The presidency of Lyndon Johnson was a pivotal moment in twentieth-century American history. From the decisive social programs of the Great Society, to the triumph of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, to the catastrophe of the Vietnam War and domestic unrest, it was an era of dramatic accomplishment and wrenching tragedy. In Guns or Butter, renowned historian Irving Bernstein brings those five climactic years of the sixties vividly to life, from the moment Lee Harvey Oswald aimed a rifle from the window of the Texas School Depository to the tense ballot-counting that put Richard Nixon in the White House in 1968.

Fifteen days -- The tax cut -- The civil rights act of 1964 -- The war on poverty -- Prelude: the 1964 election -- Medicare: the jewel in the crown -- Breakthrough in education -- Selma and the Voting Rights Act -- Immigration: righting the national origins wrong -- The environment: from conservation to pollution -- Failure: the repeal of right-to-work -- Unhinging the state of the union -- Vietnam: sliding into the quagmire -- Launching the great inflation -- Turmoil at home -- Updating the minimum wage and social security -- Lyndon Johnson, patron of the arts -- Model cities -- The collapse of the Johnson presidency -- Guns or butter.