wanted negroes to be grateful, as you know with all due respect to extraordinary trajectory of bobby kennedy, the kennedys gained more in-depth more than he gained in life of reputation for helping black people and fostering civil rights because he was torn between two forces, on the one hand white bigots that he had to appeal in the south like harold who called niggers from elevated judicial bench even striking back then in 1962-63, the georgia governor who robert john kennedy, the famous story he was in jail, placed well-timed call to governor, got out before the '60 election, kennedy became president, he also told him, though, i will not use federal to intervene on behalf of integration and segregation and telling black peoplely help you with civil rights, there was that tension, bobby kennedy was the younger brother, less knowledgeable of jfk but more inclined of having conversations, step intoed the room, penthouse on what south and started, look, i'm trying to figure out what rage is going on in black america that you're listening to thee black muslims and not martn luther king, jr., e

bobby kennedy was the younger brother. less knowledgeable than jfk but more inclined to have conversations like where having here today.he stepped into the room. it was their penthouse on south central park. then he said look, i'm trying to figure out what rage is going on in black america. listening to the black muslims and not martin luther king jr. even though he particularly like martin luther king jr. but was forced to work with him. he didn't want adam clayton powell there, he wanted figures on the cutting edge will he focused tell the truth. not people beholden to their organizations and told the line politically correct that they could offer. he wanted people to tell from their gut what the truth was. so he gathered those folks there. kennedy began and then jerome smith rips into him. he says we ain't here for no pity party and all of the celebration. people are out here dying and i'm tired of all of this madness. then they go back and forth and kennedy is appalled because he uses the word bs on bobby kennedy and b

because bobby kennedy was coming from california to concede the race. and we saw bobby get out of the car with teddy white and he had the dog with him. and he went in and i went down to the room to watch him concede that. and i remember telling folks there, that that was a bobby kennedy that i hadn't seen. he was at his northeast gracious. the concession speech to gene mccarthy was just very -- i mean, it was everything you would expect. and he said, let's get on to california. >> think how hard that was for him to give that speech. the first kennedy ever to lose an election. >> yeah. >> i've read later that he was very down about -- he said, maybe i just can't win these folks and i can't win the presidency, because mccarthy -- of course, eugene mccarthy, was in no better state -- >> and the worst state for bobby kennedy. >> for his constituency. >> what was going through the country after the assassination of senator kennedy? >> well, horrible shock, as you can imagine. and just imagine this. just two months after martin luther king's assassination, so

to me, anyhow, bobby kennedy was not jack kennedy. he didn't have the charm, the charisma, the centrism. he had moved to the left, was anti-war, very sharp endged. i always felt that even after california when bobby kennedy won, that when they got to chicago, that humphrey would take it, that humphrey -- he had the machine put together for him, he had the president behind him, conlnolly and all these folks. i did not know that he was that apprehensive that he could not beat robert kennedy. >> it's a what-if, we know. >> when bobby kennedy died on june 6th, hubert humphrey had already amassed over 500 delegates, robert kennedy 393, eugene mccarthy 258. humphrey had labor, he had the rank and file of the party. it's unlikely that even if robert kennedy had lived, he certainly would have been beaten gene mccarthy at the convention. also remember how devastated he was that johnson wasn't going to run. i understand that meeting after johnson announced, johnson went before he announced and went to that apartment to tell him, he was in tears

there is bobby kennedy. he is so nervous about the upcoming convention he is thinking about putting the country in his wife's name. [ laughter ]. >> bobby was trying to be helpful. he wanted a humphrey johnson ticket but he didn't say where to. any time he offers to help a voice from the white house says, please, bobby, woe would rather lose it ourselves. he is one of those rare people, bobby is, who can us a say exactly the right thing at the right time to the wrong person. the theme that i am picking unduly on the opposition, please note that i'm picking on the leadership of the democratic party. because i'm sure that there are millions of fine patriotic members of that party who are deeply disturbed with what has taken place in the nation's capital as we moved from 1960 and the new frontier to the great society. they know that great society is not the wave of the future. it's the end of an era. a dismall rehash of the methods and language and philosophy of the past. >> object 1967, and pat buchanan, vinta

