This book is the most comprehensive, perceptive, and nuanced review to date of the foreign policy of the Lyndon Johnson era. It demonstrates not only U.S. concern with the Soviet Union, Europe, and nuclear weapons issues but also the overwhelming preoccupation with Vietnam that shaped policy throughout the world. During this period, Johnson also faced a series of emergencies ranging from turmoil in the Congo, to war in the Middle East, to a perceived communist challenge in the Caribbean, to a lingering hostage crisis in Asia. Using the most recently declassified documents, it explains in thoroughly readable prose the intricacies of the foreign policy dilemmas that forced Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda into retreat.

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction Warren I. Cohen; 2. Lyndon B. Johnson: change and continuity Waldo Heinrichs; 3. Johnson, Vietnam, and Tocqueville Walter LaFeber; 4. A time in the tide of men's affairs: Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam Richard H. Immerman; 5. Threats, opportunities, and frustrations in East Asia Nancy Bernkopf Tucker; 6. Toward disillusionment and disengagement in South Asia Robert J. McMahon; 7. Lyndon B. Johnson, Germany, and 'the end of the Cold War' Frank Costigliola; 8. The promise of progress: United States relations with Latin America during the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson Joseph S. Tulchin; 9. Keeping Africa off the agenda Terrence Lyons; 10. Balancing American interests in the Middle East: Lyndon Baines Johnson vs. Gamal Abdul Nasser Warren I. Cohen; 11. Lyndon Johnson: the final reckoning Nancy Bernkopf Tucker.