lbj was a tremendous president but he had a very dark side. the story is told through the lens of a man completely unknown to history named matt wallace who only interacted with him on a couple occasions. but his story tells a great deal about the dark side of lbj and the deals he made with his cronies to which matt wallace has very much evolved and is aware of. he's an amazing guy and in 1951, he walked into a small golf course owner in texas and shot the man dead. he was arrested two hours later and he said to the arresting officer, i work for lyndon have to get back to washington. within an hour, lbj's personal lawyer lawyer was defending him and he was exonerated. then he got top security clearance for weapons contractor in texas and had top security clearance for the next 12 years which the office of naval security tried to rescind and they couldn't. there is a hidden story of lbj who had a very dark side as well. >> where does this mellon get this information? >> it's really interesting. on the day after john f. kennedy was assassinated

he is the author of four books and is an expert on lbj and the presidency. we have professor of history at the university of houston. she is also an expert on the presidency in presidential congressional relations in the 20th century. she is currently writing a bargain three of john garner. he has written books on many of the leading public figures of the 20th century. he has been a tremendous partner to us on this symposium. our sincere thanks again to him and went to turn it over to don in our fellow panelists for the first discussion this afternoon. [applause] >> well, it sounds like -- can you hear us ok? all right. we are on. thank you andy for that introduction. it is a great privilege and an honor for us to sponsor this celebration of the 40th anniversary of the truman scholars program. i also want to thank andy rich and secretary albright for really the outstanding job that they have done in pulling together this program. it has been about a year since we were talking about this and we are so delighted we have reached this point today. i also want to

to what you were talking about earlier, but humphrey and lbj's relationship, what happened? why would he have to tap his phone over vietnam? >> thanks very much. as i understand it, why would he attack his own over vietnam, the lbj and humphrey relationship? >> because lbj wanted to win that war, and he didn't want to tell anybody getting off the farm about it, and he wanted people to do what he told him to do, and humphrey had reservations about the war and he knew it. humphrey had been a free spirit, his whole career. it was a situation where he had to be controlled. johnson knew he could cause him

truman assumed the presidency upon the death of the titanic and lbj after franklin roosevelt and lbj after the assassination of the eloquent and graceful john f. kennedy are. the german took office, washington post did not have a high opinion of him an. and lbj set of kennedy, he was a great public hero and anything i did somehow, if it wasn't approved of, it would always say that president kennedy would have done it that are, that i would -- that he would not have made the mistakes that i made. yet belts german and johnson made near great presidents. they shared an acute sense of social justice. while truman and johnson never forgot where they came from, the advancement of causes of civil rights, where civil rights policies were immensely unpopular, truman desegregated the military and pushed in vain for civil rights laws. johnson passed a trilogy of transformational civil rights legislation, passing the civil rights act of 1964, to break the back of jim crow in the south, the voting rights act of 1965, and the fair housing act of 1968. they both shared a great personal bond. from t

he did it for days after mccarthy beat lbj in new hampshire. >> but this is before she got into it to and he looks like the ultimate cutthroats politician ellen mccarthy do the tough work in new hampshire then candidate -- the committee takes a with a mantle in now said to a telegram tuesday what your brother has just done shows that state patrick did not drive all the snakes out of ireland. [laughter] but the truth is if you look at what happened the evidence is clear cut that nine days before kennedy had decided to enter but it was only fair that mccarthy had been fighting for a long time it was fair to give him that shot so while he was being a gentleman to do the kind of thing that the campaign manager asked him to do he endeavor hurting himself with the press almost the entire campaign where reporters would come around the by the end of the campaign one of the ways the offer dramatic contrast to what is going on today is the press and the relationship of the candidates today we go donald trump starts by bashing and then vanishes the press from the event but clinton spends way to

lbj wanted that office. so i now have it today. the but in his time i think he lay claim to a lot of real estate in the capital. >> host: is a u.s. senator, do you have any involvement with libraries in illinois or the u.s. levers run the country? >> guest: i do. i have a a lot of friends who were in the library so i'm look working with them. there is a mormon who has been nominated to be the next librarian of congress. carla, is african-american librarian in baltimore, her family was a really from illinois. you'd expect chicago but it was downstate illinois. it was not a large african-american population. his population. his her mom and dad were born in illinois, probably because of the railroads. the african-americans gravitated toward the railroads to get jobs on the railroads in centralia and dekalb and other places. turned out to be a pretty prominent musician, he traveled round she was born in florida. he finally made it to chicago and started malcolm x. college and chicago, so carla hayden has a great great story. she has ru

