Posted: April 14th, 2015

History Book Exam

Bruce J. Schulman, Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism (2nd edition)

•    Born and raised in Texas, Lyndon Johnson became one of the most powerful men in America, as well as one of the most loved and despised Texans in American History. In an essay of not more than three pages respond to the following questions.
•    Where did Johnson grow up; what was his childhood like; and what were the primary influences on him during his formative years?
•    What challenges did Johnson face in building a political base in Texas; how did he overcome those challenges and how was he able to become a powerful Senator?
•    What was Johnson’s position on civil rights and what were his accomplishments in this area? (Hint: See Document p. 223)
•    What were the aims of Johnson’s Great Society and what were some of the shortcomings in his Great Society programs? (Hint: See Document p. 192)
•    Why did Vietnam become a “quagmire” for Johnson? (Hint: See Documents p. 236 and 244)
Critically evaluate Lyndon Johnson’s presidency. What were his significant accomplishments            and shortcomings?

Rules:
1.    Do not simply restate the questions and answer them. You must compose your responses in the form of a polished essay (i.e. there should be flow from one paragraph to the next). Pay careful attention to paragraph structure, syntax, punctuation and spelling.

2.    This is a book exam not a research paper. Your essay must be based exclusively on Schulman’s book. Because you will not be consulting outside sources you will not include a bibliography.

3.    No plagiarism apply.

4.    You absolutely may not quote from the book (even if you use quotation marks).

5.    When referencing important information in the book, cite page numbers in parentheses.

6.    Format your heading as I have formatted the heading of this sheet. Single-space between lines in the heading; 3 lines between the heading and the first line of the body of your essay; double-space the body of your essay. Set all margins at 1 inch and indent the first line of each paragraph. Use a standard 12-point font throughout (by “standard” I mean a font that is easy to read like Arial or Times New Roman). Do not number your pages and do not use headers or footers. 3 full pages long-you can go over very little.