he comes and delivers to me one of his most important speeches at the same place where bobby kennedy had spoken three months earlier and he says, we have a problem with our cities and my plan is to have a marshal plan for our cities, it's that big of a problem and we need to make commitment on the part of the united states and he deliver that is in cleveland because of the program and in american history changes for all sorts of reasons but the total tragedy of this is the day that he delivers that speech fred evans and some of his nationalist go out and buy riffles with cleveland now money to shoot policemen. so it's this horrible turn of events and this is money that was for a summer program in cleveland now used to buy rifles, 3 days before the shootout, stokes walking through the streets and then we have the shootout, this is the neighborhood where it happened, i won't describe it because i don't think we have time for it but you can read the book. [laughter] >> it is dramatic and it's very violent. 3 policemen are shot dead on the scene, 12 of them are badly wounded. the nationa

before we get to bobby kennedy, what about where you were in 1960? you are watching the news .>> just that. i really didn't get deeply involved in all of these things until i went to work for robert kennedy in 1964. i was finishing law school. i was certainly cheering on and understanding the carriage -- courage of what bedard and others did. i was on the way to being a lawyer and i worked for a couple of judges. a place that comes together because i ended up working in the justice department in the fall of 1963. i was in the civil division. i did some work that had to do with civil rights. of course we lost the president. i was in the kennedy administration, if you will. the most important part about that personally was because i was there and he decided to run for the senate, i was in the position to have a chance to work for him in the campaign and then i worked for him and much of what i did was about poverty and i worked for him until his death.>> let me go to alabama. let's at build the story up to a point where we can explore that moment leadin

when bobby kennedy -- we just remember the 50th anniversary of bobby kennedy's passing. and obviously he was the most significant person of his time not to be a president since john mccain, like alexander hamilton at the beginning of the republic. again, it's hard to think of many people over the past half century that had more of an impact and public life that was not a president. >> it's true. hamilton is a great example. daniel webster who articulated a vision of the american union. henry clay who patched together important compromises if ultimately flawed in the middle of the 19th century. you go into john foster dulles, james baker in our time is an incredibly talented public servant who was never president. they're statesmen. there's people who love the country. you led with i think one of the great mccain insights, which is i fell in love with my country when i was a prisoner in someone else's. and i've always been incredibly struck by that. when you think of what your reaction coming out of that cell and the way mike so wonderfully talked about it. the idea that

before we get to bobby kennedy and the period that kind of led to the poor people's campaign, so what about where you were in 1960 when you were a student and watching the news about people like bernard lafayette and others on the freedom rides. >> just that. i are really didn't get deeply involved in all of these things until i went to work for robert kennedy in 1964, so i was finishing law school, certainly cheering on and understanding the courage and the importance of what bernard and others did. but i was on the -- on a -- on the way to being a lawyer, and i clerked for a couple of judges, and i -- the place where it begins to come together is because i ended up working in the justice department in the fall of 1963, and i was in the civil division, but i did some work there that had to do with civil rights and of course we lost the president that was -- i was in the kennedy administration, if you will, and the most important part about that personally, was that because i was there and then he decided to run for the senate, i was in a position first of all to have a chance to go t

and bobby kennedy. vice president johnson after the decision-making loop. and how unhappy vice president johnson was. i did not realize there was such a feud between a bobby kennedy and vice president johnson but apparently there was. when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas. how masterful the vice president was. and taking at the kennedy agenda civil rights agenda. and actually making does become law. is my opinion and i think the book x -- echoes this. have he lived he probably would've not gotten those bills passed at least not in his first term in because the new president johnson knew so much about the house and the senate in the political process in congress he was able to use that experience to get kennedy's agenda passed and then of course the end of the book. johnson is beginning his own program. and really tried very hard to eradicate poverty in the united states at the end of this book. it's talking about johnson's effort to start to do that. television for serious readers. here is a look at some books being published this week. also bei

