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+tags:
+  - Person
+  - President
+  - USA
+---
+Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th President of the [[United States]], serving from 1963 to 1969. He was initially left in the dark on sensitive national security issues by President [[John F. Kennedy]] and his top aides, and reportedly went "berserk" upon being briefed in by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] after Kennedy's assassination.[^1]
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+Johnson's ties to [[Israel]] were strong, influenced by his close advisers like [[Abe Fortas]] and [[Edwin L. Weisl, Sr.]], and his knowledge of [[Abraham Feinberg]]'s fundraising skills. A deeper link stemmed from his visit to the Nazi concentration camp at [[Dachau]] at the end of World War II, which left him profoundly shaken. His sensitivity to the plight of European Jews began even before the war, when as a young congressman, he helped German refugees gain asylum in [[America]], circumventing red tape and preventing deportations.[^1]
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+Johnson's strong emotional ties to [[Israel]] and his belief that Soviet arms were altering the balance of power in the [[Middle East]] drove him to become the first American President to supply [[Israel]] with offensive weapons and the first publicly to commit [[America]] to its defense. In the early years of his presidency, he echoed Kennedy's policy by urging [[Israel]] to submit [[Dimona]] to [[International Atomic Energy Agency|IAEA]] inspection, motivated by his belief that a nuclear [[Israel]] could lead to a nuclear [[Egypt]], increased Soviet involvement, and potentially war.[^1]
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+### Footnotes
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+[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 9.