Dr. Michael Wm. Doyle
Department of History
Burkhardt Bldg. 213
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306-0480
Office Phone: 765-285-8732
E-mail: mwdoyle@bsu.edu
Office Hours: Thu., 2:00-4:00 P.M. & by appt.
Fax: 765-285-5612
Course Home Page: http://mwdoyle.iweb.bsu.edu/hon199/
[HON199SQ.D11.rev]
HONORS 199 / SECTIONS 001: SYMPOSIUM IN CONTEMPORARY CIVILIZATION:
AMERICAN CULTURE DURING THE 1960s
Week 6:1 / Day 11 (Tues., 14 February 2012)
Reading Assignment Study Questions
Anderson:
Chapter Two: The Pinnacle of Liberalism, 1964-1965;
 Tonkin Gulf and the 1964 Election, 58-61,
 Launching the Great Society, 61-62,
 LBJ Expands Civil Rights, 62-64.
Levy:
2.4:
[4.0]
4.1:
4.2:
4.4:
[5.0]
5.1:
2.3:
Students for a Democratic Society, “Port Huron Statement,” 44-46;
Young Americans for Freedom, “The Sharon Statement,” 46-47;
Chapter Four: The Great Society and Its Critics, 105-106;
Lyndon B. Johnson, “Commencement Address – The Great Society,” 106-109;
George Meany, “Testimony on Medicare,” 109-113;
Ronald Reagan, “Televised Address – A Time for Choosing,” 117-122;
Chapter Five: Vietnam, 135;
“The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,” 136.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Anderson, Chapter Two: The Pinnacle of Liberalism, 1964 – 1965; pp. 58-64:
1. According to the author, what kind of support did the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
have in Congress and from the American public?
2. In 1964 how did the two U.S. presidential candidates differ over the amount of
assistance that each would provide to South?
2
3. Anderson characterizes the Goldwater campaign as “disorganized” and certain of the
presidential candidate’s speeches as “confusing or inappropriate.” Furnish two
examples that Anderson cites to support these claims.
4. What was the outcome of the 1964 presidential and congressional elections?
5. What was President Johnson’s top priority of his “Great Society” program and why?
6. According to Anderson, why was Selma, Alabama, chosen by civil rights activists as the
site for beginning a march to Montgomery? What happened at the beginning of the
march?
7. Identify some of the key features of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. According to
Anderson, what were the immediate and long-term results of this legislation?
Levy, Document 2.3: Students for a Democratic Society, “Port Huron Statement,”
pp. 44-46:
1. According to Levy, what national issues did the SDS members who wrote the “Port
Huron Statement” in 1962 find most objectionable?
2. What two events are specifically mentioned in the Port Huron Statement document as
being “too troubling to dismiss?”
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3. Identify several of the paradoxes of American society in 1962 as highlighted in the
Statement.
Levy, Document 2.4: Young Americans for Freedom, “The Sharon Statement,” pp. 46-47:
1. The Young Americans for Freedom present several of their core beliefs in the 1960
“Sharon Statement.” Identify at least three of them. Which of these are still held to be
true by contemporary conservatives today?
Levy, Document 4.1: Lyndon B. Johnson, “Commencement Address – The Great Society,” pp. 106-109:
1. In his address, President Johnson describes four main features of the “Great Society.”
What are they?
2. Where did Johnson wish to “begin to build the Great Society?”
Levy, Document 4.2: George Meany, “Testimony on Medicare,” pp. 109-113:
1. According to Meany, at what point did the labor movement act to support
governmental medical health coverage for older citizens?
2. What evidence does Meany provide to support his claim that political motives lie behind
the insurance industry’s advertising campaigns?
Levy, Document 4.4: Ronald Reagan, “Televised Address – A Time for Choosing,” pp. 117-122:
4
1. What did Reagan believe was the central issue of the 1964 presidential election?
2. How does Reagan support his assertion “that outside of its legitimate functions,
government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the
economy”?
3. How does Reagan answer his rhetorical question: “Where, then, is the road to peace”?
Levy, Document 5.1: “The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,” p. 136:
1. According to Levy, what did President Johnson do with the authority to act that was
granted the commander-in-chief by Congress through this resolution?
2. Under what circumstances would the authority that was granted to the president by this
congressional resolution expire?