lbj's i think we did. he's been in washington in early days reaction is a favorite of lyndon johnson and gives a target of rayburn, came to the old buddhist osha through the house of representatives and that goes to the senate. he's a new deal liberal. reagan began as a new deal liberal and then became something different to how did that happen? and when did it start? >> there's a couple things. reaganesque, has a famous phrase. i didn't leave the democratic party. the democratic party left me which really resonates -- >> he said that would? >> when he was running in the '70s and '80s. that begin to resonate with the people we begin to think of as reagan democrats. in reagan's case it is somewhat misplaced because what that implies is they said exactly the same place and the party to go large to the left. that's not really reagan. ranking is i think someone who is drawn to extremes. in his youth the new deal and roosevelt are appealing to them because it is, it stands for something. it is a compelling caus

no one ever asked lbj how much legislation was going to cost. and if anyone did, he never knew the answer, because back then, no one knew how to even estimate the cost of legislation. the congressional budget office didn't exist. so the majority leader didn't have to come up with complicated ways of paying for legislation that would be acceptable to the cbo. lbj never had to pass a budget resolution or the much more complex omnibus budget resolution bill, because budget and their companion reconciliation bills had not yet been invented. and luckily for lbj, the senate ethics committee had not yet been invented and it's as if the filibuster had not yet been invented. he had to file zero cloture motions to break filibusters. harry reid has filed 569 cloture motions. mitch mcconnell will soon become the 29th majority leader. and he may have the most difficult challenge within his own party that any majority has ever had since the considerable faction of the republican party is now opposed to virtually everything the government does. opposed, in eff

probably the most emotional pressure that somebody felt was lbj. think about it, we are now celebrating so much of what he did in those first years of his presidency. the civil rights act, ending segregation in the south of voting rights act providing the precious right to millions of black americans open housing medicare aid to education and public television. he had a legacy almost unequaled up to his great hero fdr and then got into vietnam and watched in those last years of his life that legacy being cut into and not knowing how to get out of vietnam and getting stuck in it and getting worse an and recognizing that he had, indeed, left a legacy. that that pressure was at a deeper level. an incredible question. question. you did it. >> next question, over here. >> thank you for your wonderful work. i cannot think of anyone who has greater insight into the presidency, the use of presidential power, choosing assistance. i i wonder if you have ever thought of yourself becoming a leader of this country? i cannot think of anybody who would be better.

probably the most emotional pressure that somebody felt was lbj. think about it, we are now celebrating so much of what he did in those first years of his presidency. the civil rights act, ending segregation in the south of voting rights act providing the precious right to millions of black americans open housing medicare aid to education and public television. he had a legacy almost unequaled up to his great hero fdr and then got into vietnam and watched in those last years of his life that legacy being cut into and not knowing how to get out of vietnam and getting stuck in it and getting worse an i wonder if you have ever thought to yourself up becoming a leader of this country because i can't think of anybody who would be better. >> thank you. >> you are like a combination of bobby greatest presidencies of research. >> if i were younger. when i was young i did think about going into public life because i think still however we may disparage politicians nowadays and the dysfunction of our legislature and the washington there's a something so rewa

i liked him way better as lbj than a drug dealer. he's a great actor. i like the movie "lincoln" because it showed abraham lincoln as a politician, making those dreaded deals, giving guys jobs and stuff to vote for the amendment to end slavery. i wouldn't mind having a leadership program which forces people to talk about the compromises that leaders have to make, and which ones are more principled and which ones aren't, and is it only determined by the end or don't you have to have some limits on the means, too? i hope we do have some of that in there, because that's really important. if you lose the ability to keep the door open to people dish -- i remember one day, trent lott jumped all over me in a sunday morning talk show, said i was acting like a spoiled brat. i never will forget this mitchell second term. i called him on the phone. he said, my god, are you call had gone chew me out? i said, but not for what you think. he said, what do you mean? i said, you worked hard last week, didn't you? and you agreed because somebody suggested you do the sund

