Table of Contents

Introduction: War and Democracy: The Life-or-Death Bet
Chapter 1: General William Westmoreland: The Tet Offensive
Chapter 2: Senator Eugene McCarthy: The College Student Crusade
Chapter 3: Lyndon Johnson: "People Grow Tired of Confusion"
Chapter 4: Martin Luther King: The Dream
Chapter 5: Robert Kennedy: The "National Soul"
Chapter 6: Richard Nixon: The Candidate from Squaresville?
Chapter 7: Hubert Horatio Humphrey: The Isolation of the Politics of Joy
Chapter 8: George Wallace: The Populism of the Vietnam War Era
Chapter 9: Nguyen Van Thieu: A Merry-Go-Round in a Chamber of Horrors
Conclusion
Bibliography

About the Author

Walter LaFeber is Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow in the Department of History at Cornell University. He is the author of numerous articles and his most recent books include Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism and America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–2002.

Reviews

Walter LaFeber skillfully examines 1968 election issues from the point of view of Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, and Nguyen Van Thieu.
*Vietnam*

LaFeber presents a colorful narrative and informative analysis. . . . Recommended.
*CHOICE*

An excellent framework for an integrative, reader-friendly format. . . . Anyone who wants to write in this genre should study the methods Walter LaFeber has used to craft and important, accessible style of historical writing.
*Diplomatic History*

Walter LaFeber's The Deadly Bet is a distinguished addition to the abundant writing on the election and its consequences. LaFeber shows what the traditional methods of political and diplomatic history can still do to illuminate the recent past. . . . For a thorough, insightful, and fast-paced narrative based on the most up-to-date historical literature, LaFeber's book offers the best place to start about the 1968 election. It should be particularly useful for college students who have little knowledge about the complexities of politics in the 1960s beyond the myths and legends of the modern, conservative-oriented mass media.
*Lewis Gould, University of Texas at Austin*

Walter LaFeber skillfully examines 1968 election issues from the point of view of Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, and Nguyen Van Thieu. * Vietnam *
LaFeber presents a colorful narrative and informative analysis. . . . Recommended. -- W. T. Lindley, Union University * CHOICE *
An excellent framework for an integrative, reader-friendly format. . . . Anyone who wants to write in this genre should study the methods Walter LaFeber has used to craft and important, accessible style of historical writing. * Diplomatic History *
Walter LaFeber's The Deadly Bet is a distinguished addition to the abundant writing on the election and its consequences. LaFeber shows what the traditional methods of political and diplomatic history can still do to illuminate the recent past. . . . For a thorough, insightful, and fast-paced narrative based on the most up-to-date historical literature, LaFeber's book offers the best place to start about the 1968 election. It should be particularly useful for college students who have little knowledge about the complexities of politics in the 1960s beyond the myths and legends of the modern, conservative-oriented mass media. -- Lewis Gould, University of Texas at Austin