and lbj's relationship, what exactly happened?ould he have to tap his phone overing so with vietnam? >> i didn't -- >> as i understood it, why would he attack his own over vietnam, lbj/hubert humphrey relationship. >> why would lbj attack hubert humphrey over vietnam? >> yes. >> because lbj wanted to win that war and he didn't want anybody telling him -- getting off the farm about it. he wanted people to do what he told them to do, and humphrey had reservations about the war and he knew it. humphrey was -- had been a free spirit his whole career and all of a sudden he was in this situation where he had to be controlled. and johnson knew he could cause him damage. >> i think basically he was protecting his own legacy. >> yes, he was. that's right. >> we're going to close out our discussion of the 1968 convention with the clip. remember, 68 national guardsmen who were students themselves, who were in the streets, holding being ba student protesters on the convention floor, melees with reporters. this is hubert humphrey in a clip fro

it was a speech that lbj, and his paranoia that was a critical speech about him.t talked about son, and his loss of his brother jack and in truth, the end of that speech was the most rousing endorsement of lbj. bobby kennedy was three things. he was a catholic, he, he was a joe kennedy and rose kennedy said sun and the third pillar he stood on was a democrat. he darn well was going to support and although he detested lbj he was going to support him and 64. to quickly do we have microphones out there. two people have questions they would like to ask. maybe we can get microphones. >> do you want to pass this to someone? >> in 1964 mccarthy -- the source came out that robert kennedy was thinking of running for president. i wrote in the letter and i said to enter the campaign, stay out, you're going to divide the antiwar movement. three weeks after he announced he sent me a letter and he said, as you see, i have entered the race or in my letter i said either one of them will go for the convention with enough votes and in the third or fourth that you believe there subm

they were trying to hold together for humphrey as part of lbj's mission. remember, mick said this earlier, lbj was not absolutely supported. didn't let the money go. didn't make the effort to try to give those people a reason to vote for humphrey. so i think if i look back on it, my take is that those were democratic votes. and we haven't talked about african-americans, you know, who are coming into the process. you know, what happens if king lives? does king get more involved at this point? does king say that he is for humphrey? i think he might have. would king have been someone who might have himself launched a third-party effort? i don't know. but i think that would have changed the dynamic markedly. >> what was the african-american voter turnout like in 1968? do you know? >> it was pretty good. i don't know the exact numbers, but this is right in the aftermath. and you get the voting rights act in '65, the civil rights act in '64. so this is kind of a call, a rallying cry for turnout. much more in the north and west than in the south. there's still a

so we talked about the fact that in many ways lbj story is a tragic one. who we are going to let people read your book but as we come to the end of our time, there is a tragic elements it to what jimmy carter had to go through the white house. this too is a man who came into office with tremendous hopes and a moral belief about what america is and could be. and yet this problem, the iranian hostage crisis, so many other things were really were on solvable problems. >> he declared that solving the energy crisis was a moral equivalent of work. he said this early on in his administration and this is where it inside. so he so far down in the polls at this moment because people are so dismayed and angry. they're angry because they believe this is an artificial crisis. they want washington to do something. they want washington to bring the big oil companies to heal. and that is not what jimmy carter tells them. he explains the situation as he sees it and lays out a plan and it doesn't really have political traction. and there's a real tragedy to that. >> yeah an

he has lbj dogs and the daughters and wife and lbj ties. this was everything wrong with america. crude, rude, vulgar. kennedy had all of these reform programs. he didn't know how to do it. in the society anand the societe years i've learned there's intellectual smarts and street smarts and political smarts to underestimate trump which is what the national review and weekly standard is doing today as a huge mistake. that's all i meant by that. and they brought up -- i don't know why i brought up jesus, but a rabbi actually told me this people resent being rescued and reasoned that i they are dependt on somebody else. i also probably due to many interviews. >> what do you think of donald trump? >> first of all committees a breath of fresh air in that he is not intimidated by what is called the political correctness of the communist party line and they keep you in check with that. so to be politically incorrect is to be driven from the society and you can see that reaction among these republicans conservatives like george will. they want to donald trump out of the picture. .. >> >>