[inaudible question] >> talks about but lbj and reagan. it didn't lbj and reagan both make a mess of the united states budget? and here is why i suggest that. lbj, his last year, our real problem with the vietnam war he basically took away the income he had from social security. social security, the problem is that social security. he took that away and all of a sudden his deficits were going in to what they called surpluses in 1968. now, reagan was also running into a problem where deficits in the 80's -- and i forget what year it was, but he looked for more social security that could be taken at of the budget. -- >> secretary my question. >> i will let you take on as much as you want. it's an interesting point. it is back to this idea of we should not over mothball not -- the causes of these presidents. pfft -- >> because it's not true. and i think what you see in both the johnson presidency in the 60's and the reagan presidency in the 80's is that certain trepidation about, if you give the public too much reality they will extract a pol

>> certainly, the robert caro lbj books. >> and you read them all? >> i did. it has been a few years. i certainly read the one that came out in 2012. i remember the main points of it. i read that on a trip to europe. i got some funny stairs on the train, but nonetheless, reading about american politics -- those are just wonderful. it really defines what political biography should be. like richard ben cramer, robert caro would spend years. he lived in texas to discover where lbj came from. he lived in washington dc, all over the place. he uncovered fascinating information. >> there is one more to go. >> this will be about the johnson presidency. it is amazing that he has spent 30, 40 years, researching these books. he has just barely got into the presidency. the last book was really the first six weeks or so of the lbj presidency after the jfk assassination. speaking of which, one other book, about the jfk assassination. larry sabato's book which came out last fall. he didn't just recount the events, which has been done countless times. he looked at all the sub

less than a year earlier, lbj was sworn in following president kennedy's assassination. he would go on to win the general election against barry goldwater. next, president johnson's speech, in which he outlines the goals of what he calls a great society. this is about 30 minutes. >> he appreciates this tremendous reception, but he has a message to give to you and the american people. [applause]

how many times was johnson referred to as that damn cowboy or worse. >> and look what lbj finally did in terms of civil rights and medicare and aid to education. >> walked out a shadow of the guy who was president and in his own right became a historical figure. >> i will never forget, that's where my fascination with the presidency began, just being back here in austin, it just bridges back floods of memories. it feels great. >> teddy roosevelt and william howard taft had an interesting relationship, they were, i think frenemies was a contemporary word what the kids might use. they were frenemy, they weren't exactly enemies, sort of somewhere in between. >> what happened that i didn't really until i started doing the research and found 400 letters between the two of them from the time they were in their early 30s, they had met when taft was solicitor general and teddy civil service commissioner. they both knew something had to happen with the corruption of the age from the the civil war to the 1900s there was so much corruption. teddy was this physical, manic, exercising character, a

lbj hated proxmire. when he thought about running for president at one point, he quickly learned he couldn't raise the money. that is because he took his orders from his conscience, not from people who have the money or marketing consultants. it is hard for me to a mallet -- to imagine any career politician being able to do that today. >> i suppose i want people to hard,er that i worked that i did what i thought was right, i followed my own conscience, and i helped some, i terribleprevent the holocaust of nuclear war. >> all weekend long, american history tv is joining our charger cable partners to showcase the history of madison, wisconsin. to learn more about the cities on our 2014 tour, visit c-span.org/localcontent. we continue with our look at the history of madison, wisconsin. this is american history tv on c-span3. ♪ ♪ >> welcome to wisconsin's state capital. we're standing in the rotunda of the building. a this is the public area of the capital. this is where we have our parties and presentations

lbj hated proxmire. when he thought about running for president at one point, he he quickly learned he could not raise the money to run for president because he took his orders from his and not from people who had money or the marketing consultants. least, hard for me, at to imagine any career politician being able to do that today. well, i suppose i'd want i worked remember that what i thought was right, followed my own to cious, and i helped some prevent the terrible perspective holocaust of a nuclear war. weekend, hout the american history tv is featuring adison, wisconsin, our city's tour staff recently travelled there to learn about its rich history. learn more

