country family and i'll never forget how my back hurt on wash days. tuesday is ironing, and i'm not going to bore you by going through the day of the week. they called it. i named the chapter after what they call tuesday, because you didn't have electricity and an iron was a hunk of metal with a wooden handle which you would transfer from iron to iron, and you would have to get them hot on the stove and that means you would have to stand next to the stovall day doing your ironing and it's nothing in the hill country for it to get to 105 and 106 degrees and day by day there. so these people were living lives out of the middle ages. they were living like peasants. lyndon johnson runs for congress at the age of 28, and he says, he basically says if you elect me i will bring electricity. well, they elected him.

let me just go back and lyndon johnson was a political genius and he gears his campaign to the women and what he said the line that he usees is if you elect me you won't look like your mother does. they elect him, but no one really believes that he can bring electricity. i mean, there is no dam, no source of dam in the hill country and a dam has been started at the edge of the hill country, but it's the depression. it's 1937. the company that was doing it has run out of money to do it, and even if you build a dam how will you get electricity out to the scattered farms, isolated farms, miles, one by one laying across the hill? well, to watch lyndon johnson do that, to watch him do what he had to do to get the dam built and then persuade the electrification administration to violate the rules and lay

these lines when they had a minimum of ten people per mile and they wouldn't lay lines and they didn't have them there, but he gets them to do it and keeps asking roosevelt for money to build the dam. every time he sees him he asks him for money and he has intermediaries and aides and they're always asking him and finally roosevelt said i'll give the kid the dam. electricity comes to the hill country and these people, the people of his tenth congressional district are brought in a stroke by one man, he's a genius for government, brings them into the 20th century, and the fact that he did that means that we see in the hill country, the beginnings of what we're talking about. the beginnings of something else in lyndon johnson, not just an understanding of what should be done to help people who are fighting forces too big for them to fight themselves and we're never going to get electricity on their own and no private

company will be brought in there. it wasn't profitable enough and not just an understanding of what should be done to help people, but the ability to help them, a gift that he had. quite a rare gift, really? a talent that was beyond talent to use the powers of government, to help people trying to fight forces too big for them to fight themselves. you know, his father was a populist legislator, served six terms in the texas house of representatives and he used to say that the proper function of government is to help people caught in the tentacles of circumstance, the tentacles of circumstance, fighting things too big for you to help to fight yourself. joe said that i tried to write about the effect of power on the powerless and the power was used and the powerless and you also tried to write about how power

is used for the powerless and now we go forward to 1963. president kennedy was assassinated on november 22nd and lyndon johnson has become president. under president kennedy, there had been some vague, hardly defined early discussions about the anti-poverty program because over one-fifth of the united states and over 33 million people in that year, 1963 was still living below the poverty line. on the day after the assassination, on a saturday, november 23rd at the end of the day lyndon johnson meets in his office in the executive office and he still hasn't moved into the white house with four of president kennedy's economic advisers and he's with the economic advisers and the director of the budget bureau and douglas dillon, the secretary of the treasury and gordon whose title escapes me at the moment and he is a deputy to

heller. the meeting is about the budget and he comes in the middle of the budget process, knowing very little about it and has to get brought up to speed and it's a meeting, but at the end of the meeting as heller is leaving, he's walking out the open door and lyndon johnson is beside him, we know what heller said and we know what johnson's response was because both heller and actually left notes on the meeting and their notes coincide exactly. heller mentions the antipoverty program, and johnson shuts the door. he says that's my kind of program. i'll find money for it one way or the other. heller had up to that point, johnson had said a lot of things about budget and his various priorities and heller had formed

an impression, and his other remarks, johnson's other remarks was, quote, a little calculated, a play for support. there he was, lyndon johnson, the politician, closed quote. not about this, however. standing at that door, heller suddenly feels there was no calculation at all in lyndon johnson's response to poverty. that was so spontaneous, so immediate, instinctive, intuitive and an uncalculated response. all his life people who worked for johnson for years knew about those moments of instinctive, uncalculated responses, always in response to social injustice and social need. those of you who read my books know there was a moment like that in 1949, we learned that a mexican american soldier has

