LBJ's 60-Cigarette-a-Day Habit and His Fatal Return

Before his presidency, Lyndon Baines Johnson was a three-pack-a-day smoker. That's 60 cigarettes daily—a relentless chain-smoking habit that kept ashtrays overflowing and friends concerned.

This addiction caught up with him on July 2, 1955, when Johnson suffered a massive heart attack at age 46. The wake-up call was severe enough to make him quit cold turkey.

Fifteen Years of Restraint

For over fifteen years, LBJ stayed away from cigarettes. Throughout his vice presidency under Kennedy and his own tumultuous presidency—navigating the Vietnam War, the Great Society, and the civil rights movement—he resisted the urge to light up.

Friends marveled at his willpower. Johnson himself admitted he "always loved cigarettes and missed them every day since I quit."

The Fatal Relapse

Shortly before Christmas 1971, two years after leaving the White House, Johnson shocked everyone by resuming his old habit. Now an aging former president living at his Texas ranch, he rationalized it simply: he was an old man, and he'd denied himself long enough.

He didn't return to three packs a day—he "only" smoked two packs daily this time. But the damage was done.

On January 22, 1973—just over a year after picking up cigarettes again—Lyndon Johnson died of a heart attack at age 64. It was likely his fifth cardiac event. His physicians and biographers have pointed to his return to smoking as a major factor in his premature death.

Johnson's story is a stark reminder of nicotine's grip. Even after fifteen years of abstinence, even after a heart attack had nearly killed him, the addiction pulled him back—with fatal results.