lbj hated proxmire. when he thought about running for president at one point, he quickly learned he couldn't raise the money. that is because he took his orders from his conscience, not from people who have the money or marketing consultants. it is hard for me to a mallet -- to imagine any career politician being able to do that today. >> i suppose i want people to hard,er that i worked that i did what i thought was right, i followed my own conscience, and i helped some, i terribleprevent the holocaust of nuclear war. >> all weekend long, american or

less than a year earlier, lbj was sworn in following president kennedy's assassination. he would go on to win the general election against barry goldwater. next, president johnson's speech, in which he outlines the goals of what he calls a great society. this is about 30 minutes. >> he has a message to give to you and the american people. [applause] >> chairman mccormack, my fellow americans -- i accept your nomination. [applause] i accept the duty of leading this party to victory this year. and i thank you, i thank you from the bottom of my heart for placing at my side the man that last night you so wisely selected to be the next vice president of the united states. [applause] i know i speak for each of you and all of you when i say he proved himself tonight in that great acceptance speech. [applause] and i speak for both of us when i tell you that from monday on he is going to be available for such speeches in all 50 states. we will try to lead you as we were led by that great champion of freedom, the man from independence, harry s. truman. [applause] but the gladness

>> the assumption among the kennedy intimates was that lbj was totally unbeatable in 1968. would run in 1972. >> the anti-war movement needed a leader and it fell to eugene mccarthy. >> very nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> senator, president johnson supporters say you don't have a chance in new hampshire and you'll be lucky to get 10% of the vote. what do you say about that? >> well, i don't know. the people supporting me said we'll do better than that. >> one democrat, senator eugene mccarthy -- >> eugene mccarthy does something that's taboo. he comes out against a sitting president from the same party. >> mccarthy came in from left field. he was not thought of in the front rank of presidential contenders. but there was a great deal of frustration and even despair among the young. eugene mccarthy gave them hope. >> how many volunteers for senate mccarthy? >> i'm ready to vote in the primary. >> from nbc news election central in manchester, new hampshire, this is the news. >> if mccarthy gets as much as 30% of the vote or more against an incumbent president, he ca

>> in some ways it is hard to write lbj having met him because i wanted to be fair to him, but i felt such a tangle of emotions about him. the more you knew him, the more you wanted him to hopefully feel good about what you've read. i still had the antiwar feeling when i was writing the book. i still do there were parts of them. there is a character to be around them at some level i probably loved the person that i got to know. i think there are lots more emotions involved in writing about him though they were about these other people. in a certain sense once they spent 10 years of abraham lincoln for seven years of teddy and taft or six years with franklin and eleanor, i feel like i am living with them. i'm thinking about them. so that same sense of i feel it to missy and yet i have to withdraw myself so i can understand them and i want to be fair again i want to like them. i think the tables have been there the whole time that nasa makes it so exciting. >> we got an anonymous amount of tension because it's a bestseller, well-written of course it made into a movie. the story a unders

that lesson learned from lbj i would like to believe made me a historian i eventually became. >> is it easier to write about people that you have never met are easy to write about someone actually matt? >> in some ways it was hard to write for lbj having met him but i want to be fair but i felt such a thank you of emotions about him. the more you knew him the more you wanted him to hopefully feel good about what you have written. i still have that antiwar feeling. when i was writing a book i knew there were parts of him. he was difficult character to be around and yet at some level i love the person that i got to know. i think there were lots more emotions involved in writing about him than other people. in a certain sense once i spent 10 years with abraham lincoln or seven years with teddy and taft for six years i feel like i'm living with them. i'm speaking about them so that same sense of ideal intimacy and yet i have to withdraw myself so i can understand them and yet i want to be fair and yet i think the tangles have been there the whole time. that's a time. basso makes it so exci

sort of, he was very friendly with lbj. book you will see at the end there is a climax dealing with lbj and henry ford ii. the dues was duece was his nickname. he was dealing with everything that was going on at that time, political, economic. his relationship with walter ruther was fascinating because his grandfather during that era tried to beat all the unions physically and henry ford ii, had to deal with sort of accomodations of that. and with the anti-semitism and all of that. ruther, i think was one of the great underappreciated figures of the 20th century. a terrific mind, labor leader, who during this particular ear rao, the uaw, really helped, had a key role in the whole civil rights movement. the summer of '63 was the summer when birmingham happened and martin luther king wrote his letter from the birmingham jail and many of the people who were supporting king, who were jailed in birmingham were bailed out by the uaw money. they came down with all the money to get everybody out of jail. they were really the sponso