president kennedy especially his brother attorney general bobby kennedy froze vice president johnson out of the decision-making loop and how unhappy vice president johnson was. i didn't realize there was such a feud between bobby kennedy and vice president johnson but apparently there was. when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas how masterful the vice president wasn't becoming vice president and taking the kennedy agenda for civil rights agenda in tax-cut agenda and actually making those become law. it's my opinion and i think the book echoes this that had president kennedy lived he probably would have not gotten his bills passed at least not in his first term because president johnson knew something about the house and the senate in the political process in congress. was able to use that experience to get candidates agendas passed and of course at the end of the book johnson is beginning his own program trying to end the war. he starts what we now call the war on poverty and trying very hard to eradicate by in the united states. the end of the book talks about johnson's ef

are you prepared to deal with bobby kennedy? >> are not prepared to deal with anybody as far as my candidacy is concerned. i committed myself to a group of young people and i thought rather idealistic adults and i said i would be their candidate. i intend to run as i committed myself to run, in the situation develops a convention where i can't win, i will release my delegates. i don't have any power over them anyways, i don't have a block of delegation i could trade with and i did -- if i did have, i wouldn't trade with them. as far as i'm concerned, it will be an open and free convention. andll run as hard as i can stand as firm as i can. if i find i can't win, it will say to my delegnot john f. kenn. he never really got over the way that bobby kennedy got in the race in 1968. the morning after. vice president biden came and speaker nancy pelosi and steny hoyer and lots of brothers and sisters, cousins, grandchildren, father you can achieve things. feet callswhat your you. my mother believed in my father, which is a very import

it's really interesting bobby kennedy's evolution. these days are very, very tumultuous days. kennedy says, these difficult times, and king on april 3rd, the night before he's assassinated, had said that we have some difficult days ahead of us. and what he was really talking about was the way in which there was a huge gulf between what social movement activists and leaders felt the united states needed to do legally and politically, and what the country was willing to do. so the country responds, the state responds, with more political and economic oppression, and really in 1968, we also have to remember that the omnibus crime bill is passed in 1968, a couple months after king die, perhaps june 19, 1968 and that bill expands wiretapping and ease dropping the federal government is allowed to but provides states with billions of dollars in money for law enforcement that so w sows the seeds to mass incarceration. the burn grant that provides all the states and local municipalities with huge ince e incentives to arrest and incarcerate african-americans and latinos and poor whites i

the evolution of bobby kennedy and who he was as a human being and how he changed. anza times changed him. we are on a schedule. we can hit the audience now. i'm sure there are questions in a minute. how are we doing? >> mike right there. if you have a question, over there to the mic. and, just being told to take three or four questions. i'm going to have to be mean. who is going first? right here. >> good afternoon. thanks for coming to join us today. the conversation has been interesting. i'm compelled to ask, given the statistics that we have heard 55% of african-americans were living below the poverty line, why we started with set ends at commercial organizations rather than economic opportunity efforts. what was the thinking behind moving us toward integrating places that would allow blacks to spend their money as opposed socialgrating other sectors that would allow black people to earn more money. a very good question. it is important to understand, not only, what happened, but why it happened. notou are not respected and to be able to go and sit down and have

from that speech to the writing and burning of cities we saw around the country. >> i think bobby kennedy's words are ironic because kennedy is atty. general. under his brother john f. kennedy approved the wiretaps j edgar hoover put on dr. king which accelerated the fbi's war against dr. king, those wiretaps led to the anti-king atmosphere in the united states that in part led to his death, it is interesting bobby kennedy's evolution. these days are tumultuous days, kennedy says these difficult times, king on april 3, the night before he is assassinated said we have difficult days ahead of us. what he was talking about was the way in which there is a huge gulf between the social movement , activists and leaders felt the united states needed to do legally and politically and what the country was willing to do. the country response, the state responds with more political and economic oppression and really in 1968, we have to remember the crime bill is passed in 1968 a couple months after king died, june 19, 1968 if i'm correct. that crime bill expanded wiretapping and eavesdropping, the fede

