ety.” This new program became Johnson’s centerpiece for Congress
in January 1965, with new initiatives in education, urban renewal,
conservation, antipoverty, and voting rights. He also succeeded in
passing the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act.
His foreign policy initiatives were less popular and successful. De-
spite efforts to end communist aggression and achieve a settlement in
Vietnam, President Johnson used the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolu-
tionas a pretext to escalate American military involvement to the
point that, by 1968, there were more than a half-million American
soldiers in Southeast Asia. By that year, moreover, the American pub-
lic had become highly fractious over the Vietnam War. Conse-
quently, President Johnson startled the world in 1968 by withdrawing
as candidate for reelection in order to pursue peace but did not live to
see the success of the Vietnam negotiations. He died of a heart attack
at his Texas ranch on 22 January 1973.JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF (JCS). The Joint Chiefs of Staff is an or-
ganization that combines the chiefs of the military services. Its chair-
man serves as advisor to the president, secretary of defense, and the
National Security Council (NSC) on military matters. The chairman
of the JCS acquired this highly political role as a result of the 1986
Goldwater-Nichols Act.
During World War II, the JCS acted as a combined command for
theater and area commanders. However, the National Security Act
of 1947made the JCS an advisory, not command, institution. Yet, a
1948 agreement allowed the JCS to serve limited command respon-
sibilities. Congress abolished this authority in a 1953 amendment to
the National Security Act. Goldwater-Nichols reaffirmed the exclu-
sion of the JCS from command responsibilities by asserting that the
chain of command runs from the president to the secretary of defense
and from the secretary of defense to the commander of the combat-
ant command. The chairman of the JCS may transmit communica-
tions to the commanders of the combatant commands from the pres-
ident and secretary of defense but does not exercise military
command over any combatant forces.
Goldwater-Nichols also created the position of vice chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who performs such duties as the JCS chair-
man may prescribe. By law, he is the second ranking member of theJOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF• 10505-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 105