. >> the dscoll, when lbj s president, that was where the national mia w caed. probably a better ption. >> the vernor has been a frie of mine for years. whater the hell she was doing with lyndon joson, they did this there athe driscoll. >>uh-huh. why stonewall jacon? >> jackson, i think, has been forgotten a ttle bit, because what he did in the war was etty extraordinary. the l war was a story of great transformationand the one we all pbably know as ulysses s. grant. he's leaning on a m just before the war and he becomes ulysses s. grt. jackson was kind of this hyteacr before t war he was an odd duck a decent man butan odd duck. and a bit of a loser, you might say. 14onths later, he was thet famous militar man in the western world. 14 months latere waseing compared to napoleon. so you had ts -- what he had ne is what was calledhe valley campaign where he had taken 12 or 14,000 men and aten 1000-plus union armi l over the shenandoah valley in virginia. to me what w so interesting about h was the transrmation was so fa a it was so dep and so profound, and much mor

as far as i'm concerned, barack obama is the liar of lbj. i'm a danger to the country because i'm a gray-haired old man, and i know the truth. they wouldn't know the truth if it oscillated their gluteus maximus, as far as i'm concerned. [laughter] >> colorfully put. >> i'm also retired, 25 years service, responsible for millions of dollars and thousands of patients. this thing with the v.a., it doesn't surprise me one bit. i'm 45 years dealing with the v.a. one way or the other. thank god most of me came home, but i could file for dual citizenship in vietnam because part of me is still there. >> thank you, sir, for your service. appreciate you coming out tonight. [applause] >> young men are suffering right now. i'd rather pay $5 a gallon for gasoline than send another person overseas. anyway, i've said enough. >> yeah. speaking to the. >> v.a., there's a curious back story to that. when obama was running for president in 2008, he told the story about how his uncle came home having liberated auschwitz, went home -- [laughter] was trauma tuesd

." >> all the presidents in modern history who have been successful, lbj, fdr, ronald reagan, teddy rooseveltl clinton they all seem to have a zest for politics. i don't have a sense that you have the same feeling they did. it makes me -- do you like politicians? do you like politics?

schieffer: all the presidents in modern history who have been successful, i mean, in various ways, lbj, fdr, ronald reagan, teddy roosevelt, bill clinton they sahl team to have a zest for politics. they like the give and take they like the twisting of arms. they like the conjoeling. they like all the things that presidents do. but i don't sense that you have the same feeling that they did. do you like politicians, do you like politics? do you like this job? >> let me tell you, bob, i love this job. and here is i think a fair statement. if your name is barack hussein obama you had to have liked politics in order to get in to this office. i wasn't born in to politics. and wasn't encouraged to go in to politics. i got in to politics because i believed i could make a difference and i would not have been successful would not be sitting at this desk every day if i didn't love politics. the fact is, that we wouldn't have gotten health care passed if there wasn't a whole bunch of arm twisting. we would not have been able to make progress on the deficit if i hadn't been willing to cut some deal

any reason to believe the next two years i want to be lbj. >> not only does he not like it he's not very good at it. i think one of the questions will be who he surrounds himself with. the staff looks pretty similar. how much does he bring biden into this. biden could actually be a major player in this. he has a relationship with mcconnell, he has a relationship with boehner and he gets the art of deal making. it's important to remember this is a president that has two years left. he has an eye firmly on his legacy. >> i would add mcconnell really feels emboldened by his victory. he took tringt. he beat them. he feels very good right now. we'll have 54 senators in his caucus that gives him wiggle room. people like ted cruz want to create problems okay create problems but then can get democratic support as he moves more towards the middle. he seems confident in taking on the right for right now. that could change. >> we have two sets of dynamics. how do republicans deal with their internal politics and the president. >> that's the big problem. one, the president we've seen him go on these

