bush chief rwyer about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief iwyer about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief nwyer about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief yer i about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief er in about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief r int about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief intat the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief intalks about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief ntalks about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief talks about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief talks about >> good afternoon. . good afternoon. my name is bob mcgee. i serve on the board of directors of the white house historic cal association. as you continue to enjoy your lunch i want to introduce our program for today. you may have heard that we were planning on having our wonderful friend of the white house historical association, renown historian dr. william seal with us for this lunch session but he's been unable to join us. we, however, have a terrific plan b for yo

lbj with woody harolson playing lbj with pretty poor prosthetics. and the small screen for an hbo production who did a wonderful job. the story of selma which included lbj. the first two i think were pretty good. and they help us to your point jeff about hamilton shedding new light on the constitution. bringing new interest to your constitution that certainly, those productions did that for lbj. and we had woody and bryan come to the library to study the role. they were very -- i was really impressed with how much they immersed themselves into trying to understand lbj. i marveled at how curious they were. they wanted to know everything facet of this very complicated personality. i will tell you that, i had a problem personally with selma because it told the story about lbj's involvement in civil rights in the wrong way. it showed him as an obstructionist on civil rights. >> that's not true. >> in politico they contended this version. it's funny the new cycle today is 24 hours on a good day. it's become even less in the trump era. but that story seem

and let's start by diving into lbj. mark, your leadership with the lbj foundation. monday would have been the 110th birthday of president johnson. and so there was a commemoration of sorts, or at least a noting of that occasion. and johnson was larger than life as president. larger than life post-presidency, and what would he think of his legacy as we see him today? >> well, first of all, stewart, to you and anita, congratulations on this conference. [ applause ] i know how much work they have put into this, and it has clearly paid off. because it's been a rousing success. so congratulations to both of you. >> thanks. >> and thanks to all of you for

a film by rob reiner called lbj, with woody harrelson playing lbj, with very poor prosthetics. fantastic job. bryan cranston took robert schenn kins' play all the way to the small screen for an hbo production. and did a marvelous job. and ava duevarney did this story of selma which included lbj. the first two were pretty good, and they helped us. to your point, jeff, about hamilton shedding new light on the constitution, bringing new interest to your institution, those productions did that for lbj. and we have woody and brian come the library to study the role, and they were very -- i was really impressed with how much they immersed themselves into trying to understand lbj. i marvelled at how curious they were. they wanted to know every facet of this very complicated personality. i will tell you that i had a problem personally with "selma," because it told the story about lbj's involvement in civil rights in the wrong way. it showed him as an obstructionist on civil rights. in politico, they contested this version of events. it's funny. the news cycle today is 24 hours on a goo

and let's start by diving into lbj. mark, your leadership with the lbj foundation. monday would have been the 110th birthday of president johnson. and so there was a commemoration of sorts, or at least a noting of that occasion. and johnson was larger than life as president. larger than life post-presidency, and what would he think of his legacy as we see him today? >> well, first of all, stewart, to you and anita, congratulations on this conference. [ applause ] i know how much work they have put into this, and it has clearly paid off. because it's been a rousing success. so congratulations to both of you. >> thanks. >> and thanks to all of you for what you do. i mentioned it yesterday to the group that convened around lunch, but, i'm not only an historian, i'm a patron of your establishments. and i appreciate so much, not only what you do, but the passion that you put into what you do. so, so thanks so much for preserving and perpetuating the history of this great country. stewart, to answer your question, i told a story yesterday that i'll repeat, but lbj, when h

lbj drops out on march 31st and then dr. king is assassinated on april 4th, all within a four- week period. >>it's hard to comprehend, i think, for people now to be able to see what was compacted into in essence a month's time. to think that country seemed to be coming apart, sort of a personal anecdote, my dad who was a life long democrat began saying, i'm really fearful for the country now. i'm fearful about what's happening in the streets. and he voted for nixon in 1968 because he thought he was the law and order man. he was the man who would bray law and order back to our streets and bring our country together, interestingly enough. and the other thing about vietnam, we talked about the tet offensive, the united states won the tet offensive but it was the offensive of the north and the viet cong in the south and to see that movement into the south of the north vietnamese regulars and the viet cong was so fear some to the american people and to see that in their living rooms and we want to talk about the role of the media

