LAH 350 / HMN 351C The Johnson Years Unique # 29765 (29235) Tuesday, Thursday, 9:30-10:45 Online by Zoom

Dr. Mark A Lawrence [email protected] Office hours (via Zoom): Tuesday, 11:30 a.m to 1 p.m.; Thursday, 3-4 p.m., and by appointment

Mark K. Updegrove [email protected] Office hours (via Zoom): Thursday, 3:30-5:00 p.m., and by appointment

Nearly fifty years after it ended, the presidency of Lyndon Johnson continues to inspire enormous interest and controversy. What sort of person was LBJ? What motives underpinned his greatest achievements and biggest errors in both the domestic and international arenas? How can we reconcile the triumphs of civil rights and other transformational Great Society initiatives with the disaster of the Vietnam War? What is LBJ’s legacy? What importance does the Johnson presidency hold in the long flow of history, and why does LBJ remain a contentious figure? These are among the major questions at the heart of this seminar. In addressing them, we will read and discuss scholarship and primary sources on President Johnson and his times. We will also meet with various participants in – or close observers of – the Johnson administration.

Students will be evaluated largely on their preparation for, and participation in, seminar meetings where we will focus on the questions listed above. The course is also, however, designed to help students improve their skills in argumentative writing – skills with enormous value not only inside the academy but also in law, journalism, business, and other career fields. To this end, each student will write four short essays. Although these papers will take various forms (film review, role-play exercise, op-ed, etc.), all of them are designed to help students wrestle with complex information, develop a central argument, and present their ideas clearly and concisely.

Course Requirements 1. Attendance and active participation in class (25 percent of term grade) 2. Brief summary of conversation with a family member or acquaintance, due Sept. 10 (5 percent) 3. Paper 1 (analysis of LBJ/Reagan speeches), due Oct. 1 (15 percent) 4. Paper 2 (analysis of “Selma” controversy), due Oct. 20 (15 percent) 5. Paper 3 (role-play paper on Vietnam decision), due Nov. 5 (25 percent) 6. Paper 4 (op-ed on contemporary implication of LBJ presidency), due Dec. 3 (15 percent)

Required texts Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (5th ed., 2015) Mark Atwood Lawrence, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (2008) Bruce J. Schulman, Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism (2nd ed., 2007) Mark K. Updegrove, Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency (2012) Photocopied material on the course Canvas site

Mark A. Lawrence Mark A. Lawrence was Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin until January 2020, when he became the sixth director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum. He is a specialist in American political and diplomatic history. Lawrence is author of Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam and The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, as well as several edited books and numerous articles and chapters on various aspects of the history of U.S. foreign relations. His reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Boston Globe, and Washington Post, among other publications. He earned his BA from Stanford University and his PhD from Yale University. His new book on U.S. policymaking toward the Third World in the 1960s is forthcoming from Princeton University Press.

Mark K. Updegrove Mark K. Updegrove is the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation and serves as Presidential Historian for ABC News and a consultant for CNN. From 2009 to 2017, he was the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, where he hosted the Civil Rights Summit in 2014, which included Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, and oversaw a major renovation of the Library’s core museum exhibits. Updegrove is the author of four books on the presidency including The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency. His upcoming book, Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency, will be published by Random House next year. He has written for The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, The Daily Beast, Time, Parade, and National Geographic and has conducted exclusive interviews with six U.S. presidents. Earlier in his career, he served as the publisher of Newsweek and president of Time magazine's Canadian edition.

The COVID-19 Pandemic This course, which has been offered for many years, has historically emphasized intense face-to- face discussion and access to the archive at the LBJ Presidential Library on the UT campus. This year, neither of these features of the class will be possible. In an abundance of caution, the instructors decided over the summer to move the class entirely to an on-line format. Meanwhile, the LBJ Library remains closed, with no reopening in sight, making it impossible to access the vast archive of primary source material related to the Johnson presidency. We will, however, carry on the best we can to achieve the core goals of the class. We will use synchronous Zoom sessions for our twice-weekly seminar sessions. While we cannot ask students to design and write major term papers in the LBJ archive, we will still require everyone to delve into primary material and craft argumentative essays. The instructors expect that, through these innovations, the class will prove a lively, engaging, and valuable experience with no less rigor than in the past.

