American History Too!

On episode 10 of American History Too! we arrive at the tumultuous 1960s.  To help us better understand this controversial decade, Malcolm assumes host duties as Mark guides us through the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and his ambitious search for the ‘Great Society’.  What did Johnson mean by a ‘Great Society’?  What did he achieve?  And why did he leave the presidency as a ‘broken and dispirited’ figure?  And what in the world does a bill about rat extermination have to do with all of this?   

Serious academic rigour aside, we engage in a discussion about the tallest and shortest presidents, Mark (briefly and horribly) attempts a Southern accent, while Malcolm marvels in the historical amnesia of ‘Guns or Butter’ advocates.

Finally, we depart to the dulcet tones of one-hit wonder and apparent crystal ball owner, Barry McGuire, wand his eerily accurate 1965 song, ‘Eve of Destruction’. 

Thanks again for listening and we’ll be back soon with a discussion of the JFK assassination.

Cheers,

Mark and Malcolm

Reading List

• Andrew, John A., Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, 1998)
• Bernstein, Irving, Guns or Butter:  The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson, (Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 1996)
• Converse, Phillip, Clausen, Aage R., Miller, Warren E., ‘Electoral Myth and Reality: The 1964 Election,’ The American Political Science Review, Vol. 59, No. 2 (June 1965) < http://www.jstor.org/stable/1953052 >
• Dallek, Matthew, The right moment:  Ronald Reagan’s first victory and the decisive turning point in American politics (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000)                   
• Dallek, Robert, Flawed Giant:  Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-73 (Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 1998)
• Davies, Gareth, From opportunity to entitlement : the transformation and decline of Great Society liberalism (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 1996)
• Johnson, Robert David, All the way with LBJ: the 1964 presidential election (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• Patterson, James T., The Eve of Destruction: how 1965 Transformed America, (New York: Basic Books, 2012)