Waubonsee Community College

The deadly bet, LBJ, Vietnam, and the 1968 election, Walter LaFeber

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-206) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The deadly bet

bibliography

56482288

Walter LaFeber

Vietnam--America in the war years

LBJ, Vietnam, and the 1968 election

"Lyndon B. Johnson made a life-or-death bet during his presidential term - and lost. While fighting an extended war against a determined foe, he gambled that American society could also endure a vast array of domestic reforms. The result was the turmoil of the 1968 presidential election, a crisis more severe than any since the Civil War. With thousands killed in Vietnam, hundreds dead in civil rights riots, televised chaos at the Democratic National Convention, and two major assassinations, Americans responded by voting for the law-and-order message of Richard Nixon." "In The Deadly Bet, distinguished historian Walter LaFeber explores the turbulent election of 1968 and its significance in the larger context of American history. Looking through the eyes of the years most important players - Robert F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, George Wallace, Nguyen Van Thieu, and Lyndon Johnson - LaFeber argues that domestic upheaval itself had more impact on the election than did the war in Vietnam."--Jacket

General William Westmoreland : the Tet offensive -- Senator Eugene McCarthy : the college student crusade -- Lyndon Johnson : "people grow tired of confusion" -- Martin Luther King : the dream -- Robert Kennedy : the "national soul" -- Richard Nixon : the candidate from Squaresville? -- Hubert Horatio Humphrey : the isolation of the politics of joy -- George Wallace : the populism of the Vietnam war era -- Nguyen Van Thieu : a merry-go-round in a chamber of horrors