The Johnson Years, Volume Two: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science

by Robert A. Divine (Editor)

Overview

Stretching from November 1963 to January 1969, the administration of Lyndon Baines Johnson was marked both by division and tumult and by significant accomplishments. In this volume, Robert Divine has brought together seven senior scholars who, in new essays, explore aspects of domestic and foreign policy during the Johnson years. This collection is a sequel to Divine’s earlier volume (originally published as Exploring the Johnson Years).

The seven essays that compose Volume Two, together with Divine’s incisive and perceptive historiographical overview, offer new insights into Johnson’s complex character and leadership style. The LBJ that emerges from these pages is a very human figure who understands the corrosive, pervasive impact of the Vietnam War on his administration and who struggles to try to preserve the domestic programs he fought so long and hard to achieve.

In exploring the antiwar movement, tax and foreign economic policies, environmental and health care questions, and the space program, these essays demonstrate how domestic issues were critically affected by the Vietnam War and provide a fuller understanding of Johnson’s vital but flawed legacy to the nation.

Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700630868
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	10/13/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert A. Divine is the George W. Littlefield Professor Emeritus in American History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a past president of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations, and his publications include Blowing on the Wind: The Nuclear Test Ban Debate, 1954–1960 and Eisenhower and the Cold War.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. The Johnson Revival: A Bibliographical Appraisal, Robert A. Divine

Part 1. The Impact of Vietnam

2. Lyndon Johnson and the Antiwar Opposition, Charles Debenedetti

3. The Economic Education of Lyndon Johnson: Guns, Butter, and Taxes, Donald F. Kettl

4. Foreign Aid and the Balance-of-Payments Problem: Vietnam and Johnson’s Foreign Economic Policy, Burton I. Kaufman

Part 2. Protecting the Environment

5. Lyndon Johnson and Environmental Policy, Martin V. Melosi

6. Lady Bird Johnson and Beautification, Lewis L. Gould

Part 3. Science and Public Policy

7. The War on Disease, Clarence G. Lasby

8. Lyndon B. Johnson and the Politics of Space, Robert A. Divine

About the Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

"[The essays] succeed in accomplishing Divine’s goals of informing readers about important aspects of the Johnson presidency and identifying topics and resources for further research."—Journal of American History

"The substantive essays are innovative, solidly researched, and full of insights."—Southwestern Historical Quarterly

"These essays are uniformly well written and carefully researched, making intelligent use of the collections in the Johnson Library."—Choice

"These first-rate essays constitute valuable contributions to knowledge . . . [and show] how decisions get made. . . . Like me, those who read this book will feel they learned much worth knowing. A good and useful volume."—Allen J. Matusow, author of The Unraveling of America

"[These essays] expand our knowledge of how significant policies were shaped inside the walls of government, without ignoring the importance of forces outside of the White House. . . . [They make excellent use of LBJ archival material and reflect careful reading of the secondary literature. This book should appeal to historians, political scientists, and specialists in public policy."—Steven F. Lawson, author of In Pursuit of Power and Black Ballots

From the Publisher