people forget bobby kennedy was ruthless on lbj in the two weeks before lbj resigned. he accused johnson of appealing to the darker impulses of the american spirit. i've got a memo i sent to nixon, i said, this is astounding how ruthless he is on the president, because we assumed the president is going to stay in. of course mr. nixon said, keep gathering that, we've got better quotes than that. i think nixon believed more than i did that we might wind up with robert kennedy as the candidate and you would have another kennedy run. again, as i said, i always thought that humphrey was the candidate who had great depth inside the left wing of the democratic party from that '48 convention, he was mr. civil rights. he had put the civil rights act on the floor of the u.s. senate and run it through for lbj. he had labor. he could bring together the anti-war groups, as eventually he did, along with the center of the democratic party. wallace groups in the south, the deep south, was gone. >> robert from frostberg, maryland, go ahead, please. >> good morning, mr. buchanan and lad

a film by rob reiner called " "lbj "lbj." they did a marvelous job. ava did this story of selma which included lbj. the first two were pretty good. they help us. we had woody and bryan come to the library and study the role. i was really impressed with how much they immerse themselves into trying to understand lbj. i marvel at how curious they were. they want to know every facet. it showed him as an obstructionist. >> which was not true. that story seem to continue on and on as a run up to the oscars. we had entertainment tonight calling the library. like don't you have a kardashian to chase. it became a big story. that launched a debate about the responsibility the film maker has in capturing the reality of the subject in telling it accurate story. lbj is to my kids what calvin coolidge would have been to me. that's a long time to go back. >> a modern president has been treated more frequently in movies than john k. kennedy. with the volume of material does the library and foundation respond or does it have any extra traction for you when he's a subj

a lot of people suspected over lbj wanted to prevent's nixon election. october, in effect he announced a peace initiative hubert humphrey is catching up day by day. the main people in the democratic camp who thought the nation would be enough at the end to put them over the finish line. and the nixonsay people will dispute this to this not seem tois was be an interest of richard nixon. but -- you lived in washington was the widow of claire -- come a hero of the second more than someone who was well-connected in vietnam. emissary some kind of conveying messages back and forth between the nixon camp and president hugh, the upside of which was just as lbj trying to build momentum. word comes out of the government unofficially that they have not signed on to this plan. throwing cool water and making it look more cravenly political. again, the debate goes on. mrs. chennault always denied it. the evidence seems to be strong. host: our guest is an author, a presidential historian. at can find more of his work his website. guest: we do a couple doors. towardsed

let's start by diving into lbj. mark your leadership with the lbj foundation -- monday would've been the hundred 10th birthday of president johnson. there's a commemoration of sorts or a noting of that occasion. johnson was larger than life as president. larger than life post- presidency. what would he think of his legacy as we see him today? >> to you and anita congratulations on this conference. [ applause ] i know how much work they have put into this and it has clearly paid off. congratulations to both of you. thanks to all of you for what you do. i mentioned yesterday i'm not only a historian but also a patron. i appreciate not only what you do but the passion that you put into what you do. thank you for preserving and perpetuating the history of this great country. i told a story yesterday that i will repeat. lbj when he was a senator was campaigning for reelection and he convened his speech writers around a part of the speech that he wanted to take it up. he starts reading the draft and becomes across the pas

senate and run it through for lbj. he had labor, he could bring together the anti-war groups, as eventually he did, along with the center of the democratic part party. >> robert from frostburg, maryland, go ahead, please. >> good morning, mr. buchanan, and the lady, as well as you, mr. scully. i'm a vietnam veteran. and i don't think mr. nixon gets the credit he deserves, even though i voted most of the time with democrats, i think nixon was a very good president. but what oversthad dhadowed his goodness as a president was the vietnam war, watergate, and his personality complexes. but some of the decisions he made with civil rights and other issues, epa and nixon was a very good president. just those three things ov overshadowed his presidency. >> thank you for the call. barbara perry? >> well, we now look back at nixon and nixon, i think, thought of himself in many ways as sort of a moderate republican. and he was viewed in those days, in 1968 as a moderate republican. he could be viewed in the center, between someone

in vietnam, we tend to remember lbj in that way.e was a person who did so many other things as well, advance civil rights in a way that no president had done since abraham lincoln, advance nuclear nonproliferation treaty. those were major accomplishments that changed our world. >> charlie is joining us from new york. good morning. go ahead, please. >> caller: yes, good morning. in late 1970s, i was assigned to the second army calvary regimen and our mission was to guard the border between east/west germany and czechoslovakia. a couple of hundred feet into czechoslovakia was an apple tree i was there, picking apples, walking back to our lines. i heard movement behind me. it was an eight-man czech army patrol. all they did was smiled and waved. in the morning, we would give them hot coffee. they would give us hot soup. we got along very well with the soldiers of the czech army. >> yeah, one of the results of the invasion of czechoslovakia is that the army, which had been capable at that time, was not allowed to resist. that led to wid

