why does lbj succeed where others had failed. so in the 1950s in the 1950s as now the united states had a very immigration system. in the 1920s, the united states had implemented the most severe immigration restrictions in national history. as mentioned, those restrictions were overtly racist and discriminatory, highly highly favored immigration from western, northern european countries and real emphasis in that was this effort to conserve the demographic composition of the united states. and this was critically important? very much so, too. these evil dixiecrats we're all talking about. by the 1950s, they were overt racists. they posed barriers in terms of american international relations. the united states was trying to fortify its relationships with decolonizing newly established in places like asia, africa, the also so the actual immigration that was happening, in fact, was happening outside of the immigration laws and all these fronts. every president starting with truman onward, knew that the laws had to be changed. they ne

he lbj and nixon. nixon give you lbj a major share of credit because you deserve it. point six will do everything to make you great in history because you deserve it. and i think this day i can tell you there's another time in us history that this activist occurred between an outgoing wounded president and, an incumbent who wants his job. i mean, i need you either configuration of parties, either within the same party. i don't know. this is a fascinating story. and to me, one of the lessons of this book and of the class today is really an underlying question. i mean, we as are conditioned to learn what political behavior, normal political behavior looks like now you could argue in recent years we haven't seen lot of normal political behavior on side of the aisle. but we learn, you know, democrats stick with democrats or republicans stick with democrat republicans. we assume they don't they aren't really friends anymore. i mean it used to be i write a poll years ago of americans who said, what's the one thing you wouldn't want your son or daughter do growing up? and it

lbj was not going to give that up. so graham came down and the trouble with graham nixon says come down and counsel me on what to do and graham says i'm not wellll enough to travel. graham canceled all of the schedules. yet by rome ammonia. he went to atlanta to receive an award and he checked in to a holiday inn just outside atlanta. he was going to stay there for asas long as it took to feel better. he said i'm not well enough to travel i canceled my whole schedule. i'm not even going to go home. he lived in charlotte north carolina to. nixon said i will send a private plane. i needed to come. this is important. graha' wrote in his diary something like i guess there are things that are more important than help. so graham goes down. i welcome back in just a minute. a couple of months before hannah nixon dies. this is, i don't have a photo from mrs. nixon's funeral but bs and 56. the youngest escorting the mother here in uniform in the foreground. two months before hannah nixon had died in frank passed away in the 50s

j personally. .5, when vietnam is settled, he, lbj and nixon will give you lbj a major share of credit because you deserve it. .6, will do everything to make you great in history because you deserve it. and i think to this day i can tell you there's another time that this activity occurs between an outgoing wounded president and an incumbent who wantshis job . either configuration of parties, either within the same party, i don't know really this is a fascinating story and to me one of the lessons of this book and of the class today is really an underlying question. we as americans are conditioned to learn what normal political behavior looks like. you could argue in recent years we haven't seen a lot of political behavior on either side of the aisle but we learn democrats stick with democrats, republicans, we assume they're not really friends anymore. it used to be i read a whole a few years ago of americans who said what's the one thing you wouldn't want your son or daughter to do growing up? and is marry someone of the other political party. it's actually high on the list. i wouldn'

ranch that when muriel and hubert would go to visit lbj and ladybird. she really admired particular house and got the plans from lady bird had it you know constructed there in waverly. i'll have to and look at that. okay. so the issue i want you to talk about without totally giving away the story is when we spoke on the phone before this evening, you mentioned you wanted to talk about a very significant event. and i described that significant event to you as something i would have loved for the book to open. was so you share a little bit about that was and you'll see why opening with it could have one choice but of course the hardest thing writing a big book like this is making a choice. you have to start. you have to make millions of choices throughout. the process. what was your what is the story and and why the choice. well, let me let me set it up first. humphrey's years as mayor of minneapolis taking on the city that was nationally in a way similar to what it became after george floyd's murder, as the example of a.c. and racism. and humphrey takes

so he sends johnson sends bunker out private meeting between bunker and lbj.bunker tells me this and says you know ellsworth, we need to turn the war over to the vietnamese. and then he sends out coma, the pacification side. abrams the military. so when kissinger writes that the president has decided bunker suspicions lulled in may of 71, bunker did not the implication in and he could not believe that kissinger would go against the public policy of president nixon. and so when i pointed this out to him that led to sort of some awkward things between the ambassador and myself but i i wanted to i decided after his book was not published but i decided that you know, for the sake of the record and history i wanted to get to the bottom of this. so i so, i got to know richard nixon. so i got i got a bunch of letters from richard nixon. i spent a number of years cultivating him. and i have to admit in public, i had you know, i had an intent. you know, i, i, i had a private purpose in doing this because at some point i was going to ask him. and the point came in 1989,

