bob caro is lyndon johnson's most demanding and meticulous biographer. bob is fond of saying that, and i quote, to understand power you not only have to show how it is used, but also its effect on those on whom it is used. you have to show the effect of pow or the powerless. no wonder he has become obsessed with lyndon johnson. bob caro has worked for 40 years to give the world lbj with the bark off, his highs and lows, how this president gave new meaning to the word mack velian as he gave new hope to the most vulnerable among us. robert caro gives no quarter to the subjects he writes about, so we should all take notice of what he wrote about the president and master of the senate his third johnson volume. in the 20th century, caro wrote, with its 18 american presidents, lyndon baens johnson was what black americans and mexican americans and indeed all americans of color had in the white house. the greatest champion they had in all of the halls of government. he was the lawmaker for the poor and downtrodden and the oppressed. the president who wrote mercy

bob caro's three volumes on l.b.j. have already won him a second pulitzer prize and a second national book award and too many other prizes and accolades for me to mention in any introduction. one thing i'm certain, l.b.j. has given bob caro plenty of material to win even more prizes with the next volume, passage of power about the years from 1958 to 1964 when johnson was vice president which will be out in may and with his final volume on the white house years and beyond due out in a couple of years. indeed, publisher's weekly and the issue coming out on april 1st is already called his new -- his forthcoming volume compelling, insightful, and one that will thrill all those who care about american politics. >> bob, back there -- bob has spent some 40 years with lyndon johnson, and he looks great. bill moyers and i spent three years each with him in the white house, and we're still exhausted every time we think about it. ladies and gentlemen, the great bob caro. >> thank you. >> that was such a nice introduction that i'm

one is what bob caro said, he is a man who i think has learned from history, and that is great for those of us who spend our time with dead presidents to know that this president is able to extend his own lack of experience by learning from history, i mean, he made a lot of talk about theodore roosevelt and learned lessons from fdr and lessons lessons from the do nothing congress of harry truman that you see in the campaign, i think the most important thing jim fallows talked about in the great atlantic piece is his ability to learn from mistakes and to change as time goes by, and if he does get a second term, that ability which made fdr a much better president the second term than the first made lincoln a better president the second than the first will have a chance to play out. if you don't learn from your experience then you might just with the, be the same in the second term from the first but he seems to be a man who can and hope in i the things that haven't worked so far he will be able to figure out. >> yes, but isn't it true also a number of presidents who won a second term run i

and it is bob caro's book on lyndon johnson "the passage of power." i got so fired up about the president's biography, last week i was in independence missouri at the truman library where they are marketing a particular pitch for bipartisan consensus. they'd like to see a new presidential ticket in the fall, eisenhower and truman in 2012. and what's so interesting about that, their up and down relationship that got pretty nasty over personal matters and also politics, and i was reminded this week, they did not reconcile until president kennedy's funeral, after he was assassinated. which was so interesting. mike what are you reading? >> well, in fiction i've got "mission to paris" elegantly written, atmospheric novel set in paris on the eve of world war ii. and "a man and his ship" which is the story of william francis gibbs. greatest american naval architect of all time. he was a genius, to build the greatest ocean liner in america. and he did it. >> hilary? >> "passage to power" reminds you of the days when politicians loved politics. not just the po