Politics & Power Quote by Lyndon B. Johnson

Johnson is doing more than praising Israel; he is drafting a moral alibi for a geopolitical relationship. By invoking "the Hebrew prophets", he borrows an ancient, reverent vocabulary to cast a modern alliance as something close to destiny. It is a neat rhetorical move: prophets confer seriousness and continuity, suggesting that American public life is not merely powered by interests and institutions but "illuminated" by ethical revelation. The word choice turns policy into piety.

Then comes the pivot to civics: "human freedom" and "a democratic way of life". Johnson fuses religious heritage with political self-image, creating a shared story in which America and Israel recognize themselves in each other. That mirroring matters. In the Cold War, "democracy" was not just a form of government but a brand in competition with Soviet authoritarianism. Linking Israel to that brand frames support for Israel as support for the broader democratic camp.

The subtext is also domestic. Johnson is speaking to an America where biblical literacy still carries cultural authority and where the idea of the U.S. as a moral actor remains a powerful self-soothing narrative, especially amid the turbulence of the 1960s. By centering freedom and prophecy, he invites listeners to see the alliance as principled rather than transactional, and to translate complex Middle East realities into a familiar American script: democracy under threat, defended by a righteous partnership.