now working late one night in the senate offices and then steps lbj in in closes the door a and leads. but he wanted that office. but in his time he laid claim to a lot of real estate at the capitol. >> any involvement with u.s. libraries around the country? >> it is fun working with them to be in the next library of congress to be in baltimore and was down in the reason for that probably was the african-american ince gravitated to the jobs and the railroads it turned out to be a pretty common in musician. in there is the great story running into some opposition >> it to say one more thing in like most other skills that if you read stephen king because the front end of the book that is hilarious almost as funny as another writer that i read all the time. the life and times of the of whiz bang kid growing up ben des moines iowa. been interested in science fiction in then to do that well ben haddad quirky way so he writes a book called kerry and it doesn't do very well that they call him to say we decided to put that into paperback you will get a $10,000 audience. and how to be a writer

we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of lbj. i met lucy johnson who i had never met before. i said, lucy, i was here on the day your dad signed the voting rights act. she said i was, too. i said, really? i said i'm sure nobody knew i was here but i'm positive everybody knew you were here. here's what she told me. she said that her dad said come on, get in the car, i'm going to take you to the capitol, this is something important. and on the way down, he explained to her that everett dirksen was going to be right beside him when he signed the bill. she said, daddy, why would you want to have a republican there for this? he said it is important that the american people understand that this is done on a bipartisan basis and the american people will be much more likely to accept what we're doing if they think both sides are involved in it. that was the story lucy told me on lbj's 100th birthday down at the statuary hall. >> you've talked about your inte internships in the house and senate side. when did this whole interest in politi

growth is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin, texas.analyst for the abc news on matters related to u.s. politics and the presidency. mark has a continues to write four cup -- countless publications. eugene robinson is a columnist and former assistant managing editor of the washington post. he won the 2009 pulitzer prize for his commentary and columns on national politics and the election of president barack obama. earlier he covered the trials of publishing heiress patty hearst for the san francisco chronicle and served as a foreign correspondent in buenos aires, argentina and london. please join me and welcoming our palace and moderator for president and poverty, the fight that never ends. [applause] >> thank you so much and good morning, everybody. it is great to be here. thanks for turning out. povertypresidents and it really gives the fight that seems never to end. to pick the starting point. i thought we would begin, mark sent you are the director of the obg library to let's begin with lbj. certainly in my lifetime, i most associat

our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin. he's an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics in the presidency. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a very special evening. please welcome our panelists. [applause] mark: it is a pleasure to moderate this panel. we will start with presidential icons like washington and jefferson and lincoln. that is well trodden territory for biographies. for george washington alone, there are 900 biographies. i will ask each of you, when you are tackling a mammoth subject like a george washington or thomas jefferson or an andrew jackson, where do you start? jon: i was misinformed. i didn't know there were other books. i have two tests. one is, do i feel there is a place in the scholarly and popular conversation for argument about that person. it is wonderful that we are here with ron because one of the interesting things about jefferson is that he surrounded jefferson both from hamilton's and washington's perspective. our friends david mccullough had done john adams. j

if you look at policies starting from lbj it's been a total disaster.t's created a vicious cycle that has kept people in poverty. that have kept people from jobs. >> what does he do. >> first of all he would create law and order. he has been vocal advocate for that you have to have law and order. you can't have cities and towns run by gangs and thugs and people afraid to ultimately prosecute them. i think you need law and order. then you have to focus on education. making sure those people get the same chances at an education, not a an education system that's ruled from dc that can't understand the inner workings of those cities that haven't been in the cities. you have to give people an education so they can get out of that cycle. it's not an easy task. it's something that he is going to do. the policies that the democrats have given him. look at where you are today if you live in those communities. you are never better off than you were two decades ago yet alone eight days ago. you are worse off. it's to make sure have the same opportunity you and i w

>> guest: his book about lbj and the history of this oddity. >> host: this is lbj sold hideaway officewe are in. >> guest: he has so many offices in the capital. who thought this was a little ways from here and if this is part of the legacy, he would walk through at night. paul douglas can then view a secondary work douglas kennedy was that dinner worked for as a kid, phd in economics come in economics commits every probe the pro-progressive can exactly the politician that lbj hated. douglas is chairman of the joint economic committee. lbj gave it to him because he couldn't cause any trouble. he worked late one night in one of the side offices over here. the door opened without an announcement. he looks around the office, closes the door in the us. the next day douglas gives notice. you've been a big hit. it is time i think he made claim to a lot of real estate in the capital. >> host: as a u.s. senator, do you have any involvement with libraries in illinois for u.s. libraries around the country? >> guest: idea. i'm working with them and with them in their with them and there is a fun