been denied and killed in the philippines during world war ii and was denied burial in south texas and the cemetery of the south texas town because he's not white. on the instant, connolly and arthur jenkins is standing there when johnson can hand them the telegram. johnson reads it and without a moment's hesitation ands by god, you are in arlington. all through his life there are these moments and here is another one. that christmas, that december, johnson goes down for a two-week vacation on his ranch and heller finds out that his analysis, his feeling -- that this was spontaneous, uncalculated and he finds out that that analysis was correct. johnson is down on the ranch. the johnson ranch and the ranch that his father lost and that he has now brought back and when

heller and gordon get there they find that those words were meaningless. johnson has found new money, half a billion for an antipoverty program and he gives it a lesson in political tactics and as a targeted demonstration program with demonstration programs in the limited number of cities and johnson says they try to make them understand and a limited number of districts means that a limited number of congressmen will get benefits from that program and he says in his memoirs, i was certain that we could not start small and propel the programs through congress and he tells them -- his quote is something like i knew we had to do it big or wieldnwe wouldn't get it through congress at all. he keeps asking them, how will you spend this money?

i've earmarked half a million to get this program started and i'll withdraw unless you fellows come through with something that's workable. very determined and when you ask where this determination came from, as always with lyndon johnson, part of the explanation is political. he was weak with what he had an election coming up in ten months. he was weak with liberals, weak in the big cities of the northeast and the liberal urban areas. a campaign against poverty would strengthen johnson in these areas. so part of it is political, as always with johnson. but as always, part of the explanation is something more. something that had to do with the fact that when he was doing this, when he was thinking of this anti-poverty program he was doing it back in the hill country when his father hadn't gone broke and he had grown up in poverty, back in the ranch, back at his beginnings. how do we know that those

beginnings were very much in his mind as he's dealing with the anti-poverty program that christmas? well, he talks very often during those weeks about his boyhood and about a particular thing in his boyhood, having to get up early. most of the books on johnson quote a very cute remark he made to reporters as he's flying down to the ranch. he says i've always been an early riser. my daddy used to come to my bedroom at 4:30 in the morning when i was working on the highway gang right out of high school and he twists my big toe real hard so he hurt and he'd say get up, lyndon. every other boy in town has a half hour's headstart on you. that's sort of cute, but there's nothing cute about other things he said about being poor. poor and old i was interviewing

an old hill county ally of his, a guy named e. gabe smith. he recalls him saying -- he calls him early one morning and says he hopes he hasn't woken him up. he says i'm sure i haven't because you're a poor boy, too, and therefore you must have been getting up all your life just like me. this is the quote, that's the only way we can keep up, he said, otherwise they're too far ahead of us. calls an attorney in fredericksburg and says we always get up early, don't we when they answer the phone on the first ring. we can't make it unless we do. at the age of 9 and 10 lyndon johnson had worked in the cottonfields beside his cousin adam, pulling cotton all day

under the broiling hill country sun. i asked -- that christmas, we know from the diary, the back-up diary that the aides kept that the presidential aides keep that johnson and lady bird visit him to bring her to poinsettia and i asked her if she remembered what they talked about, and she said she didn't except she was sure they talked about the cotton picking. she said whenever smhe and lyndn got together the subject of cotton came up. we always talked about the cotton. she said that we just hated that so much. hate is a word that occurs very frequently when people talk about lyndon johnson's feelings about poverty. in a memoir that was written by his longtime cardiologist that the rule is hearst. dr. hearst writes that he hated

poverty and he hated it when a person who wanted to work could not get a job and then he recounts an incident that occurred when he was accompanying johnson during his vice presidency on a trip to iran and they pass a group of iranian children and somebody remarks that they have rags for clothing and johnson flies into a rage and says as hearst recalls it, don't say that. i know rags when i see them. they had patched clothes and that's a lot different from rags, and i suddenly remember when i read this, reminiscence of dr. hearst, something that lyndon's brother sam johnson had told me about them growing up, and i couldn't quite recall which is why he quoted exactly in the book, but only in general. i hadn't thought to take a note of it at the time, and i remember sam houston saying something like when he was describing their poverty that he

and their sister rebecca had to wear patched clothe, and i remember he said something to me like they weren't rags. so these are the beginnings of lyndon johnson on the anti-poverty program, and the war on poverty, and you know how much the war on poverty meant to lyndon johnson if you just listened to the words with which he introduced the war on poverty in the first state of the union speech when he flew back to washington from the ranch to deliver it on january 8, 1964. johnson had persuaded ted sorenson, the late speechwriter to stay on at least for a while and help him with his speeches a short while and he had -- sorenson, he had phoned sorenson and his three little boys down to technology and they were staying at the lewis ranch which were miles away from the lewis