he's to be like when lbj. suddenly stepped down in 1968 when the democrats met in chicago, so this kind of a piece history, but that the at rick, so the staging is very different. this is biden's lbj moment, even though he already notified us to a letter that he was not going to seek a nomination. this is really the first real public moment where whatever he says will be captured as the narrative for the image of joe biden saying farewell to america in the same way lbj did sitting at that desk saying would not accept my party's nomination. so again, what we're about to see the famous picture. biden's about to create whatever the future narrative is his exit, whatever he says, how he conducts himself. the body language between him and kamala biden originally promised he would be a bridge. that's what he did in a very powerful way. and now it's time for him to pass. the torch is what the democratic delegates have suggested. >> as you know, by the way, lbj, when he stepped aside, a republican won. but we're not g

so he sends johnson sends bunker out private meeting between bunker and lbj.bunker tells me this and says you know ellsworth, we need to turn the war over to the vietnamese. and then he sends out coma, the pacification side. abrams the military. so when kissinger writes that the president has decided bunker suspicions lulled in may of 71, bunker did not the implication in and he could not believe that kissinger would go against the public policy of president nixon. and so when i pointed this out to him that led to sort of some awkward things between the ambassador and myself but i i wanted to i decided after his book was not published but i decided that you know, for the sake of the record and history i wanted to get to the bottom of this. so i so, i got to know richard nixon. so i got i got a bunch of letters from richard nixon. i spent a number of years cultivating him. and i have to admit in public, i had you know, i had an intent. you know, i, i, i had a private purpose in doing this because at some point i was going to ask him. and the point came in 1989,

erm, lbj, '64. he won. you know, carter, a moderate. he won in '76.. you know, time was when you had to be a southern democrat to win the presidency in the post—civil rights era. but then, of course, barack 0bama comes along again. you know, we think of him as this crusading liberal, but really, he was a very pragmatic moderate. i think that is forgotten. erm, that's how you win elections as a democrat in the united states. nick, it's been so good to talk to you. your last book, i should... ..we've mentioned it pretty generously, but not in the terms that it ought to be mentioned, because it actually made it, didn't it, onto a pile of books behind joe biden in a picture in the oval office. and i... it's still there, actually, it's still there. it's been there three years, which would suggest he's either a very slow reader, he hasn't read it, or he finds it so fascinating that he constantly keeps referencing it. erm, look, he's passed the torch, i hope, erm, you know, maybe he'll pass the book as well! and there's another one, the forever war, which i

lbj secretly nixon to succeed him. why would lbj do this over his own vice president? this is the most argument in the book. so with a chennault affair, it was really just sort of showing that what's been said doesn't make a lot of sense. but this is really the newest aspect of the book based on new evidence. and i'm about how i say it, but it's the most controversial part of the book is that i argue that it's the first book to argue that johnson came to prefer nixon. so a democrat came to prefer a republican. and i know it's because johnson liked nixon. that's really unknowable to me and maybe even irrelevant. but johnson came to see having nixon as a successor was better for his own political and place in future history. and so lady diary, other evidence will get into a billy graham's diary was the first book to use billy graham's diary. he acted as a messenger between johnson and nixon. so it was a process boost researcher to have looked at billy graham's diary. i mean, that is your holy grail of of of of the research. what did billy graham write in his diary? well,

erm, lbj, �*64. he won. you know, carter, a moderate. he won in �*76.know, time was when you had to be a southern democrat to win the presidency in the post—civil rights era. but then, of course, barack obama comes along again. you know, we think of him as this crusading liberal, but really, he was a very pragmatic moderate. i think that is forgotten. erm, that's how you win elections as a democrat in the united states. nick, it's been so good to talk to you. your last book, i should... ..we've mentioned it pretty generously, but not in the terms that it ought to be mentioned, because it actually made it, didn't it, onto a pile of books behind joe biden in a picture in the oval office. and i... it's still there, actually, it's still there. it's been there three years, which would suggest he's either a very slow reader, he hasn't read it, or he finds it so fascinating that he constantly keeps referencing it. erm, look, he's passed the torch, i hope, erm, you know, maybe he'll pass the book as well! and there's another one, the forever war, which i hope h

