A Comparison of King James 1 and LBJ
...hat came with being the king of England in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. This power was unwavering and unquestionable, and that is what James expected. He would not tolerate “any suggestion of his own royal authority being questioned.” But the loyalty and power Johnson had attained could be lost, as he discovered during the Vietnam War. Being President of the Unites States did not automatically insure the loyalty and power of the people as it did with being King of England. Another desire these two men shared is to constantly be in motion, always doing and accomplishing something. A French agent named Fontenoy once said of the king, “he is never still for a moment.” In the same way, Lyndon Johnson believed time was precious, he wanted to constantly “move on; move forward; move up.” Both succeeded in achieving the ultimate power of their time only by moving up the ladder. It is somewhat ironic that both of them achieved what they had desired for so long only through the death of those above them, James after Queen Elizabeth’s death and Johnson after the assassination of Kennedy. King James I and LBJ shared close to the same belief, or perhaps the absence of belief, in religion and in the people around them. For both men, religion was simply something to use when needed and dismiss when it lost its usefulness. Neither seemed to have a personal belief in or relationship with God. The difference comes when one looks at their motivations for having these mock religious beliefs. As King of England, James was head not only of the state, but also of the Church of England. Part of his power came from religion and thus he must profess in a belief in and uphold the traditions of that religion. But there was no evidence that he came close to the personal relationship with God that Lancelot Andrews had which led the Bishop of Winchester to devote around five hours each day to private prayer. But LBJ, as head of only the government and not the religion of America, did not have this same obligation to follow the traditions of religion. He did, however, use religion to convince others of the validity of his own ideas. According to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum online, LBJ quoted the Bible frequently, especially Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together." Johnson and James both had little faith in the individual and made sure that there was a system of checks to verify the accuracy of one person’s opinion. Many times LBJ would seek advice on the same subject from several people, sometimes getting a fourth and fifth opinion, in order to ensure the advice he was receiving was accurate. King James I did this as well, although in a slightly different manner. When devising how best to translate the Bible, James decided groups of translators would be assigned to different portions of the Bible. Each individual would make his or her own comments and then the group would debate and compromise until there was one version. The translation was further checked when the head of each group came together and checked over the entire Bible. This meticulous checking and then rechecking reflects James’ mistrust of the individual and belief that only when there was consensus among many can an idea be deemed truthful or accurate. As one can see, both James and LBJ had little belief in religion or the individual. In essence King James I and Johnson believed in themselves and their abilities, and not much else. Lyndon Johnson and King James I could both be described as active men and some of their activities, including political activities and leisure activities such as hunting, revealed a lot about the men themselves. Each of these men believed, at least in politics, the result is more important than the process, as long as something got done it didn’t really matter how it was accomplished. For instance, James had no problem with torturing people believed to be part of the Gunsmoke Conspiracy if it meant getting their confessions. While Johnson probably didn’t go around torturing people, he did use threatening or other dishonest tactics to make people go along with his ideas. When he was the Senate Majority Leader in the 50s he was constantly making deals with other senators, such as when he convinced senators from Washington and Oregon to vote the way he wanted in exchange for a dam in their area. So...