ranch and his little boy and sorenson's little boy said he was supposed to spend time with us that christmas and all we remember is him scribbling in the little room at the end of the hall. he went down to the ranch house talking to johnson about the speech, but when you analyze those drafts and you can see them in the johnson library draft by draft, sorenson draft one, you see how much of it came from johnson. some of it when he delivers the speech, a real lyndon johnson words and sorenson had written this administration and declares unconditional war on poverty in america. the speech is delivered by lyndon johnson is, this administration today here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in america. he had added four words today, here and now. lyndon johnson words and the speech said unfortunately, many americans lived on the outskirts of hope.

some because of their poverty and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. our task is to help that one-fifth american families with incomes too small to even meet their basic needs. our chief weapons will be better schools and better health and better homes and better training and better opportunities to help more americans especially the young americans escape from squalor, misery and it's interesting to watch that speech on tape today, as lendon johnson says those three words, squalor, misery, unemployment and his eyes beyond what he had to speeches narrow, and i wrote, his lips were in that grim, tough line, tattered and twisted

into an expression, and he continued with words back while none of them applied specifically to the circumstances of his own life. like nevertheless, had had a special resonance by someone growing up in poverty who knew it was only because they hadn't been given a fair chance. of course, lyndon johnson passed the war on poverty, passed so many of the other bills that will be discussed during the rest of this symposium. he showed in his precedensidenc he demonstrated in his presidency what he had demonstrated as a young congressman, a rare gift, a talent beyond talent, a talent that was genius for transmitting compassion into government action to transmit compassion into government action that would make the action

meaningful. to life, it was a complicated life, but two aspects showing through all of the complications showing brightly through all of the dark episodes, one is the compassion, the sympathy for, the empathy for people, poor people, people of color, people caught in the tentacles of circumstance and the other is the great gift, the talent beyond talent to make compassion meaningful. meaningful how? to help people fight forces too big for them to fight alone. the proper role of government, and as i said at the beginning of my talk, it all went back to the beginning and i may have talked too long, but i could write short i wouldn't always be writing 1,000-page books. thank you. [ applause ]

you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. for more information follow us on twitter at cspanhistory. up next, a look at the presidency of lyndon b. johnson. panelists discuss how lbj viewed government's role and explores efforts that instituted civil rights legislation and social reform. cbs washington correspondent bob schaeffer moderates this panel. new york's hunter college hosted this hour-long event. >> fantastic. it's now my pleasure to introduce this extraordinary panel. it's supposed to flash pictures up here. the guy with all of the hair, that's me. a few years ago, so i don't have to introduce myself. maybe they can run those.

there we are. okay. and the next one is irvin duggin, he still has a lot of hair, but it's gray. irv was one of johnson's aides and he left "the on education and welfare and civil rights. he was the commissioner of the fcc, the federal communications commission and president and ceo of the public broadcasting system and now president and ceo of the society for arts in palm beach. if you ever go to palm beach, you should look him up. that's an incredible operation you've got down there. senator george mcgovern, my god.

a world war ii bomber pilot who received the distinguished flying cross for his heroism. a history teacher, member of the house, elected senator in 1962. opposed the war in vietnam vigorously. the democratic candidate for president in 1972. actually i got to know him best -- i was the counsel for the democratic party then, and george call immediate one day and from south dakota. >> his vice presidential candidate, john eagleton, got into trouble. he said how do you change the candidate for vice president. i said, i don't know. he said, you better find out, you're my lawyer. he left the senate, stayed in the senate in 1980, he's done lots of work for food for peace.

this july, if i'm right, george, you will celebrate your 90th birthday, 90 years young. walter mondale, vice president of the united states under jimmy carter. don't we wish we had men like that in washington today. i got to -- he was the attorney general of minnesota, then he would be, he was appointed senator in 1964 to take hubert humphrey's place when lbj was elected president. in 1966 he was elected in his own right. as the democratic party nominee for president in 1984.