One upside of a virtual environment is that we can gain access to a greater array of guests who worked in the Johnson administration and can provide insight to LBJ through their own experiences with him in the White House.

The instructors recognize that our community, like the wider world, is experiencing unprecedented disruptions in a Covid-19 era. Many students face challenges ranging from childcare responsibilities to inadequate technology to financial difficulties that may interfere with attendance at class or their ability to meet deadlines. The instructors ask only that each student keep in touch and seek special arrangements if they confront these or other problems related to the pandemic. We are eager to help you and are determined to be flexible, as the university has asked of all of us.

Other Important Notes § The instructor may occasionally “hand out” short documents or other materials via Canvas that should be treated as required reading. § No materials used in this class, including, but not limited to, lecture hand-outs, videos, assessments (quizzes, exams, papers, projects, homework assignments), in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets, may be shared online or with anyone outside of the class unless you have my explicit, written permission. Unauthorized sharing of materials promotes cheating. It is a violation of the University’s Student Honor Code and an act of academic dishonesty. I am well aware of the sites used for sharing materials, and any materials found online that are associated with you, or any suspected unauthorized sharing of materials, will be reported to Student Conduct and Academic Integrity in the Office of the Dean of Students. These reports can result in sanctions, including failure in the course. § The required books are available for purchase at the University Coop. Photocopied materials are available on the course Canvas site. § By UT-Austin policy, you must notify the instructor of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class or assignment in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence. § Students should be fully aware of university rules regarding academic dishonesty. The instructor assumes full compliance throughout the semester and will strictly observe all university procedures in cases of violations. (Link to University Honor Code: http://catalog.utexas.edu/general-information/the-university/#universitycodeofconduct) § The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 or 471-6441. Students requiring special accommodations should raise this issue with the professor at the beginning of the term. § Late assignments will be penalized one-third of a grade (for example, from a B+ to a B or from a B- to a C+) for each day they are overdue. § A term grade of “A” will be assigned for students who do truly exceptional work, contributing regularly and insightfully and turning in outstanding written papers. A student will earn a “B” for mastering basic course material and submitting written work that is solid but not exceptional. Lower grades will be assigned as appropriate. All students should recognize that oral participation is a major requirement of this class. § Students will be graded on a scale that includes pluses and minuses (A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.). § Attendance is a requirement and is assumed. Each student may miss three classes without explanation, but each unexcused absence thereafter will result in a three-point deduction from her/his term score. § Title IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources here: http://catalog.utexas.edu/general-information/appendices/appendix-h/ § All students should be aware of the Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL): 512-232- 5050.

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

August 27 Introduction to the Course

September 1 LBJ: Character and Controversy READING: Mark K. Updegrove, Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency, introduction-chapter 1; Edward Rothstein, “Legacy Evolving at a Presidential Library,” New York Times, April 9, 2014; Jan Jarboe Russell, “Alone Together,” Texas Monthly, August 1999; Kent B. Germany, “Historians and the Many Lyndon Johnsons: A Review Essay,” Journal of Southern History, November 2009.

September 3 The Early Years READING: Schulman, pp. 1-35

September 8 From Congress to the Vice Presidency READING: Schulman, pp. 36-59

September 10 The Domestic Context READING: Isserman & Kazin, chs. 1 and 3 Assignment: 2-page paper on impressions of LBJ due by class time

September 15 The International Context READING: Campbell Craig and Fredrik Logevall, “The Nuclear Rubicon,” in America’s Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity (2009); Mark Lawrence, “Lyndon Johnson’s World” (draft chapter); and Isserman & Kazin, chapter 5

September 17 Assuming the Presidency Schulman, pp. 60-86; Updegrove, ch. 3

September 22 LBJ in Texas and the White House GUEST: Former Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes READING: Isserman & Kazin, ch. 6

September 24 The First Year and the Election of 1964 Schulman, pp. 87-100; Updegrove, ch. 3