they had had it up to here with lbj. they were excited that he was gone. in fact carol reports that he tried to come to the first launch after he became vice president dems going to act as a sort of de facto majority leader even though he was now vice president. that was shall i say i'm enthusiastically received and he was almost literally thrown out of the line never to return. mansfield was as i said enthusiastically chosen to replace him. now the chronicles of elves djs life and legacy usually leave out what i just told you. by the time they left the senate as indicated is the colleagues have had enough of him right up to here. they may have been to his will while he was here but the moment they had a chance to be delivered from his iron fisted rule they took it. with their support mike mansfield would spend the next 16 years restoring the senate to a place of greater cooperation and freedom and as we look at what the senate could be, not what it is now but what it could be mansfield's period gives us a clue. there are many well-known stories about mans

some of the most alarming examples of lbjs behavior were described in the 2009 book "in the president's secret service." by form winds popes and warn warn reporter ronald kessler. according to kessler, johnson would no sooner board air post one that drop his public persona and replaced with the real ranch-bred deal. you dumb sons of' bitchs i'll piss on al of you he would say when the door was closed. he would then retreat to his stateroom, getting undressed, stripping down to socks and shorts and often to nothing at all, sometimes while the door was open and staff members, many women, or immediate family members, all of them women, came and went. during a press conference at the johnson ranch he once turned to the side, unzipped, and being peeing freely into nature, at the same time keeping his face turned to the reports and continuing the colloquy. one morning at 6:00 a.m., a secret service agent spotted the president similarly relieving himself off the back porch of the ranch house, greeting the dawn in his own particular way. anyway, i won't take too much time. it gets worse than th

sort of come user friendly with lbj. you see at the end there's a climaxed in with lbj and henry ford ii. the deuce was his nickname. he was dealing with everything that was going on at that time, political, economic relationship with walter reuther was fascinating because his grandfather during that era had tried to beat all the unions physically, and henry ford ii had to do with sort of the combinations of that. walter was one of the great underappreciated figures of the 20th century. the uaw really helped play a key role in the whole civil rights movement. the summer of 63 was the summer when birmingham happened and martin luther king wrote his letter from the birmingham jail. many of the people who were supporting team who were jailed in birmingham were bailed out the uaw money. they came down with all the money to get everyone out of jail. they were the sponsors of the civil rights movement in so many ways. walter was very progressive on civil rights. ahead of vijay and kennedy, pushing them harder. is hard as marti

in what was his final speech, lbj talkeds death, about the future of civil rights and the role of government in for all equality citizens. >> i believe that the essence of lies with unceasing concern for the welfare and decency and for everyof life individual. andif our efforts continue if our will is strong, and if are right, and if remains our constant fellowon, then, my wericans, i am confident shall overcome. >> with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span 2, here on we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings events.ic affairs then an weekends, c-span 3 is the home to american history tv that tell our nation's story, including six unique series. the civil unique series -- these civil war's 150th anniversary, touring museums and historic sites, history shelf -- the best-known writers,history lectures in history, with top college professors delving into america fell past, and our new series reel america. c-span3,

. >> all the presidents in modern history who have been successful, i mean lbj, tdr, ronald reagan, teddy, bill clinton, they all seem to have a a zest for politics, but i don't sense that you have the same feeling that they did. it makes me wonder, do you like politicians? do you like politics? >> no. >> thank you, mr. president. >> thank you so much, bob. i enjoyed it. [ laughter ] >> and there you have it. u.s. military, those who have served, those who are are serving. those will serve. thank you. that's it for "special report" as you look live to the national hall. concert. fair, balanced and unafraid. >>> tonight, take two. remember the architect claiming that a lack of transparency and stupidity of the american voters helped the obama administration get the healthcare law passed? now, economist jonathan gruber wants a do-over. >> stupidity of the american voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing passed. >> the comments in the video were made at academic conference. i was speaking off the cuff. >> lack of transparency is a huge political

