary Institute of the State of Mexico. He was a poor student who was often distracted by camping and women Adolfo loved speaking and put his talents to work in the 1929 presidential campaign. He was on the side of Jose Vasconcelos and against Pascual Ortiz Rubio. Rubio was the candidate picked by the former president. Adolfo read the novel Sascha Yeguilev and saw himself as young man who is meant to give his life in order to transform his country.

The Beginning of Politics

Mateos was a member of the Student Directorate of the Pro-Vasconcelos Convention. Adolfo was attacked and one of his best friends died from the bullet of a gunman. Adolfo had to flee to Guatemala for safety. He returned in 1930 when the intensity had died down. In 1941 Adolfo delivered a speech that moved the Mexico state political boss, Isidro Fabela. Fabela would then guide Adolfo through politics. He became the director of the state Literary and Scientific Institute, alternate federal senator, and then a full-fledged senator. When Ruiz Cortines, a friend, became president, Mateos was appointed to the position of minister of labor. At the end of his term, Mateos became the candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The nomination guaranteed Adolfo to the presidency position. Adolfo Mateos obtained 90 percent of the vote in the 1958.

Mateos’s Presidency

Unfortunately for Mateos, he suffered from terrible migraines. Mateos was a young president and a womanizer, much like out own John F. Kennedy. Mateos was also similar to leaders within the United States in that he was anti-Communist. He believed himself to have leftist political ideas, but only within the margins of the Constitution. Mateos put the head of the railroad union, the head of the teachers union, and a famous painter in jail for "social dissolution".

Mateos was a generous president in that he gave more land to the peasants than any other president had since Lozaro Cordenas. This was a revolutionary goal. Adolfo also nationalized United States and Canadian electric companies, provided low income housing, expanded social security, created a health campaign, and attacked illiteracy rate in Mexico. In February of 1959, Mateos created the National Commission for Free Textbooks. The program distributed millions of texts to elementary schools. Education was the largest factor in the Mexican budget during Mateos’s presidency. He even had an "eleven-year plan" to raise the level of education and restore free breakfasts for students. He also created museums about the history of Mexico

Foreign Policy

Mateos was on excellent terms with the United States, even though he did not go along with \initiatives in Cuba. However, Mateos did condemn the Soviet Union for their missiles in Cuba.

In 1963, JFK met with Mateos to solve the dispute of the Chamizal. Chamizal was a 600-acre strip of territory that used to be a part of Mexico but became part of Texas when the Rio Grande began to flow differently. They decided to move the Rio Grande back to its position when the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo was signed and decided to build walls around the river to keep stop it from moving again. The two decided to split the cost. Adolfo also wanted and supported an amendment to the Constitution that would change the electoral procedures in the Chamber of Deputies.

Adolfo Lopez-Mateos had been sick for many years and he finally left the presidential office in 1964. Migraines bothered him so badly that he would physically collapse. A year later, his migraines were diagnosed as a cerebral aneurysm. An operation showed he had seven aneurysms; swollen cancerous blood vessels in the brain. He lost control of his body and a tracheotomy was performed and took away his speech. Mateos died on the 22 September in 1969.

To learn about Speakers at UCLA from 1966-1967, click here.

To read about Martin Luther King's speech at UCLA, click here.

To learn more about President Johnson, click here.

To learn more about UCLA, click here.

To view the sources used for this page, click here.

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