More than a decade after LBJ left office, researchers began to open up the Johnson administration as an important area of scholarly study. Exploring the Johnson Years is an invaluable introduction to that administration and to the LBJ Library’s more than thirty million separate documents. The contributors cover every major aspect of the Johnson presidency, from Vietnam (George C. Herring) to the War on Poverty (Mark I. Gelfand), including coverage of Latin American policy (Walter LaFeber), education (Hugh Davis Graham), civil rights (Steven F. Lawson), the nature of the White House staff (Larry Berman), and Johnson’s stormy relationship with the media (David Culbert).

The essays illuminate some of the most important files and show how they can be used to further historical understanding of the Johnson years. As a result, scholars who plan to use the library will have a useful guide before they begin, while general readers will be able to discover the ways in which the library’s holdings relate to the existing body of literature on the Johnson administration.

• Preface
• Introduction
• The Johnson Literature (Robert A. Divine)
• Part 1. Foreign Policy
  • 1. The War in Vietnam (George C. Herring)
  • 2. Latin American Policy (Walter Lafeber)
• Part 2. The Great Society
  • 3. Civil Rights (Steven F. Lawson)
  • 4. The War on Poverty (Mark I. Gelfand)
  • 5. The Transformation of Federal Education Policy (Hugh Davis Graham)
• Part 3. The White House
  • 6. Johnson and the White House Staff (Larry Berman)
  • 7. Johnson and the Media (David Culbert)
• Appendix
• Historical Materials
• Index