ambassador to japan. for four years. in the 1990s. he is still practicing law in minneapolis and when he was vice president, i think it's fair to say that no one was more responsible for getting my job as secretary of h.e.w., than you were. a wonderful, wonderful -- man. >> bill moyers, probably -- well -- one of our, one of our countries d most prolific and respected journalists. 35 emmys, a 40-year run on public broadcasting with a new series this year. i think it's "moyers and company." he helped to organize peace corps. he was press secretary and a close confidante of lbj,

publisher of "newsday." when bill called me, i was working in the pentagon. when bill called me and said, you've got to come over here and work at the white house. i said well -- he said no, it will be fun. bill, i never knew what fun was until i started working for lyndon johnson. and last our moderator, bob schieffer. he is the cbs news chief washington correspondent. moderator of "face the nation." all of you who rue the fact that "face the nation" is only half an hour. it is going to an hour beginning in april and we look forward to that, bob. he's covered all four major washington beats. the white house, the state department, the pentagon and capitol hill. i think he's proudest of all, he said once, of the fact that his

university, texas christian university, has named their school of journalism, the schieffer school of journalism. bob? [ applause ] >> we have i'll turn it over to bob. but first -- this is linden johnson talking to everett dirksen about an excise problem he has. >> are you not going to beat me on excise taxes and ruin my budget this year. i've got a ways and means holdings hearing and we're going to come up with a recommendation one way or another. don't beat me on that, now, you can do it if you want to. and you can ruin my budget. but if you're trying to balance it and i cut the deficit 50% under what kennedy had it. if you screw me up on excise taxta taxes and get that thing going, i'll have hell with the ways and means committee. >> i know it, but god you also

for good physical prudence. you know that the way to do this is through the house committee. you know if you put it in, you're not going to get it. they're not going to let you all out of the bill on the senate on taxes. please don't press me on that. >> i got to press it. >> well who you going to take? take all of your republicans? give me one or two of them and let them be prudent. >> well you got enough votes. >> no, i haven't. you can beat me and you oughtant to do it. and you see how you're going to let me win by one vote and i'll call you back in a little bit on this. >> you never talked that way when you were sitting in that front seat. >> i did. i did if my country is involved. i voted one time. no one voted against him, i cast a vote on the foreign aid and brought it out of committee. >> you're a hard barger. >> no i'm not, you just take care of me and i'll see what i can do on this and call you right back. >> i think the first question to

ask, at this gathering here of this distinguished group. joe califano, do you think anybody talks on the telephone to anybody else like that in washington today? >> no. i don't think there's anything like that at all. and it was rare, it was rare even in those days. but there was nobody talking like him. >> i -- i just reread harry mcpherson's book, harry mcpherson was an aide to lyndon johnson. it was a wonderful book. he has in there at one point, he said, lyndon johnson could deliver. because he had a firm working relationship with republican leaders. he said, the bolder, the more sweeping, the more complex the program that a president submits to congress, the more necessary it is that he and his helpers practice the nonintellectual art of personal politicking. with men and women of both parties, he says the grasp of

the issues and the facility of expression are seldom sufficient to get the job done. and it seems to me, i wonder and i just want to talk to each of you today. has washington lost the ability to negotiate? have they lost the ability to make a deal? it's not that way any more. joe, why don't we go around the horn here. >> well, i think they have lost the ability to make a deal. and i think it's, you know, i think senator mcgovern can certainly talk about it. even when he was virtually calling for johnson to get out of the white house, was still talking to him about food stamp programs and everything else. i mean i think we, we've lost that. and one example, i mean my recollection, bill can check me, was fundamentally, he said you know, you treat everett dirksen, the minority leader of the senate, the same way you treat mike mansfield, you treat jerry ford, the same way you treat

speaker mccormick. they want something, you help them, we need them. we need them. those bills, those civil rights bills, never could have happened without republican votes. and lots of other bills never could have happened. and he also used to say with respect to medicare -- it's a complicated piece of legislation. if we don't have half the republicans, we'll never get these health care bills, all of these complicated bills through. because they'll beat us in the states. they'll beat us in the appropriations committees. they're guys in the corporations will beat us. so he, he incull indicated us with that. >> you mentioned senator mcgovern. >> you were on the other end of a lot of it. you were against the war, you fought him. it was an epic battle. but yet -- he still kept a part of that