he pushed bobby kennedy first, that was his first choice. kennedy said no. as did at least half a a dozen figures. he approached mccarpet were in the fall of '67 and mccarthy was interested. he had been traveling around the country. making his opposition to the war known. mccarthy was not a well-known figure. he was not terribly popular on capitol hill. he had been -- number two joyce for johnson to be his vp nominee, he lost out to hubert humphrey. so when mccarthy challenges johnson it's in part because of lowenstein's lobbying of him. when mccarthy gets involved, this group of anti-war activists rallies around his campaign and becomes his army, his political army. it's one of the reasons he did so well in vietnam, one of the reasons he did so well in primaries in wisconsin and oregon that came after. one of the things that mccarthy did, why he wanted to run was to create this outlet for anti-war activists to have their voices heard within the party. in some ways it's the most successful thing he did in '68, which he gave activists a voice, and in the end,

when we think about bobby kennedy, final thought is that kennedy in '68 tries to do what barack obama successfully does in 2008, which is he tries to create a multi-racial, multi-class coalition to win the presidency of the united states. >> about 30 minutes left in our discussion this morning. taking your calls on phone lines, split up by age. 29 and under 202-704-8000. 61 and older 202-748-8002 nicholas is calling in from scotland this morning on that line for those 61 and over. nicholas g ahead. >> caller: hi. good morning. i was listening of course at my age and having been raised in detroit, i was 15 at the time of the detroit riots in '67 i was 16 in high school when dr. king was assassinated. what i wanted to say, it struck me while i was watching your program this morning that mr. -- professor joseph's an academic for the center of the study of race and democracy and, i mean, after 50 years of all that's gone on, it's a bit ironic that they've had the time to. >> -- high school graduates who shut cities down. we think about parkland, the young people in parkland are connected

i got very involved in the '68 election with gene mccar their and bobby kennedy, hugh burt humphrey. a heartbreaking year with the assassinations of martin luther king inning and and bobby kennedy and lawrence o'donnell has done an extraordinary job of recounting that very dramatic, i would say pivotal area in american politics with his book called "playing with fire" and i recommend if i you want to understand what happened then 1968, especially politically. great book. another book also 50 years later, 196, this book calls hue 1968. the story in graphic detail of the tet offensive in the -- in february of 1968, but the battle for hue. the city of hue, which was a peaceful, beautiful, architecturally stunning city that was utterly and completely destroyed in the tet offensive, and unlike other battles around south vietnam, the battle of hue lasted months, and this book is a little bit different. it's not your classic antiwar book. it's really -- really focuses on the bravery and the actions on our marines and our army in trying to fight back and win back the city of hue. and very dr

there was a great dislike of bobby kennedy. he was a homicide in iowa -- homemade sign in and i supporting mccarthy, then handwritten on the poorest is bobby go home. you are either with jean mccarthy, or bobby kennedy. kennedy and mccarthy did not like each other very much, either. mccarthy, faced with a far more glamorous telegenic well- financed opponent would say things like he plays touch football, but i play football. but, kennedy was extremely good at calibrating himself to be a large role -- larger cultural fight guys. they reached out not to just college students, nearly all of whom were white, but reached out to a national coalition of democratic voters, of people who have fond memories and loyalties to his brother john, and to these other working- class members of the roosevelt coalition, to build support around his candidacy. by the end of march, you have johnson realizing it is untenable for him to stay in, and saying he is getting out. it just gets more crazy from there. if that had been all that happened in 1968,