i love this quote that he stressed about lbj. had never in his entire life learned to confess error. this quality merely amusing or exasperating in a private person resulted in a cosmic tragedy for the president. he thought lbj had no alternative, defeating more and more draftees into the meat grinder of vietnam. that is your final thought to ponder. let's just say, what does this tell us about the turmoil of america? and the role of vietnam? thank you. >> you have been watching lectures in history, a weekly series on american history tv saturday night at eight and midnight on eastern here on c- span3. you can also find them on c- span.org's video library and they are available as a podcast. lectures in history on the vietnam war will continue in a moment with a course on u.s. policy in vietnam between 1955- 1975 go it is followed by a class on the operation rolling thunder air campaign of the vietnam war. these are from our lectures in history series normally seen only on the weekends here on c- span3. we are extending our cover

my new book called "lbj's 1968 power/politics and the year of upheaval." this picture alone represents, i think, to a large degree, what we see in the year. and i wish we would have done a little better job with this because at the bottom is a tape recorder. and what president johnson is doing in this picture is listening to his son-in-law chuck robb tell him about what is going on in vietnam. his son-in-law is a lieutenant in the marine corps leading a group of men. and he's talking about some of the men that he's lost. so you can see from the devastation this is causing the president. but i think there's another interesting element to the picture itself. and that is in the background is john kennedy. the bust of john kennedy. i think there's a certain irony there. the man that always was seen as sort of overlooking lbj and also who, as we've done in our studies and learned, was a precursor and really left johnson very little room to operate as a result of his involvement in vietnam. but let's start with the lead-in. we're going to talk about 1968 but to

my new book called "lbj's 1968 power/politics and the year of upheaval." this picture alone represents, i think, to a large degree, what we see in the year. and i wish we would have done a little better job with this because at the bottom is a tape recorder. and what president johnson is doing in this picture is listening to his son-in-law chuck robb tell him about what is going on in vietnam. his son-in-law is a lieutenant in the marine corps leading a group of men. and he's talking about some of the men that he's lost. so you can see from the devastation this is causing the president. but i think there's another interesting element to the picture itself. and that is in the background is john kennedy. the bust of john kennedy. i think there's a certain irony there. the man that always was seen as sort of overlooking lbj and also who, as we've done in our studies and learned, was a precursor and really left johnson very little room to operate as a result of his involvement in vietnam. but let's start with the lead-in. we're going to talk about 1968 but to

i love this quote about lbj, "had never in his entire life learned to confess error." and this quality merely amusing in a private person, resulted in a cosmic tragedy for the president. he thought lbj believed "he had no alternative, to feed more and more draftees into the vietnam meat grinder." that's your final thought to sort of ponder. what does this say about presidential leadership? what does it tell us about the turmoil of america and the role of vietnam. thank you.

bush chief rwyer about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief iwyer about the lbj foundation and formerly laura bush chief nwyer about the lbj foundation and rm

lbj is the person who is sending people there. we were actually the sleeping giants who came forth on primary day and then again in november and were so selective in what they did and made sure that richard nixon became our next president. you know, i was up in my attic, and i'm not supposed to go up over the stairs, but i did go up in the attic because new hampshire has an archive here in concord. i have one in my attic, and in one of the old bureaus up there in the bottom drawer was my husband's collection of what he did pre-marital, and he was chairman of clyde keith's election committee. clyde keith was up in dover, mayor of dover. he was running for governor and a few other things, and john kay was one of his coordinators. well, my kids don't even know where those papers are, but they are in that chest. but over on the other side of the attic are all these political signs and worn-out political buttons of all the elections. but the most prized possession is a little paper bag that richard nixon handed to me, and there were al

eastern, lbj foundation president, former chief of staff laura bush, and white house historical associationresident on presidential legacy. the white house historical associations presidential sites summit. live coverage wednesday on c-span3. next, a senate subcommittee looks at the impact of harmful algae blooms in u.s. water systems. they focus on alaska, the great lakes and the florida coast. >> this hearing runs a little over an hour. senators sullivan: welcome. today is an important oversight hearing we are having on habs in our ecosystem. they are complex and damaging and every state in our country now experiences and a jv,

lbj as the war criminal, lbj is the personal responsible for vietnam. he is the person sending people there. and vietnam gradually starts to take over everything else that johnson is trying to do. it starts taking over fiscally, because it is, it is just eating up a giant chunk of the budget, so you also can't have the anti, generous anti poverty programs, and have the big spend of an increasingly expensive war. and it is eroding political support. >> from are other people protesting for peace, or just sitting in their living room watching it unfold, and wondering what is going on. that somehow things are going wrong. the scope of scale of the war, and the sneak attacks, surprise attacks, something where the u.s. backed troops eventually prevailed, but something that goes against what the leaders in washington have been telling the american public about how the war is going. it's showing a very different water than what the, what leaders in washington are saying, everything's going fine, we're working towards peace, de-escalating, north vietnam is weak,