he could spend years, he would leicester texas and to discover where lbj lived. >> there is one more >> yes. is amazing he spent over 40 years researching these books, and he barely got to the presidency. tragic death assassination. not recount the events which have been told he spoke times, about the jeff k legacy and how it affected governments. >> we have 11 seconds. >> i don't offend everybody. want to personally offend. >> it as a way to prevent yourself from looking mean. go out and really stick the knife in the back. >> what is astroturfing? >> when somebody speaks about the same specific issue and are supposed to be spontaneous, you know it is artificial. like the old astroturf, saw this old baseball stadiums. in means somebody artificially created. >> dark money? around means going campaigning finance rules trying to give the candidates trying nder the table or to hide it. trying to shield his actual donors are. much y and sweden have so direct campaign contribution. much you think -- who starts these staff, the media or the politicians? >> and the media start saying the sam

. >> host: do you remember where you were when lbj signed the civil rights act? >> guest: 10% of the money in the law had to go where 20% of the population or more was under the poverty level for 30 years. we work on thes things every day to address the issue of under and unemployment and to try to reach people who are suffering today because the economy, the recovery hasn't gotten to them the way it should. we are trying to direct those resources and that is one of the ways we are doing it. >> host: catherine in emuclaw, washington. >> guest: i want to thank the gentlemen for their service and their teaching. i am 70 years old, white woman who remembers very well freedom summer, emit till and all remember all of that. and i don't want to see it happen again. i have been so angry at what happened in ferguson, trayvon martin, the two killings in new york by police man. i just want to see it stop. this country is like suburban kings of france. it forgives nothing. help us learn how to organize again. ... students to say we are going to meet at 12:00 tomorrow and we

in lbj's final month, he sent a memo, you are here until the final moments. he has to suggest that to this people. keep racing until it is over. >> i think tom's scenario is the most likely. constant confrontation. there is a chance there could be some rather big things done. doris mentioned immigration reform. it is a republican party's interest. presidential elections are different. they don't want to be the anti-immigration party. you have to dial back the senate bill. >> they didn't do anything before the midterm elections because they didn't want the president to campaign on immigration reform. >> there are other potential business from the moves they could take. the question of tax reforms, corporate tax reforms. >> i would watch trade. republicans are much more sympathetic to the president agenda trying to push the trade deals with europe and asia. >> people suggested it may be possible the president will be able to deal with mitch mcconnell been with harry reid. [laughter] [indiscernible] >> he refused to bring a bill up. >> the democrats refused to b

. >> i asked you earlier, your guy, president obama has said, look, i'm not going to act like lbj.w. but there was news tonight he called the brand new senator-elect from arkansas. do you think this is going to necessitate a new style of governing for a guy who has shunned back slapping, arm twisting and working the phones? >> well, i think it's a new set of circumstances that he has to adapt to. and i think there's an opportunity here, i know it's hard to find underneath the wreckage. but the opportunity is that you've got a republican party that also has to rehabilitate itself that's going into a national election, that really just ran on an anti-obama platform. it has to prove they can govern. and ought to take advantage of that opportunity and see what can be done with them. he's called for a meeting on friday. i think it's an important meeting because i think the country wants to know there's a way forward. the problem for the republicans is, they're going to have to deal with the fact they spent a whole year telling people their definition is they're anti-obama and now to tur

rhodess are always raising the bar a little more so basically you almost have a 21st century version of lbj from vietnam calling the shots. that's why people like chuck haigle and others are very frustrated. >> you mentioned others. the third defense secretary to leave the administration. and you have to wonder what this is doing within and outside the defense department. what are you hearing? >> the word today was, this was meant as a shot across the bow. the real reason he is leaving right now is because of the august briefing me and general dempsey gave when they talked about the real threat of isis. and so what we have seen here is basically you need to toe that party line no matter what, and my good friend and mentor, bud mcfarland, said in the old days, politics regarding national security ended the border. once we get past the border we all focus on what is right. unfortunately everything i'm hearing, everything coming across this, is that the politics are always the first thought the white house's mine. not on what is best for the country or or what is necessary to achieve a level o

