LBJ's 1968
Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval

Examines President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his response to the year that he characterized as a 'year of a continuous nightmare'.

Kyle Longley (Author)

9781316643471, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 January 2020

374 pages, 12 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

'Kyle Longley's impressive, well-researched book brings new insight to the political and diplomatic events of 1968 … Longley's book, in addition to its being a fine work of history, provides a template through which to better understand our own times.' Robert David Johnson, Congress & the Presidency

1968 was an unprecedented year in terms of upheaval on numerous scales: political, military, economic, social, cultural. In the United States, perhaps no one was more undone by the events of 1968 than President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Kyle Longley leads his readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of what Johnson characterized as the 'year of a continuous nightmare'. Longley explores how LBJ perceived the most significant events of 1968, including the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy, and the violent Democratic National Convention in Chicago. His responses to the crises were sometimes effective but often tragic, and LBJ's refusal to seek re-election underscores his recognition of the challenges facing the country in 1968. As much a biography of a single year as it is of LBJ, LBJ's 1968 vividly captures the tumult that dominated the headlines on a local and global level.

1. A nation on the brink: the State of the Union Address, January 1968
2. Those dirty bastards, are they trying to embarrass us? The Pueblo Incident, January-December 1968
3: Tet: a very near thing, January-March 1968
4. As a result, I will not seek re-election: the March 31, 1968 speech
5. The days the Earth stood still: the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, April 1968
6. He hated him, but loved him: the assassination of Robert Kennedy, June 1968
7. The big stumble: the Fortas Affair, June-October 1968
8: The tanks are rolling: Czechoslovakia crushed, August 1968
9: The perfect disaster: the democratic national convention, August 1968
10. Is this treason?: The October surprise that wasn't, October-December 1968
11. The last dance, January 1969
Conclusion
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]