Will LBJ's reputation ever be rehabilitated?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

LBJ and Nixon belongs to a very specific category of Presidents: ones you can rank as near greats and failures at the same time.

Johnson was truly great President in regard to his domestic achievements: the Great Society and ending Jim Crow, but utterly failed in foreign affairs, which also led to end of the New Deal coalition and conservative realignment.

Nixon was great in his grand foreign policy initiatives: opening on China and Detente, and some domestic programs, while scoring a moral and political downfall of Watergate. Also there were nasty things like bombing Cambodia, coup in Chile and aiding sharp turn to the right domestically.

By the way, detente seems largely ignored or misunderstood today. It was not only a break from the height of cold war, which weakened U.S. badly needed, but also helped a great deal in emerging of opposition movements such as KOR, Solidarity, Czech dissidents etc.: something, as a Pole, I'm very grateful for.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Thurgood Marshall appointment outdoes sending blacks into nam harmsway.

This is single the most idiotic line I've read on this forum.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

RFK was really overrated when it came to civil rights.
Please watch the documentary "Freedom riders".  RFK called the Freedom Riders foolish, and thought they deserved to be taught a lesson (apparently for making him and his brother look bad) when the Mississippi police arrested them.  He only really began to care about civil rights when he realized that not doing anything made him look bad.
Also, lets not forget that his brother gave speeches to segregated (white only) audiences in the South while other prominent Democrats such as Stuart Symington refused to do so.
Ted was the only truly liberal Kennedy, fully capable of articulating progressive positions (because there's more to being a good politician than casting a vote) but he had his demons too.

Not to mention he ordered the FBI to wiretap MLK.

As of JFK, as Senator he voted for the bill that let the state courts try (and naturally acquit) those who prepeared and/or participated in lynchings. This bill was strongly opposed by the people such as Humphrey and Symington.