September 29 The War on Poverty GUEST: Michael Gillette, former Director, Humanities Texas READING: Schulman, pp. 111-132; Updegrove, pp. 133-153

October 1 Civil Right ASSIGNMENT: Paper 1 due by midnight

October 6 Inside the Johnson White House Guest: Ms. Luci Baines Johnson ASSIGMENT: Watch “Selma” within the next few days

October 8 Voting Rights and the “Selma” Controversy READING: Mark K. Updegrove, “What ‘Selma’ Gets Wrong,” Politico, December 22, 2014; Joseph A. Califano, “The Movie ‘Selma’ Has a Glaring Flaw,” Washington Post, December 26, 2014; Jennifer Schuessler, “Depiction of Lyndon B. Johnson in ‘Selma’ Raises Hackles,” New York Times, December 31, 2014; Peniel Joseph, “Selma” Backlash Misses the Point,” National Public Radio, January 10, 2015

October 13 The Great Society at High Tide READING: Isserman & Kazin, ch. 7; Updegrove, pp. 153-183

October 15 The Cold War and the Vietnam Problem READING: Lawrence, chs. 1-3

October 20 LBJ and Vietnam ASSIGNMENT: Paper 2 due by midnight

October 22 The Question of Alternatives READING: Lawrence, chs. 4-5; Vietnam document packet

October 27 Decisions for War READING: Schulman, pp. 133-166; Vietnam document packet

October 29 LBJ as Commander in Chief READING: Updegrove, chs. 8-9

November 3 Domestic Problems and the 1966 Elections ASSIGNMENT: Isserman & Kazin, chs. 8-9

November 5 Great Society Under Stress READING: Paper 3 due by midnight

November 10 The Nightmare Year Guest: Larry Temple READING: Updegrove, ch. 10; Lawrence, ch. 6

November 12 The Republican Party in the LBJ Years READING: Schulman, pp. 167-178; Isserman & Kazin, chs. 10-11

November 17 The Election of 1968 READING: Isserman & Kazin, ch. 12

November 19 The Post-Presidency and the Nixon Years READING: Isserman & Kazin, ch. 14; Lawrence, ch. 7

November 24 NO CLASS

December 1 Assessing LBJ READING: Lawrence, ch. 8; Updegrove, ch. 12; and Joshua Zeitz, “The Real Legacy in Jeopardy Under the New Congress? LBJ’s,” Politico, November 23, 2017

December 3 Assessing LBJ (continued) ASSIGNMENT: Paper 4 due by midnight

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

“Warm Up” paper: 2 pages (approximately 500 words), due by 9:30 a.m. on September 10 Interview a relative, friend, or other acquaintance with personal memories of LBJ. What memories stand out most strongly? How does your interviewee think about LBJ as a person, politician, and leader? Why do you think your interviewee remembers LBJ as s/he does? How accurate or reliable do you think this memory is?

Paper 1: Liberalism and Its Critics, 4-5 pages (approximately 1,000-1,500 words) due Oct. 1 Write an essay comparing and contrasting two speeches delivered in 1964: Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society speech at the University of Michigan in May and Ronald Reagan’s “Time for Choosing” speech just before the presidential election in November. On what fundamental issues do the two men disagree? Read the speeches carefully and look for specific issues that the two speakers discuss, but you should also delve beyond their words to explore the assumptions and worldviews that seem embedded in the addresses.

Paper 2: The “Selma” controversy, 4-5 pages (approximately 1,000-1,500 words), due Oct. 20 Based on your readings and your viewing of “Selma,” what is your opinion of the film’s portrayal of LBJ and the ensuing controversy? Do you think Johnson is fairly or unfairly depicted in the movie? State a clear argument and defend your position with evidence from the film, readings, and any other sources you find useful. You may wish to write your paper in the style of a newspaper op-ed or film review. In your essay, you are certainly free to discuss the film’s historical inaccuracies, but don’t stop there. Strive for a deeper level of analysis that examines, for instance, the filmmaker’s responsibility to historical “accuracy,” the notion of a “higher truth” decoupled from rigorous attention to historical sources, and the social and political implications of the film’s depiction of the relationship between Dr. King and President Johnson.