those people you could argue that the fourth person on his hate list was a great tragedy and that was lbj. one was a harvard it to -- harvard-educated rich and in massachusetts that grew up or and resented anybody who was harvard-educated and with that coalition they could've gotten more extraordinarily things done. and now across purposes is a huge tragedy. tuesday end vietnam but bobby would track things and with an anti-war speech it would seem like every day he increase the of bombing. >> one of the things the. >> tell them how many times you have read the book ; the layperson america there read the book twice. [laughter] pdf. >> his wife read that five times. >> but what lyndon johnson did for was to put bobby in charge. and he had bobby to blame. that is exactly the purpose that you said. and nobody better but jack kennedy filed that bill. but the only one of his advisers if you file a civil rights bill 51 to win reelection 64 imagine it is one who bobby kennedy was. essentially that was a different generation. and then to be listed in the navy. that is what kennedy ended up with. a

the members of the pulitzer prize board as well as representatives from 41's library and i forgot lbj's number. [ laughter ] looking forward to the performances that will take place here in a little bit and as a history buff i'm thrilled that annette gordon reid, ron chernow and jon meacham are here to be interviewed. [ applause ] at any rate, in order to get my book reconsidered -- [ laughter ] i thought i would share an anecdote with you. so i was tasked to -- it didn't require much tasks iing, by the way, to talk about vladimir putin about the necessities to have a free press in order for this society to be a wholesome and vibrant society. he adjust suspended the independent press. and informs slovakia. i couldn't identify it during the debates. [ laughter ] so i said vladimir, really important that if you want to join those of us who realize the benefits of a free society that you have a vibrant press and he looked at me and said "you're a hypocrite, you fired the famous news man z." that kind of took me a i back and i said "what the hell are you talking about, man?" he said "you kn

mccain was not a landslide, ala lbj in 1964, or ronald reagan, 1984. but obama beat mccain pretty soundly. much worse than people expected heading into that election. election night 2008 was on november 4th. and then 2 1/2 months later, the end of january, 2009, it was time for george w. bush to leave office. it was time for barack obama to be sworn in as the next president of the united states. and you know what barack obama did on the last night before he became president, the last night before his inauguration in 2009? he spent that final night before his inauguration at a black tie celebratory dinner honoring john mccain. >> thank you. thank you very much. please, everybody, thank you. first of all, everybody looks fabulous. i am here tonight to say a few words about an american hero that i've come to know very well. and admire very much. senator john mccain. [ cheers and applause ] and then, according to the rules agreed to by both parties, john will have approximately 30 seconds to make a rebuttal. >> that night before his inauguration, the night

lbj washearing that sending people to research it, and they could just never find some way to get it through. so, he never actually tried to do it. >> two quick things. first, the earned income tax credit has been a bipartisan policy move. i think we can learn things, germany, france. there are 28 million jobs in the united states, which require a one-year occupational certificate or a two-year community college degree. when you look at college tuitions and all the prices around affordability, i think a robust career in technical education would help a lot of people. they would have to get skilled enough to do these jobs. it would be a fabulous idea that we could import from europe. kentuckya reporter in near the end of the clinton administration. one thing that toward out that stood out to me was his tour -- that stood out to me was his tour around the nation about poverty. he spoke about how we have not forgotten you. native american reservations, where the unemployment rates were 50%-60%. i want to ask you two things. culprit --he bully the bully pulpit useful? it did not really l

lbj wanted to get him to chair a national crime commission. in any event, he begged off of that, but he pointed out to lbj, he said, have you looked at the schedule of your convention in atlantic city? he was meeting with marvin watson, who was the president's top aide, chief of staff in effect. anyway, there was a day set aside as a tribute to president kennedy, and it was up front. and dewey pointed out that, you know, if this happens jackie will be there, rose and bobby and teddy and the whole family and people will cry and there will be this enormous emotional -- and before you know it, bobby kennedy will be your running mate whether you like it or not. and the story is the president got on the phone and called marvin watson and said move kennedy day from day one to day four. the result is that hubert humphrey became the running mate instead. humphrey was in dewey's debt until the day he died. >> and they were social friends. >> they were social friends. >> they were both friends of dwayne andrews'. and they spent parts of winters together