anyway, he was very close to kennedy. had bobby not died, it was a good chance bill would have been in his administration. of the couple little stories i have managed to have, i was all of 27, i was in hannibal with my then two children, i said what are you doing. he said i am in manchester, i am going to have dinner with paul newman tonight. i said excuse me? i got a babysitter and i went down there. paul newman was an exceptional person. he would not sign autographs. he said i am not here for paul newman, i am here for dean mccarthy. we went ice skating in berlin new hampshire. he was fabulous, and he knew the issues. we also had tony randall. i took tony randall to a coffee in keene, he cannot answer any of the questions, he was always signing his own autograph. i went home and i said david, we have got to get to the campaign, we have got to pull him. we pulled him, told him his schedule was over, and brought paul newman back in. it was just the difference in approaches that newman was so committed being against the war, that he

whether bobby kennedy gets full credit for that is a different matter. but nonetheless, it was an example of his mastery of politics and his ability to reach out to a broad coalition, an ability that makes many people feel that he would have been ultimately successful had he lived to become the nominee and the major party candidate in november 1968. but the king assassination shifts, there are other things that dr. king had started to build that continue. including the poor people's campaign. which was another sort of a new focus on the economic justice, moving away from voting rights. and desegregation of the south and moving towards more broad-based economic justice. so the month after king's assassination, the march on washington, the poor people's march on washington that he had been organizing and planning, that continued. it was followed this in the summer of 1968 by many other marches in other cities. and other marches in washington. where the calls for justice have become more multiracial. here you have signs in spanish. you have white people, yo

one scene of bobby kennedy of robert kennedy growing older, a kind of happiness came back from the image. there was something in his face that grew young over the years. he looked more on a boy on the day of his death. a nice boy. nicer than the kid with the sharp rocky glint in his eye who had gone to work for joe mccarthy in the early '20s and had known everything there was to know about getting ahead in politics. he had grown modest as he grew older and his whit had grown with him. he had become a funny man as the picture took rye to show, rye from one instant and shy in the next but with a boy's wisdom. as if he knew the world was very bad and knew the intimate style of how it was bad as only boys can sometimes know. i found this, in particular, that passage moving because i saw bobby kennedy three days before he died, give a speech to a latino audience in san jose, california, and it was exactly as he says. you he was shy and then he was empathic, he was funny, and it was a fantastic performance. lbj controlled the convention to get humphrey through, but the media roughed up and the

i did not realize there was such a feud between bobby kennedy and vice president johnson but apparently there was. and then, when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas, how masterful the vice president was in becoming president and taking the kennedy agenda civil rights agenda and tax-cut agenda and actually making those become law. and it is my opinion and i think the book echoes this. that had president kennedy lived, he probably would have not gotten those bills passed. at least not his first term. and because the new president johnson knew so much about the house and the senate and the political process in congress, he was able to use the experience to get kennedys agenda past and of course, the end of the book, johnson is beginning his own program trying to end the war. what we now call the war on poverty.and have -- no one had ever tried really hard to eradicate poverty in the united states. at the end of this book, it is talking about johnson's effort to start to do that. >> booktv want to know what you are reading. send us your summer reading list at booktv on twitter, in

you were i was there with t mccarthy or bobby kennedy. kennedy and mccarthy did not like each other very much, either. mccarthy faced a far more well- financed opponent who would say things like while he plays touch football but i play football. kennedy was extremely good at calibrating himself to be the larger role -- cultural fight guys. to reach out not just to college students, nearly all of whom are white, but reaching out to a multiracial coalition of democratic voters, of people who had fond memories and loyalties to his brother john, and to these other members working class members of the roosevelt coalition, the new deal coalition, to build support to his candidacy. by the end of march, you have johnson realizing it is uncountable for him to stay in, and he is getting out. it just gets more crazy from there. if that had been all that happened in 1968, that will be enough of a story, right? but, there is so much more that happens that shaped what the election's outcome is, and also where american history goes from there. including