Paper 3: Vietnam role-play memo, 6-8 pages (1,800-2,400 words), due Nov. 5 It is December 1, 1964, and you are the U.S. secretary of defense. President Johnson has asked you for advice about how to proceed in Vietnam. Write a memo advising the president. Try to limit yourself to information you could reasonably have known at the time. Be sure to organize your memo in a clear and concise fashion. Remember that the president is a busy person and expects direct and succinct advice. In preparation for this assignment, you are free to read anything you think will be useful, but he sure to read the documents contained in the Vietnam document packet posted on Canvas.

Paper 4: Op-ed on LBJ’s legacies (800-1,000 words), due Dec. 3 Write an op-ed of the sort you might find in the New York Times or Washington Post taking a position on the legacy or meaning of the LBJ presidency in 2020. You are free to choose any issue or line of argument you like, but be sure to keep a tight focus on a specific topic that leads you to see connections. You are free to use any reading material you like for this assignment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BASIC MATERIAL ON LBJ

Ahlberg, Kristin L. Transplanting the Great Society: Lyndon Johnson and Food for Peace. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008.

Bernstein, Irving. Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Beschloss, Michael R, ed. Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.

Brands, H.W. The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, 4 vols. New York: Knopf, various years.

Caroli, Betty Boyd. Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage that Made a President. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015.

Cohen, Warren I., and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, eds., Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World: American Foreign Policy, 1963-1968. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Darman, Jonathan. Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America. New York: Random House, 2015.

Divine, Robert A. The Johnson Years, Volume 1: Foreign Policy, the Great Society, and the White House. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1987.

------. The Johnson Years, Volume 2: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1987.

Dudziak, Mary L. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Farber, David. The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s. New York: Hill and Wang, 1994.

Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Inside Story of An American Adversary. New York: Norton, 2006.

Gavin, Francis J., and Mark Atwood Lawrence, eds. Beyond the Cold War: Lyndon Johnson and the New Global Challenges of the 1960s. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Gillette, Michael L. Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

------. Launching the War on Poverty: An Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.

Holland, Max. The Kennedy Assassination Tapes. New York: Knopf, 2004.

Jenkins, Philip. Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Johnson, Lyndon Baines. The Vantage Point: Perspectives on the Presidency. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.

Johnson, Robert David. Congress and the Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Joseph, Peniel E. The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. New York: Basic Books, 2020.

Kunz, Diane B., ed. The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations during the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.

Laron, Guy. The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017.

Leffler, Melvin P. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. New York: Hill and Wang, 2007.

Lerner, Mitchell B. Looking Back at LBJ: White House Politics in a New Light. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2005.

Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Logevall, Fredrik. Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Longley, Kyle. LBJ’s 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America’s Year of Upheaval. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Mackenzie, G. Calvin, and Robert Weisbrot. The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s. New York: Penguin, 2008.

Offner, Arnold. Hubert Humphrey: The Conscience of the Country. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.

Patterson, James T. The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America. New York: Basic Books, 2012.

Perlstein, Rick. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. New York: Scribner’s, 2008.

Porter, Gareth. Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.

Purdum, Todd. An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. New York: Holt, 2014.

Risen, Clay. The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014.

Russell, Jan Jarboe. Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson. New York: Scribner, 1999.

Shlaes, Amity. Great Society: A New History. New York: Harper, 2019.

Schwartz, Thomas. Lyndon Johnson and Europe: In the Shadow of Vietnam. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.

Suri, Jeremi. Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.

Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. New York: Norton, 2003.

Wilson, Robert H., Norman J. Glickman, and Laurence E. Lynn Jr., eds. LBJ’s Neglected Legacy: How Lyndon Johnson Reshaped Domestic Policy and Government. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015.

Woods, Randall B. LBJ: Architect of American Ambition. New York: Free Press, 2006.

------. Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the Limits of American Liberalism. New York: Basic Books, 2016.

Zeitz, Joshua. Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House. New York: Viking, 2018.

Zelizer, Julian. The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society. New York: Penguin, 2015.