the absence of big names like lbj hasn't stopped this team from winning games or from grabbing peoples' attention. >>reporter:soaring slams and pinpoint accuracy from behind the arc has made it seem for the elite u.s. men's that gold has never been a question. >> really the only competitor that the u.s. faces is itself. complacency is going to be the main issue they face. >>reporter: for a team that's gotten used to gold, the hardware isn't necessarily the prize. >> the bond that we'll have for a lifetime of us winning gold in olympics will be a lot more special to me than just the actual gold medal. >>reporter: only three games into this two-week long tournament, the 12 super stars closer. >> this is the tightest team i have ever been on. i feel as though everybody here relates to one another and we respect each other. >>reporter: basketball brought them to rio, but they are making the most of their time off the court. >> we out here. we out here. >> having a lot of fun, something always fun to see. crossed that off my bucket list. >>reporter: they are cheering on their come patriots

about fdr, the spirit was perverted by the time it got to lbj. he started his war on poverty, which incentivized not working and the disintegration of the low income family. fortunately, bill clinton did come around and worked with the republican congress. i think what we're hearing from his wife is because of bernie. i think bernie is pushing her to the left. >> let's discuss that for a second. mike, do you think it is possible that she might moderate her views somewhat when she becomes president, like her husband? >> i don't know about that, david. what i know is to pay for this pandering that hillary is doing, she has to -- she's put out a tax plan. according to the national policy center it's going to cost taxpayers between $400 billion and $500 billion. to put it in perspective, those tax increases are bigger than the entire economy of israel, norway or hong kong. >> wow. by the way, i sawhen she become president, but if. the fact is, she has gone in contradiction to what her husband said at least later on in his term. we always remember thi

, the tonkin gulf incident in vietnam in the summer of '64, there was a resolution in congress that lbjit was passed. and humphrey signed on to that. he wasn't yet vice president. as did gene mccarthy and others. then the convention came later in the summer, and humphrey became vice president. and, you know, he -- so he walked into the beginning of johnson's involvement with the war. campaigned all during the fall, and they never really talked about vietnam in the campaign. the campaign was about barry goldwater being trigger happy and humphrey and johnson were the peace candidates and goldwater was the war candidate basically. and so, vietnam really wasn't talked about. they were talking more about nuclear -- >> in '64. >> in '64, yeah. they were talking more about, you know, nuclear annihilation than nuclear war. and so they won by a landslide. 44 of 50 states. so in the spring, when -- in the early part of the year when they were in office, there was another incident in pleiku in vietnam. and johnson called a cabinet -- sort of an ad hoc cabinet and adviser meeting and already decide

i forgot lbj's number. anyway, looking forward to the performances that will take place here in a little bit and as a history buff, i'm thrilled that annette gordon reed, ron chernow and jon meacham are here to be interviewed. at any rate, in order to get my book reconsidered, i thought i would share an anecdote with you. so i was tasked to -- it didn't require much tasking, by the way, to talk to vladimir putin about the necessities to have a free press in order for the society to be a wholesome and vibrant society. he had just suspended the independent press, and this was in slovakia. i couldn't identify it during the debates. anyway -- [ laughter ] -- so, i said, vladimir, really important that if you want to join those of us who realize the benefits of a free society that you have a vibrant press. and he looked at me and said, you're a hypocrite. you fired the famous news man. kind of took me back. and i said, what the hell you talking about, man? he said, you know what i'm talking about. you fired the

lbj wanted to get him to chair a national crime commission. in any event, he begged off of that, but he pointed out to lbj, he said, have you looked at the schedule of your convention in atlantic city? he was meeting with marvin watson who was the president's top aide, chief of staff in effect. anyway, there was a day set aside as a tribute to president kennedy, and it was up front. and dewey pointed out that, you know, if this happens, jackie will be there, rose and bob and teddy and the whole family and people will cry and there will be this enormous emotional -- and before you know it, bobby kennedy will be your running mate whether you like it or not. the story is the president got on the phone and caused marvin watson and said move kennedy day from day one to day four. the result is that hubert humphrey became the running mate instead. humphrey was in dewey's debt until the day he died. >> and they were social friends. both friends of dwayne andrews, and they spent parts of winters together. i even went to the races with the humphreys and

the other two are going to be at the lbj library september 22 and september 23, dealing with national security, and then on october 18 at the george w bush -- george h.w. bush library. a national security crisis. in all, our theme of the importance of bipartisanship in transition. staff going to chief of who know the beginnings and ends of administrations, mack mclarty, he came in at the beginning of the clinton administration as chief of staff and josh bolten was at the end of the bush administration. his chief of staff. and aber 11 attacks, transition out of office

