Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare, Medicaid, the Higher Education Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Act, the most significant burst of domestic legislation since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Born on August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas, he grew up in the Hill Country, taught school in a segregated Mexican-American community, and entered Congress in 1937. He became Senate Majority Leader, then Kennedy's vice president, then president after the assassination in Dallas. His first years in office transformed American society. The Great Society programs expanded federal responsibility for education, healthcare, urban renewal, and civil rights to an unprecedented degree. He also expanded the Vietnam War from 16,000 military advisors to over 500,000 combat troops, a decision that consumed his presidency. The Tet Offensive in January 1968 shattered public confidence in the war effort. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced in a televised address that he would not seek re-election. The announcement stunned the country. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated four days later. Robert Kennedy was assassinated two months after that. Johnson spent his remaining years at his Texas ranch, growing his hair long, granting interviews, and watching the war he had escalated grind toward its conclusion. He died on January 22, 1973, at age 64. The Paris Peace Accords, which formally ended American involvement in Vietnam, were signed the following day. The timing was coincidental but felt symbolic. The war outlasted him by one day.