if you could answer this, it involves lbj, kissinger, and nixon. this concerns the vietnam war. as i understand the story, and correct me if i'm wrong or elaborate or corroborate, that lbj had a peace plan early on for vietnam, but then nixon had envoys around his back and say do not do a deal with lbj, do a deal with me, and then later on, the peace plan that kissinger and nixon put forth was similar to what lbj had first proposed. i have a feeling kissinger knew about all of this. but in your research, does this story have merit? all the cast was started in that area, and the people who could have been avoided -- host: all right. we will get you an answer. guest: i don't think there was a lot of expectation among historians that the lbj plan would have led to a peace deal in the fall of 1968, but i will tell you who believed it would, and that was lyndon johnson and his aides. they really thought they had an opening here. what makes historians doubt it, as we look at the stubbornness of the borough in hanoi, but at that moment, this was not a dirty trick to get hubert humphrey

in 1968, vice president humphrey didn't start surging in the poll until he broke with his president lbj, and said he would stop bombing north vietnam kamala harris's effort to establish her own political identity,

[applause] the same goes to mark kirk, the president of the lbj foundation.t is great to be back here. look, i was in college at the university of delaware in my early years when i heard the news that president kennedy had been assassinated. i remember exactly, like everybody in my generation remembers where they were sitting, standing, walking. i was on the steps of one of the university halls, listening on a transistor radio with three other people. it seemed unbelievable. then watching president johnson help the nation find a way forward. in his first address after the tragedy, president johnson said, "nothing can more eloquently honor president kennedy's memory then the earliest passage of the civil rights bill." that's what he said. [applause] as a kid coming up, i always admired president johnson for his public service, whether it was a schoolteacher in southern texas, a master of the united states senate, historic vice president and president. in a great society -- his philosophy was simple. in a great society, no one should be left behind. he'd say --

i mean, that's what lbj fed felt. this is my party. thought i was going to be there on, this would have been my convention at the previous one in 1964, they'd had a 300 pound cake. they're going to have a big kc again now none of that was for him. and you're watching the passing really of your life and your past so i'm sure it's going to be a mixed feeling for president biden. he will however, have what lbj did not have, which is the iteration of his party and the thanks of his party, which had lbj had at the very beginning, but then the war continued and it's dissipated away. but biden will have that to comfort him, i think in the loss that is no longer his it's you're passing the torch to somebody else. >> you see the enthusiasm, the momentum among democrats, certainly at least so far for vice president harris, did vice president hubert humphrey, who by the way, like tim walz from minnesota, did he have anything like the kind of support that harris has right now? >> it was so hard for him because he was tied to the administration. th

for lbj and then ended staying on his white house staff. he came to my office building in harvard. i was a young assistant professor and he was being given an office there. we all knew who he was. he was kind of well known among us, nerdy people who loved politics. we knew that he had bushy eyebrows, that he had kind of a strange, wonderful smile, that he'd worked for all these people with bobby when he died. so i was excited but i went to my room and just sort of plopped in into my office as if he were one my two t's. and he sat down he said, so you're a graduate student, right? i said, no, i'm an assistant professor. i tell him all my qualifications of course he knew who i was. he was teasing me. he took me out to dinner that night we kept talking all afternoon, all night never stopped talking for 42 years. so that's how it all began. when did he passed in? 2018. so six years ago in your book. and unfinished love story, this is what you write. quote, linden's a kind of poet, said --, seriously. richard goodwin from the time -- and i met,

presidents that i've studied most closely abraham lincoln, teddy roosevelt, franklin roosevelt and lbj. i've spent so many years with them waking with them in the morning, thinking about them. when i go to bed at night that i fondly refer to them as my guys. they're my pals. they're my guys. now, it may seem an odd profession to spend days and nights with presidents who are no longer alive, but i wouldn't change these into the past for anything in the world. my only fear is that in afterlife, there's going to be a panel of all the presidents that i've studied and everyone will tell me everything i missed them and the first person to speak up will be lyndon johnson. how come that -- book on the roosevelt? it was twice as long as the book he wrote about me, but of all the adventures that i have taken with my presidents, none compare with the great adventure i shared with my late husband, -- goodwin. when he finally decided to open the three boxes he had schlepped around with us for 40 years. boxes that proved to be a spectacular time capsule of the 1960s, a decade -- seemed to be a zelig

