A Letter from Jennifer J. Raab and Jonathan Fanton

On March 14-15, it was a privilege for Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute to host “Revisiting the Great Society: The Role of Government from FDR and LBJ to Today.” Over two days, a distinguished roster of scholars and practitioners considered lessons learned from Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society with an eye toward understanding how to make Washington work today.

In 2012, we published a compendium from the conference which included the keynote addresses. We are pleased to present the second publication from the conference, which includes a discussion of the conference panels on civil rights, health, and poverty during the Johnson administration.

This publication includes personal reflections from Joseph A. Califano, Jr., derived from his deep experience in public life as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s chief advisor for domestic policy and as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter Administration. Rather than transcripts of the proceedings, this publication distills the lessons learned about LBJ’s presidential leadership. These lessons will be valuable to future presidents and political leadership.

All the best,