president obama has said, look, i'm not lbj, i'm nothing close, we're different people, i'm not as elbow schmoozy, but as joe said you've got a rookie republican senator-elect tonight. talk about political scions who has defeated a pryor in arkansas. the president picked up the phone and called him. could this be a sign of things to come? >> look, i think one of the things -- the attention will be on the president and i understand that, but there's a great deal of jaundice about politics generally, about washington generally. the republicans are feeling it. their numbers are terrible. mitch mcconnell and the republicans are heading into an election in 2016 where their map is just as hostile in terms of the territory in which they have to run as it was for the president in this election. and you've got a presidential election. they understand they have to get some things done. i was encouraged by senator mcconnell's remarks. if i were the president i would test him and take him up on it very quickly and see what there is that they can do together. the country is clearly hungry for that. >

it struck me -- it made me sit back and wonder, you think much of the lbj.erent. i wonder if mitch mccome, as john said in that piece there, if mitch mcconnell, now that he has reached this job he's always wanted, is he going to be different? >> i have no idea. i'm not an expert on mitch mcconnell. one of the evaporatings of no longer being in office is that i don't have to tell people more than i know. i honestly don't know mitch mcconnell very well. i don't think anybody does. i think we're now in what they call the hot stove league when the baseball season was over, when that was the only sport and people felt they had time by speculating on things we really don't know the answer to. >> wow. i appreciate that humility. i'm not going to mirror it, though. i think we've to assume past is future. the past evidence we can draw upon is that he's understated, a behind the tactician. i think he will probably approach the job attempt to go fly largely under the radar both for himself and the republican party and keep the focus on president obama. you mentioned te

i remember in lbj's couple months he said don't dare send your resume around we're here until the finalt we've got a lot of governing to do. he is got to keep racing until it's over as yogi berra said it's ain't over until it's over. >> i think tom's scenario is the most likely we're going to have constant confrontation. there's a chance though, a shawl chance there could be some rather big things done. doris mentioned immigration reform. everyone would say how can you do immigration reform with a republican congress that you couldn't do before. because it's in a republican's party's interest. presidential elections are different than mid terms. they don't want to be known as the anti-immigration party. you have to dial back the senate bill a little bit but not much. >> rose: they didn't do anything before the midterm election because they didn't want the president to be able to say here's the democratic party to be able to campaign immigration reform. >> there are other potential business friendly moves they could take, looking for example at the whole question of tax reforms, corporat

the difference, though, was that lbj was in the midst of a heated presidential campaign with arizona, barry goldwater, and the fallout from that election has had lasting effects on our politics. we're still feeling it today. a new documentary from the university of virginia center for politics takes a look back at that pivotal 1964 election. >> you look back at all the election maps and you see what really caused a realignment. what caused people to think differently about their partisan identification. boy, it was 1964. >> joining us now is the director of the center for politics, larry sabatow, author of "the kennedy half century qult ", thanks for being with us. >> thanks. >> we talk so much about how divided this country is, but take us back to this moment in history. how divided were we back then? >> we became very divided during that campaign. although the divisions, obviously, were heavily in the democrats favor. president johnson ended up winning for that time was the largest percentage, popular vote percentage ever. he beat his hero fdr by a small fraction of the vote, getti

you know, it seems that jfk had birmingham, lbj had selma, and now president obama has ferguson. but we must demand body cameras for officers around the country, and i would also say we need to seriously think about some degree of civilian oversight of our police departments. not just civilian complaint review, but civilian oversight as well of all of our police departments. this is very, very important. and lastly, i would also just say that there should be non-violent demonstrations, but not just non-violin for non-violence sake, but rather the king junior's type of nonviolence, nonviolent resistance that would agitate and i think we owe it to michael brown's memory. >> i want to thank all of my guests for staying with me through the hour. craig melvin also, i want to thank him. and liz brown who stayed with us. chris hayes now is live in ferguson with more of our coverage of this evening's on just a block and a half from where michael brown was shot and killed on august 9th. by darren wilson. darren wilson will be facing no indictment for the shooting as we learn a little whil

