Johnson (6) Defense: Poor 2 – While Lyndon Johnson saw President Kennedy’s vision for America’s space program to fruition, his interventionist policy to drag the United States into the middle of the Vietnam War proved to be a poor one. Economy: Good 4 – Presided over the creation of Medicare and Medicaid and the economy was strong throughout his term. Nixon (7) Defense: Outstanding 5 – Ended US involvement in the Vietnam War, was effective at mitigating the escalation of the cold war with Russia and China. Economy: Poor 2 – Term featured two years of negative economic growth and removed the United States from the gold standard.