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)