i mean, that's what lbj fat felt. this is my party.as going to be there this would have been my convention at the previous one in 19 64, they'd had a 300 pound cake. they're going to have a big kc again now none of that was for him and you're watching the passing really of your life and your past. so i'm sure it's going to be a mixed feeling for president biden. he will, however, have what lbj did not have, which is the adoration of his party and the thanks of his party, which has lbj had at the very beginning, but then the war continued and it's dissipated away. but biden will have that to comfort him, i think in the loss that is no longer his. its you're passing the torch to somebody else. >> you see the enthusiasm and momentum among democrats, certainly at least so far for vice president harris did vice president hubert humphrey, who by the way, like tim walz she's from minnesota. did he have anything like the kind of support that harris has right now it was so hard for him because he was tied to the administration. >> the war was s

presidents that i've studied most closely abraham lincoln, teddy roosevelt, franklin roosevelt and lbj. i've spent so many years with them waking with them in the morning, thinking about them. when i go to bed at night that i fondly refer to them as my guys. they're my pals. they're my guys. now, it may seem an odd profession to spend days and nights with presidents who are no longer alive, but i wouldn't change these into the past for anything in the world. my only fear is that in afterlife, there's going to be a panel of all the presidents that i've studied and everyone will tell me everything i missed them and the first person to speak up will be lyndon johnson. how come that -- book on the roosevelt? it was twice as long as the book he wrote about me, but of all the adventures that i have taken with my presidents, none compare with the great adventure i shared with my late husband, -- goodwin. when he finally decided to open the three boxes he had schlepped around with us for 40 years. boxes that proved to be a spectacular time capsule of the 1960s, a decade -- seemed to be a zelig

here--here was his nightmare. - i hear lbj's trying to get rid of 150 pounds-- bobby kennedy.. - today in memphis, a 3,000-man protest march led by dr. martin luther king jr. in support of a seven-week-old city sanitation workers' strike. the strike has turned into a major racial issue in memphis. - we were an orderly march going up to main street. [dramatic music] i was in the middle of it, and there were some unruly people, no doubt loud people. and i saw the police in a phalanx and said to myself, "they're gonna break up this march." [crowd shouting] then suddenly there are a handful of men busting a window over here. [glass shattering] - chaos has just broken out downtown. - [speaking indistinctly] - all right. - negro youth are smashing windows. - and i went back to king in the first rank and said, "martin, the police up there are planning to break us up, "and you're gonna be a major target, so we're gonna turn around and go back." [crowd shouting] [gun fires] - that sound you just heard was the sound of tear gas fired by a police officer in an attempt to thwart this unru

. >> guest: so was lbj. my point was nixon did more than we realize in the cause of civil rights. >> host: and you went back to his vice presidency. >> guest: in the 50s he did. >> ... that has been overlooked. and so i think nixon deserves some creditve for that. i mean, that there's a streak in american politics where people naturally want to be part of their own gang, their own group and they look at their tribe as their group and they look down or scan at the other capital t, capital o, capital t, it can be whatever color you want, it can be this relying on or that religion. when i use the word travel, that's what i'm referring to. it's the fear ofth the other, looking down on the other and building up your own group. we had hoped after the end of the cold war that we were going to go to a new era that was beyond tribalism. that didn't happened. in the united states there's a lot of tribalism. >> with the nixon example you were using, we were talking mainly about the eastern establishment, the so-called

host: professor joseph, can you talk about lbj's role in getting this past through congress, despite opposition? guest: certainly, when we think about lbj, we talk about him as the master of the senate, the former senate majority leader who goes through his own evolution on race matters. as vice president, he is very close to this issue in many ways, especially by 1963. he does a terrific keynote address at gettysburg, pennsylvania, talking about black citizenship and dignity. once he becomes president on november 22, 1963, the next few days, he's talking to roy wilkins and dr. martin luther king jr., whitney young, and many other civil rights leaders about what needs to be done. he really uses the president's death to galvanize what he envisioned as a great society, a society that is a continuation of fdr's new deal that enhances freedoms for everyone and all people. and, certainly, lyndon johnson, alongside the lobbying efforts done by king and thousands of grassroots organizations is very, very pivotal to getting the votes needed, especially in the senate because you need 67 votes

