Liberal Hour : Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s

Reform has seldom come with such Speed, such sweep, and such consequence. What drove this political sea change? In The Liberal Hour, Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot argue that the primary force behind it was not the counterculture but those in the traditional seats of power. With nuance and panache, they present the real-life characters-from giants like JFK and Johnson to lesser-known senators and congressmen-who drove these reforms and were critical to the passage of key legislation. A concise, accessible, and engaging behind-the-scenes look at the profound social changes of the 1960s. The Liberal Hour reveals how Washington, so often portrayed as a target of reform, was in fact the era's most effective engine of change. Book jacket.

G. Calvin Mackenzie is the Goldfarb Family Professor of Government at Colby College. He has written or edited more than a dozen books on American government and public policy.

Robert Weisbrot is the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at Colby College. Both authors live in Waterville, Maine.