anyway, he was very close to the kennedys, very, very close and had bobby not died, there was a good chance bill would have been in his administration. the couple little stories. i managed to have dinner with paul newman. i was all of 27. i called david -- i was in hanover with my then two children and i said, what are you doing? and he said, well, i'm in manchester, i'm going to have dinner with paul newman tonight. i said, excuse me? got a babysitter, and i went down there. paul newman was an exceptional person. he would not sign autographs. he said, i'm not here for paul newman, i'm here for gene mccarthy. we sent him ice skating up in very verlan, new hampshire. he campaigned. he was fabulous, and he knew the issues. we also had tony randall. i went to a coffee, i took tony randall to a coffee in keen. he couldn't answer any of the questions. he was always signing his own autographs. so i went home and i said, david, you got to get to the campaign. we've got to pull him. so we pulled him, told him his schedule was over, and brought paul newman back in. but it was just the differe

in my book, i talk about that conversation between bobby kennedy and james baldwin.nd at one point bobby kennedy says look, hold on for hope because one day, like us, we already produced a president. it went over like a brick cloud. jimmy baldwin said that is a problem. i have been here for five or six generations. until people acknowledge that black people are entrenched and deeply rooted in america. i am from detroit michigan i didn't come from anywhere else but this nation. and many people don't acknowledge this. >> let me ask you about politics that is my beat. i am looking at the 2020 thing. look at the ones roaring to run. kamela harris seems to be out there. cory booker seems to be out there. what do you make, of course bernie, i think bernie sanders is running again, and elizabeth warren. do you think it is essential because the democrats, have to have room on that ticket for a person of color. what do you think? >> when you look at kamela harris or senator booker or governor patrick, or attorney general holder, rumored he is going to run as well. when you lo

my question has to do with bobby kennedy. of course, the historic tremendous feud that he had with lyndon johnson. would he have been a much easier candidate for richard nixon to have defeated in november of 1968 than hubert humphrey turned out to be and that the way that he -- bobby kennedy has been portrayed to me anyway, i was five years old in 1968, that it was far from inevitable in june of 1968 that he would become the democratic nominee and elected president in november, and that johnson -- johnson would have come through and would have done whatever he could have to sabotage him at the convention in chicago. >> thank you. >> well, we talk about nelson rockefeller as being kind of a hamlet in 1968, not quite sure whether he's in or whether he's out. bobby was a little bit of a hamlet also. he wanted to run for president, he didn't want to put himself in a position of losing and he thought that going up against a sitting president, even a weakened, very, very weak sitting president, lyndon johnson, was going to be too f

are you prepared to deal with bobby kennedy? >> i am not really prepared to deal with anybody as far as my candidacy is concerned, i've committed myself to a group of and rathere idealistic adults in american society. i said i would be their candidate and i intend to run as i committed myself to run as a situation develops of course, where i can't win, i will release my delegates. if i did have to trade with them, i will run as hard as i .an if i find i cannot win, i will say to my delegates, make the best judgment you can make. the interview was conducted after the announcement of senator robert f kennedy. your reaction? i think eugene mccarthy has had a tough issue with them for a long time. he has been tough on jack kennedy actually, in part because i think he thought he should be the first catholic president, not john f. kennedy. the way really got over bobby kennedy got in the race in 1968. basically the morning after, he said he is reassessing and i think the feeling among a lot of hearthy's supporters is that asked stolen

i didn't realize there was such feuds between bobby kennedy and vice president johnson, but apparently there was, and then when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas, how masterful the vice president was in becoming president and taking the kennedy agenda, civil rights agenda and tax cut agenda, and actually making those become law, and it's my opinion, and i think the book echos this, that had president kennedy lift, he probably would have not got then bills past, at least not in his first term, and because of the new president johnson, knew so much about the house and the senate and the political process in congress, he was able to use that experience to get kennedy's agenda passed and then of course the end of the book, johnson is beginning his own program, trying to end the war, what -- start what we now call the war on poverty and no one ever tried hard to eradicate poverty in the united states and at the end of the talking but johnson's effort to star to do that. >> booktv wants to know what your reading. lend us your summer reading list. booktv on c-span2, television for