lbj is the person who is sending people there. and vietnam gradually starts to take over everything else that johnson is trying to do. it starts taking over fiscally, because it is, it is just eating up a giant chunk of the budget so you can't also have the generous anti-poverty programs and welfare programs of the great society and have the big spend of an increasingly expensive war. and it also is eroding political support. and so by the time you come into 1968, it isn't just the kids out on the streets, there are other people protesting for peace. there are other people who are either out on the street or they're just sitting in their living room watching tet offensive unfold on the television and wondering what the heck is going on. that somehow things are going wrong. the scope and scale of the war and the, the sneak attacks, surprise attacks of the tet offensive, the u.s.-backed troops eventually prevail, but it is something that goes against what the leaders in wads -- washington have been it willing the american public abo

the 1964, 1965, 1966 period, where lbj was able to get a lot of things passed, a progressive area of teddy roosevelt, those were times where big changes were happening. we had an opportunity in 2009 , but we blew it. because we blew it our base got , cynical and did not turn out and swing voters also felt like , well, they are not doing , anything for me. i think that is how we broke the coalition in the first place. host: so why is it time to have that moment now? what is in place now? guest: what is in place now is trump, mcconnell, and the house republicans. it is the most right wing period of government in american history, and they have gone so far to the extreme. and i think we have an opportunity now to lay out a bold agenda that is really focused on working-class folks, all kinds of working-class folks. i talk in my book about how there is a lot more that unites people, a lot more that unites the democratic base and swing voters, then there is that divides them. host: the book is "how to democrat in the age of trump." if you want to join the --versation this morning. morning,

leadership in turbulent times picked up for the guys i knew before, lincoln, teddy, frank roosevelt and lbj domestically look at them through the lens of leadership. hopefully it can be a roadmap for young leaders come established leaders in moments of great turbulence was able to achieve. >> when did you start working on the book? >> five years ago. took even longer than i thought it would. i thought i knew my guys, but somehow i felt like i was seen in the newest them them as young leaders and find out where their mission came from, whether they recognize themselves in leaders and the big question is the man for the times or the times that the man. these guys were fitted for the moment in history. i hadn't thought about all this stuff before so was like eating college again. postcode to talk about them as your guys. >> guest: i feel like i've been with them for so many years. 50 years have been studying these presidents are no longer alive. i hope there'll be a panel of them all in the afterlife. but it wouldn't change it for anything in the world. i just hadn't thought about those kinds

and lbj goes ahead and sets in motion the plans for a bombing halt, a plan for these talks. he thinks he has saigon on board and things are looking pretty good in october of 1968, that there might actually be some promising developments in the war in vietnam, but nixon sees this all through his own lens, and the tragedy of this is that he directs his aides secretly through this woman, ana chinault, to tell the south vietnamese to resist. if they drag their heels they'll get a better deal, help nixon get located because he'll be much more of a hawk than hubert humphrey. they drag their feet in saigon. lbj gets furious, taps phones, sends the fbi out to tail people, and now you come to the sort of first big difference between what a hisser does and biographer does. what i found in the library were notes from bob halderman, nixon specifics him to keep anna chinault working on the vietnamese. for a biographer, believe it or not, that was pretty much as much as i kneaded to know. that was a glimpse into nixon's character. how far was he willing to go? the historian has to answer

affairs at the university of tex in austin where he is a professor in the history department and the lbj school. he is the author and editor of nine books including a biography of henry kissinger, and most recently the impossible presidency the rise and fall of america's highest office. in the last year he received the president's excellence award for teaching at the university of texas, and the probene meritous award for contributions to the literally arts. they are in the only outstanding writers but brilliant teachers as well. a star studded crowd. make a few comments about grant, and then we will go from there. joan? >> good morning. i thank will hitchcock for inviting me to be on this panel, and i very much appreciate the opportunity to discuss the baio graphical craft in general and also in regard to my own experience with u.s. grant. first, the biography, just a little bit about that, and how it plays out in academia. ravel waldo emerson says "there is properly no history, only biography" now just because he said something doesn't mean we have to believe it. but among academics, t

lbj goes ahead, he sets in motion the plans for the talks. he thinks he has saigon on board and things are looking pretty good in october 1968 that there might actually be some promising developments in the war on vietnam. mix in sees it through his own lens. he directs his aides secretly through this woman to tell the south vietnamese to resist because if they drag their heels they will get a better deal if they help nixon get elected. they do so. they drag their feet and saigon. lbj gets furious. he taps phone -- phones and he sends the fbi to tell people. we come to the first big difference between what is his story and done -- does and a biographer. nixon specifically directs him to keep them working on the vietnamese. that was pretty much as much i needed to know. that was a glimpse into his character. how far was he willing to? historian needs to answer question that is unanswered. there is a lot of things we don't know about the story . most important is we don't know what the effect was president -- the presidents government. in saigo

