The fierce urgency of now : Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the battle for the Great Society / Julian E. Zelizer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zelizer, Julian E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.

Johnson, Lyndon B.

Social policy.

United States--Politics and government--1963-1969.

United States.

Politics and government.

United States--Economic policy--1961-1971.

Economic policy.

United States--Social policy--1961-1971.

Physical Description:

370 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Penguin Press, 2015.

Summary:

"Zelizer takes the full measure of the entire story [of Johnson's liberal agenda] in all its epic sweep. Before Johnson, Kennedy tried and failed to achieve many of these advances. Our practiced understanding is that this was an unprecedented liberal hour in America, a moment, after Kennedy's death, when the seas parted and Johnson could simply stroll through to victory. As Zelizer shows, this view is off-base: in many respects America was even more conservative than it seems now, and Johnson's legislative program faced bitter resistance" --Amazon.com.

Contents:

The challenges of a liberal presidency

Deadlocked democracy

New president, same old Congress

Legislating civil rights

How Barry Goldwater built the Great Society

The fabulous Eighty-Ninth Congress

Congressional conservatism revived

The triumph of austerity politics

The endurance of the Great Society.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1594204349

9781594204340

OCLC:

881094066