in 1960, he saw bobby kennedy as appearing on television show in a talk show format. is i'm hobnobbing with hollywood celebrities. it is how he prepared his campaign. he turned his celebrity to gain political power. he was able to do that on the primary chair -- trail. and stayed with him throughout the 1968 election. nixon actually used that tactic against kennedy. he said that he was perceiving g publicity. when nixon lost the 1968 election and then years later, the governor's race in california, he took some time to figure out why. what went wrong. he studied what he had done. he also studied ronald reagan and in the nixon library, their boxes of research that he did on ronald reagan. he observed that reagan was really effective at using television to connect it to the emotions of voters. there is a really compelling speech where you have nixon's handwriting on it. he actually says, and reggina -- reagan appeals to the heart. we missing something by not invoking this strategy? and he gathered a team of media advisers and advertising executives, roger ailes, notably

had -- way bobby kennedy i was five years old in 1968. it was far from inevitable in june 1968 that he would become the democratic nominee and elected president in november and that johnson, johnson would have come through, and on whatever he could have to sabotage him at the convention in chicago. matthew: we talked about nelson rockefeller's being kind of a hamlet, not sure whether he is in or out. a hamlet also. he wanted to run for president. he didn't want to put himself in a position of losing. he thought going against a sitting president, even a very weak sake -- sitting president would be too formidable. so jean mccarthy who was more of a poet and a rock on socko emitician -- rock em sock politician, he did not get a majority but not lyndon johnson out in new hampshire and was going to win big time which led to lyndon johnson to get out of the race area are begot in to the race and he ran a very dramatic and fascinating campaign, but it wasn't absolutely clear that he was running a campaign that was going to get him into a positio

he never really got over the way that bobby kennedy got in the race in 1968. the morning after the new hampshire primaries, kennedy says he is reassessing whether he will run and i think the feeling among mccarthy supporters was he had stolen the gifts under the christmas tree from mccarthy by stealing the thunder after that performance in new hampshire. the animosity between them grew as the campaign went on and kennedy was not a fan of mccarthy's either. he was a tough person to like. but also a thing that is interesting is he didn't like that kennedy was a very emotional kind of guy. he got his audiences revved up and excited and he didn't think that was appropriate for politics. he used to say that kennedy had all these outreach groups, to african-americans and hispanics and you thought that was not the way politicians worked. he complained he has all these outreach groups like the flavors at baskin robbins. he didn't think it was appropriate. he would not have been successful in today's politics at all. that it created a lot of animosity between the two of

look, one of the great presidential feuds of all time is lyndon johnson and bobby kennedy. and when bobby kennedy was assassinated, lyndon johnson gave a fulsome, heartfelt, sincere tribute on air. you can google it. and that really is the standard. it's basic. it's human. and the fact that he resisted and his chief of staff and communications director and press sec stair had to weigh in again and again and he finally relented i suppose to his credit, but it's a day of unforced errors and it's indecent and beneath the presidency. >> yeah. david gregory, there are people who say well, he finally did it. we should leave it alone. he did it do it and his paper statement had he released it first thing would have put this all to bed right away. his public statement outloud last night to the evangelicals was pitch perfect, but it took a long time to get there. and you can't grade the guy on a curve here just because he behaves differently in this type of situation. the white house knew it. sarah sanders all along was pushing for it. they knew inside this would be an issue. and it

