History 65 1968 March 2, 2006
I. LBJ and World Affairs
1. Americanizing the Vietnam War (Cold War assumptions; personnel changes; policy vagueness; escalation by stealth)
2. Beyond Vietnam (Latin American difficulties; European challenges and presidential restraint)
3. Anti-War Challenges (Senate dissent; ideological divisions; Fulbright hearings and their effect)
II. Johnson’s Decline
1. Rights-Related Liberalism and Its Political Effects (right: challenging peripheral issues: apportionment—the road to Wesberry—and Tuck bill; crime—issue in Goldwater campaign, significance of Miranda and White dissent; left: collapse of biracial civil rights coalition—MLK, poverty and open housing; SNCC, CORE, and black nationalism; campaigns and government actions: 1966 elections; increasing polarization of confirmation battles—Fortas)
2. The Democratic Race (importance of RFK; popular protests and effect on Democratic Party; nature of presidential selection; Allard Lowenstein and search for challenger to LBJ; RFK indecision; settling on McCarthy; New Hampshire primary and campaign fallout—RFK entry, LBJ withdrawal)
III. The Campaign
1. To Chicago (RFK/McCarthy battle—role of class and image; MLK assassination, urban riots, and politics of violence; Oregon, California, and RFK assassination; Chicago disaster)
2. Fall Campaign (collapse of Romney campaign; “New Nixon” and safe GOP choice; Wallace wildcard; Buchanan, Phillips, and “Southern Strategy”; rose-garden tactics; Agnew vs. Muskie; HHH Salt Lake City address; Democratic surge?; congressional races; outcome)
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