Flawed Giant: The Life and Presidency of Lyndon Johnson

This set of 4 lectures examines the extraordinary rise and presidency of Lyndon Johnson. Once referred to as a "tornado in pants," this exceptionally ambitious, energetic Texan reoriented the two political parties and the country itself through his "Great Society" programs and his civil rights reforms. Despite this domestic transformation, Johnson also expanded and oversaw one of America's most divisive and unpopular Cold War conflicts, the war in Vietnam. We will explore the role and character of some of Johnson's key contemporaries such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy and Ho Chi Minh.