Presidential Rankings

[Nym90]

Nixon took a heck of a long time to end the war in Vietnam, though. 5 years after he came in with his supposed "secret plan to end the war", and we were still there. Nixon basically continued the policies of LBJ in Vietnam after having said that he wouldn't.

I agree that Johnson is one of the best Presidents we've had, he was duped into going into Vietnam by the Gulf of Tonkin which was a complete staged lie. Johnson was fooled by the military into starting the war because the military wanted to kick some commie behind (think of General Buck Turgidson or General Jack Ripper from Dr. Strangelove. One of the best movies of all time, by the way, if you've never seen it. An absolute classic! The only thing very unrealistic about it though is that no one with the name Merkin Muffley could ever get elected President!)
Johnson never would've gotten into the war if he hadn't been fooled into thinking that the Vietnamese had attacked our ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. Then once we were in, we couldn't just run out with our tail between our legs. It was a very difficult situation, Johnson made some obvious mistakes, the largest being a lack of effective communication with the public and misinformation about how things were going (though that happens in every war). Overall though, I think he did the best he could with what he had to work with.

[Nym90]

That's a complete bunk of a conspiracy theory. LBJ wouldn't have that kind of power to be able to call off the NSA, I don't really think that is a decision for Vice Presidents to make. And even in the unlikely event that it is true, I'm sure there is likely to be a more plausible explanation for why it was done. You're dealing with mighty circumstantial evidence there.
Security in general was a lot more lax back in those days. Today, there is no way they would allow someone to have a gun in a building along the parade route of the President. Plus the President would not be likely to be riding in an open top car along a parade route now anyways. But it was the 1960's, and people just didn't think such a thing would happen. The security was just not what it is today.

[Nym90]

1. Franklin Roosevelt
2. Lincoln
3. Wilson
4. Clinton
5. Washington

42. Harding
41. Grant
40. Hoover
39. Buchanan
38. Coolidge