American Experience

In "Quotes"

Below are quotations from the speeches and writings of LBJ. Each is followed by a series of questions that you may want to raise with your students.

"We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for a hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter -- and to write in the books of law."

Questions to Consider:

• What did LBJ mean when he said it is time to "write in the books of law"?
• How do you think he would feel about the state of civil rights in America today?

"This nation, this generation, in this hour has man's first chance to build a Great Society, a place where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor."

Questions to Consider:

• What did LBJ mean by matching the meaning of a person's life to the marvels of his or her labor?
• What social conditions led LBJ to develop the goals of the Great Society?

"I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered, changeless and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the excitement of becoming -- always becoming, trying, probing, falling, resting and trying again -- but always trying and always gaining. In each generation -- with toil and tears -- we have had to earn our heritage again."

Questions to Consider:

• How does this quotation demonstrate LBJ's connection with the idealism of the New Deal, as well as FDR's pragmatic approach to problem solving?
• Do you agree or disagree that each generation must "earn [its] heritage again"?
• What is your generation's heritage?
• What issues will your generation have to solve?

"The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use [our] wealth to enrich and elevate our national life -- and to advance the quality of American civilization."

Questions to Consider:

• Do you think the challenge LBJ mentions has been met?
• Do you think there has been progress in improving "our national life" since the 1960s? Why or why not?

"... a President must do what he thinks is right. He must think in terms of the national interest and the Nation's security -- even if this means stirring up some segments of public opinion, no matter how vociferous. I confess that on the homefront it is easier for the public to understand what an administration is planning to do... But when a President takes an extremely serious step in foreign matters, then it is really a more difficult proposition for people to grasp."

Questions to Consider:

• Do you believe a president must do what he thinks is correct, despite what the people think or want?
• Is an elected official ever justified in acting on his or her own ideas rather than on the desires of the constituency? If so, under what circumstances?
• Do you feel LBJ was justified in saying that the public is less able to grasp foreign policy than domestic policy??