on june 5, bobby kennedy. when vice president hubert humphrey won the democratic nomination, many felt the election itself was meaningless. and that brings up the events in chicago. on the one side, on the right, we have mayor daley, an autocratic leader who vowed to maintain civility in his city at all cost. in the weeks leading up to the cost, he denied public permits for marches and demonstrations, double the strength of the ellipse a chicago police force abroad in the u.s. army and the illinois national guard. he was saying, and i quote, as long as i am america city, there will be law and order on the street. on the other hand, as represented here by one of the flyers from -- of life, we had abbie hoffman and -- organize what they call an invasion of chicago, complete with demonstrations. i guess as anthony has told us, limited public concerts. and, other kinds of activities, meant to really bring a kind of farcical view of the proceedings. in fact, so farcical that they nominate a pig for president. >> to

on june 5, bobby kennedy. thert humphrey won democratic nomination and some felt it was meaningless. that brings up the events in chicago. on the right, where mayor daley, and autocratic leader who vowed to main stability in his city at all costs. in the weeks leading up to be convention, he denied permits for demonstrations and he brought in the u.s. army and the only national guard. he said, and i quote, as long as i mayor of the city, there will be lot in order in the streets." as represented here from a yippie, they organize what they call the invasion of chicago, complete with demonstrations and limited public concerts. there were other kinds of viewities meant to bring a of the proceedings. they nominate a pig for president. to promote the event, the yippies published fires and held rallies. they would pick up delegates at the airport and drive them to wisconsin or hyper potent yippies would produce wives. lsd would be dumped in the water supply. the one the mayor took seriously herto storm the apathy at

i didn't really there was such a feud between bobbi kennedy and vice president johnson.but apparently there was. and then when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas, how masterful the vice president was in becoming president and taking the kennedy agenda, civil rights agenda and tax cut agenda and actually making those become law. and it's my opinion, and i think the book echos this, that had president kennedy lived, he probably would have not gotten those bills passed. at least not in his first term. and because the new president johnson knew so much about the house and the senate and the political process in congress, he was able to use that experience to get kennedy's agenda passed. and, of course, the end of the book johnson is beginning his own program trying to end the war. it's now called the war on poverty and how no one had ever really tried very hard to eradicate poverty in the united states. and at the end of this book, it's talking about johnson's effort to start to do that. >> book tv wants to know what you're reading. send us your summer reading list

my question has to do with bobby kennedy. the tremendous feud that he had with lyndon johnson. would he have been a much easier candidate for richard nixon to have defeated in 1968 then hubert humphrey turned out to be? and the way bobby kennedy has been portrayed, to me anyway, i was five years old in 1968, that it was far from inevitable in june 1968 that he would become the democratic nominee and elected president in november. and that johnson would have come through. he would have done whatever he could have to sabotage the convention in chicago. >> we talk about nelson rockefeller not being sure if he is in or out. bobby wanted to run for president. he didn't want to put himself in a position for losing. going up against a sitting president, even a weakened president in lyndon johnson, is going to be too formidable. so it came to mccarthy, who was more of a poet than a rock him sock and politician, to go up. he didn't get a majority in new hampshire, but he basically knocked johnson out of new hampshire and that led lyndon johnson to get out of the race. bobby immediately

i mean, i got very involved in the '68 election with gene mccarthy and bobby kennedy, hubert hmm fry. a heartbreaking year with the assassination office martin luther king jr. and bobby kennedy, and lawrence o'donnell has done an extraordinary job of recounting that very dramatic, i would say pivotal year in american politics. with his book, called "playing with fire" and i really recommend it if you want to understand what happened in the n1968. especially politically. great book. another book also 50 years later, about 196, called hue 1968. this is the story in graphic detail of the tet offensive and n february of 1968, but the battle for hue, the city of hue, which was a peaceful, beautiful, architecturally stunning city that was it her and completely destroyed in the tet offensive, and unlike other battles in south vietnam, the battle of hue lasted months and this book is a little bit different. not your classic antiwar book. focuses on the bravery and the actions of our marines and our army in trying to fight back and win back the city of hue, and very dramatic, and tells it prom