lbj chose to oversee every aspect of that war.aw a telephone apparently according to what he said the other night a direct line to somebody inside the national security council and had the phone ripped out. militarily or politically speaking, why would you have a television with a direct line? >> because this administration is obsessed with controlling everything for domestic political purposes. there is a chain of command for very good reason and you don't jump the chain of command, you don't subvert the chain of command. the military doesn't get the final say on strategic policy, the president is responsible for the strategic direction. but when it comes to the nitty-gritty of fighting wars, let the people know do it. lawyers approving targets, i look at isis beheading videos, they cut the throats and decapitate hostages while the president wants to let the hostages in guantanamo bay. get the lawyers out of it, get the politicians out of it, top military destroy islamic state and what happens stays in iraq and syria. bill: there

reflect on the great senator daniel patrick moynihan's report when he was with the labor department with lbj on the black family and what his references were to that and would like you to reflect on that if you would and how that has changed and how it may not have changed. >> host: quickly before we get at 18's answer, tell us about yourself. >> caller: just a california boy interested in these issues, dr. west, and hear him reflect upon. >> guest: thank you. i appreciate the question. it was a great study of the black family and the ways in which in some way shot at during slavery but a fundamental yearning of black people has always been to reconnect with attempts to preserve remnants of the family under lovely conditions of slavery. the problem with daniel moynihan, he coined the term benign neglect when it came to black people. that meant you make certain justices but use code words for the white majority to let them know black folks are not going to be in any way taken seriously in terms of suffering. they are going to be pushed to the margins, they're going to be tolerated or an after

and lbj and the restraints that he was under was the incremental buildup that johnson put him through and the administration and i don't think you spoke much about it and just an observation of my own that the only thing i saw later on that what really worked that scared the bejeaners was a linebacker one and two. that got them, you know, to the -- to negotiate with us. >> that's an important point, i think, that clearly west moreland is dealing with the with the theory of graduated pressure which is -- which kind of takes hold in the national security establishment. this idea that we can determine how much pressure to ratchet up or ratchet back and eventually hanoi will realize that it can't win this long war because we have the ability to either ratchet up or ratchet back. unfortunately, we don't have that ability and we don't have the ability to so neatly determine the pace of the war, the pace of military operations or determine the pace of how quickly the local population is seeing the south vietnamese government as a legitimate entity and so what you see here, i think, are some

conversations that reveal how johnson cajoled senator russell to serve on the commission and exactly how lbj used the threat of world war iii and 40 million dead americans to force chief justice earl warren into doing what he had refused three times to do -- twice to robert kennedy and the first time to johnson, until confronted with that terrible threat, namely, to head up the commission that bears his name today. 50 years after the publication of the warren commission report, it has become clear that the longer we had to study the case, the wronger the commission's findings become. i'll put it that way. thank you very much. i'll be happy to take any questions you might have. [applause] >> ladies first. >> all right, thank you for that. very interesting. i am dying to read the rest of the story. i have a question because you keep talking about robert kennedy being behind the castro assassination plot, and i'm sure you read the testimony when he said he lied when he said that he had kennedy's approval, when he actually did not. i'm sure you read the report where the cia asks itself if they c

and it's interesting if you go to the lbj library and spend time with papers of aides to johnson in austin, they were all reading arthur schlesinger's history of the march. they were all very aware of how that played out in 1932 and they were insistent that that was not going to happen in 1968. by late may, the city had up to 2,500 people living in it. described by one magazine, very colorfully, a revival meeting within an army camp. they ate at the mess hall, they put their kids in the greta scott king daycare center, they got their hair cut, they listened to some of the best entertainment in town. residents wrote their own newspaper, often criticizing sclc leadership in the process. there was a poor people's university that offered a range of courses, everything from the history of the treating of guadalupe hidalgo, to -- which is what civil rights organizers were demanding as one solution to poverty. and there was also the many races soul center which fostered intercultural exchange between the residents, especially through music and dance. but it was a particularly rainy spring, i feel