. - so, but i wish that he had a little more lbj in him. - he doesn't have, what did jonathon alter say, he doesn't have the schmooze gene. - no he doesn't. - and he doesn't really look to use his powers of the office or persuasion to necessarily get up in people's grills. - exactly. and many of the people who love him the most have advised him to use the perks of the office to seduce, which every president, it's a big thing you go in that oval office. it's a big thing. - sure. - when the president, when they call and say you're invited to dinner. - regardless of what party you are, if the other guy's at another party you still go, well the president called. - look i've known people who couldn't stand the president until they played golf with him and then they go man that's a brilliant guy. - turns out. so very quickly, let me ask you to pivot and then i want to come back to the film. so we have an election coming up. let's assume that the trend line is going to continue and that the african american community will more likely land d than r. we still have an open election. we haven't de

. >> what was lbj's role in the passage of the 1965 act in comparison to his vigorous role in the civil rights act, in the voting rights act? prof. chin: i think he he supported it, he signed it in a ceremony at liberty island in the shadow of the statue of liberty in october of 1965. i do think this was an act that was more action. it was happening more in congress than it was dictated by the administration. >> a strategic question. i agree with the thrust of your talk, but did anyone ever say at the time, if you do not see this law as changing anything in reality, then why is it so important to pass it? prof. chin: it is completely clear that there were geopolitical considerations, as well. 1965, of course, is a war year, as 1952 and 1943 were, and there was a lot of discussion about how the remnants of the national origins quota system, particularly as they applied to the third world, were used by communist propagandists. and so, it is completely clear that geopolitics was a driver of the bill, as well as domestic politics, and as principles of fairness and equality. but, but, there

enthusiastic support from congress the supreme court and the labor department her name was considered by lbj himself. isn't clear what if any role her affair played in the decision but she faced other hurdles one male warehouse staffer criticized her fashion for the appearance and flamboyance and another said her age of 58 would preclude her from consideration by 1968 she was passed over for 15 judicial vacancies all by minnesota seven were older than she was. the silver lining for her not to get the judgeship that she remained at the labor department promoted in 1963 to associate solicitor for trial litigation and appeals in developed the strategy some personally argue the first appeals under the equal pay act and the age discrimination and employment act. by the time she retired 1972 she oversaw the filing of 300 equal pay lawsuits in 40 states openly recovering nearly $4 million over 18,000 employees earning the title of the nation's number one fighter for equal pay for women. >> this is harder than a power .1 such battle was the most significant appellate victory that one likened to a se

you have lbj versus gold water. and the other candidate very unpop lafrl i don't see hillary clinton opening up a luge here. it might not matter. the electoral vote is all that matters. it might not matter. the electoral vote is all that matters. >> take a look at this. trump needs 270, the new manager was here and she saidett do you have 270 laurel votes in your let. >> >> not a lot it is in this. >> i should not have interrupted. as her high point is 270 to 284, that is a squeaker already. according to our battle ground map calculations, hillary clinton leads with 288 votes herself. trump is at 174. let me ask you. maybe this is nirvana. something where the country has delivered a mandate. it is their that candidate once elected candidate and sworn in, will be given having won a mandate. they'll pass legislation to support the mancase. so the vote letters feel like they got something done. any hope for that? a governing election comfortable we get one in. >> i think turning over the house is still very improbable

enthusiastic support from congress, the supreme court in the labor department bessie's name was considered by lbj himself. is not clear what if any role bessie's affair with fly played into the decision, but she faced other hurdles. one male white house staffer criticized her fashion forward appearance as flamboyant and another opined that her age, 58, would tend to preclude her from consideration. by 1968, bessie had been passed over for 15 federal judicial vacancies are filled by men, seven older than she was. silver lining for bessie not getting the judgeship is that she remained at the labor department, promoted in 1963, to assist-- associate solicitor for trial but occasion, betsy developed a strategy and personally argued the first appeal under the equal pay act and the age discrimination in employment act. by the time she retired in 1972, bessie oversaw the filing of 300 equal pay act lawsuits in 40 states, ultimately recovery nearly $4 million for nearly 18000 employees and earning the title of the nation's number one fighter for equal pay for women. this is harder than a powerpoint. when