that's hillary clinton. >> al gore got 90% obama in an lbj. 94 95% a biden about 92%. so that's the kind of support you need from black voters do need about 9 out of every 10 black people in a a potential voters. and that's tough test. but the african-american vote as a bloc voting asking that no other group vote is so again, the work is going to be, i think, to try to consolidate black support and then other non-white support. but again, kamala harris is proven like unlike any other woman that she can draw a white voters across a wide swath of the electorate. and again, using california as the model, but there's a lot of, you know, california, 3 different people, places northern california central california. it's southern california. so those are very, you know, 3 different demographic regions. and if kamala harris can appeal to did here in the state, i think she's standing solid ground. what are the chances that she chooses a female running mate what who would you >> is a good choice in your opinion? >> well, good i'm not just a brand, but of a witness in of michiga

lbj was a lifelong republican [indiscernible] i personally believe lbj -- i like in best of all politicianslayed both sides. hewitt to the republican leadership in the senate -- he went to the republican leadership in the senate to bring in more republicans with his bill. i cannot remember the leadership of the republican party, but lbj told him, if you do this, your name will go down in history. i don't remember his name, i remember lbj. host: go ahead, professor. guest: he's talking about everett dirksen. lbj did rely on republican votes. and it is a much different republican party. that is what contemporary republicans and this gentleman said he was a trump supporter, just do not understand. truthfully, a lot of times they do not want to understand. the republican party was a different party that had both liberals, like governor nelson rockefeller from new york, it had people like everett works in -- everett dirksen who were willing to cut a deal. it was not a hard right conservative party or leninist party where you all voted the same way or you are going to be ousted. that is insanity.

here--here was his nightmare. - i hear lbj's trying to get rid of 150 pounds-- bobby kennedy.”" nice. or you can't get enough... “swimming” definitely adding that to favorites. now let's check... “medal coun”" and when is gymnastics on? “olympic schedule” it's that easy. find it, see it, count on it with the best seat in the house. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. - make us sweep all the way down from linden back this way, you understand me? all right, lock arms, four of you on each side of the street, and let's--let's sweep it all the way down. - today in memphis, a 3,000-man protest march led by dr. martin luther king jr. in support of a seven-week-old city sanitation workers' strike. the strike has turned into a major racial issue in memphis. - we were an orderly march going up to main street. [dramatic music] i was in the middle of it, and there were some unruly people, no doubt loud people. and i saw the police in a phalanx and said to myself, "they're gonna break up this march." [crowd shouting] then suddenly there are a handful of men busting a window o

and nixon was not blameless in this area. >> host: so did lbj. >> guest: and so did lbj.y only point is that nixon did more than we realize in the cause of civil rights. >> host: and you went back to his vice presidency. >> guest: yes, in the '50s, he certainly did. he was opposed to martin luther king, had a bit of a relationship with nixon and are respectful relationship with him. in the '50s nixon was -- i wouldn't say he was an activist for civil rights, but he was not unfriend hi to the cause of civil rights -- unfriendly. when he became president, he made sure that the schools in the south were integrated. and you can look at the statistics on this one. he came in, a tiny percentage of blacks were in integrated schools. within a couple of years, a large percentage were. he really moved the numbers. that has been overlooked, and george schultz talked about this, actually, his labor secretary. and so i think nixon deserves some credit for that. but when i used the the word tribalism, i mean that there's a streak in american politics where people naturally want to be p

is not lbj saying, maybe i should go back to _ is not lbj saying, maybe i should go back to the — ise are past that, and i think the balance _ are past that, and i think the balance for democrats or notes to do the right— balance for democrats or notes to do the right thing tonight. in their eyes, — the right thing tonight. in their eyes, this— the right thing tonight. in their eyes, this infomercial, which it is what _ eyes, this infomercial, which it is what it— eyes, this infomercial, which it is what it is, — eyes, this infomercial, which it is what it is, day one, it's all about joe _ what it is, day one, it's all about joe and — what it is, day one, it's all about joe. and they are going to treat him like the _ joe. and they are going to treat him like the conquering leader, the person— like the conquering leader, the person who defeated donald trump, right? _ person who defeated donald trump, right? and _ person who defeated donald trump, right? and look at his record. i think— right? and look at his record. i think the — right? and look at his record. i think the real campaig