. >> another film in just a moment from the lbj library as the johnson white house chronicled his five and a half years in the white house, we're going to see president dwight eisenhower. he left in january of 1961. did he have influence in american policy in the 1960s as a former president? >> eisenhower, you know, yes and no. i think that eisenhower we so remember and i think some of our viewers have indicated the military industrial complex, when he left office one of the things he did was to warn against the creation of military industrial complex. so i think those words echo throughout this period of time. he was seen as kind of a wise statesman in that respect. >> certainly president kennedy consulted with eisenhower during the cuban missile crises. on the other hand kennedy had run against the then vice president under eisenhower, richard nixon, and was harshly critical of the eisenhower administration including unfounded allegations of a missile gaffe. it was i wouldn't say a very warm relationship between kennedy and eisenhower, and that continued under johnson. there were alw

lbj hears about it. he gets furious. he taps phones, sends the fbi out to tail people. and now you come to sort of the first big difference between what a historian does and what a biographer does. what i found in the library were notes from bob halderman of notes of a conversation with nixon with specifics on how to keep chenault working on the vietnamese. for a biographer, that was pretty much all i needed to know. that was glimpse into nixon's character. how far was he willing to go. for a historian, a historian has to answer the question which is still unanswered. if there are young historians in the audience who want to write a good book, there are still things we don't know about the bombing halt and the chenault story. the most important we don't know what the effect was to president's agenda. in saigon there were all sorts of conflicting domestic opinions about whether they should join these talks. was the nixon message a tipping point? was it totally irrelevant to domestic political concerns? we don't know that, and maybe in the next 20 or 30 years we'll start

ductive talks lbj goes ahead. plans for motion the a bombing halt, a plan for the talks, and he thinks he has saigon on board, and things are looking pretty good in october of 1968, that there might actually be some vomiting development in the war in vietnam, but nixon sees this all through his own lens, and the tragedy of this is that he then directs his aides secretly to tell the south vietnamese to if they drage their heels, they will get a better deal if they help nixon get elected because he will be much more of a half and hubert humphrey will. so they do so. they drag their feet in saigon and lbj hears about it, gets furious. he taps phones, he sends the fbi out to tail people, and you come bigort of the first difference between what a historian does and what a biographer does. what i found in the nexen library were notes -- and the nixon library were notes from bob haldeman of a conversation was nixon specifically direct haldeman to keep working on the vietnamese. believe it or not, that is pretty much what

eastern, lbj foundation president mark updegrove, former chief of staff to laura bush, andy mcbride, and white house historical association president stuart mclaurin on presidential legacy. the white house historical associations presidential sites summit, live coverage tuesday and wednesday on c-span3. >> president trump announced the united states has reached an agreement with mexico on a trade deal to replace nafta. the president made the announcement just before noon in the oval office. president trump: hello, everybody. it's a big day for trade, a big day for a country. we negotiate tough, so it is mexico and this is a tremendous thing. they used to collect nafta, we're going to call it the united states mexico trade agreement and we will get with the name nafta, that has a bad connotation because the united states was hurt very badly by nafta. for many years. but now it's a really good deal for both countries. and we look very much forward to it. and i believe the president is on the phone. henrique? you can hook them up. it's a big thing, a lot of people are waiting. >> hello.

in vietnam, we tend to remember lbj in that way, but here was a person who did so many other thingss well, advanced civil rights more than no president had done since a republican, advanced nuclear nonproliferation treaties, the major compliment a change our world. host: charlie is joining us from new york. go ahead. caller: good morning. in the late 1970's, i was assigned to the second armored cavalry regiment and our mission was regarded the border between east and west germany and czechoslovakia. of hundred feet into czechoslovakia, there was an apple tree and i was there, picking apples, walking back to our lines and i heard movement behind me. man czech army patrol, and they smiled and waved. in the morning, they would give us hot coffee and they would give us hot soup and we got along very well with the -- czrs of the chezh army ech army. guest: the czechoslovakian army which had been very capable of until that time was not allowed to resist and that led to a widespread demoralization in the army and subsequently, there was a major purge in the army as well, because they too h

it goes back to 1960 two the lbj and johnson administration to take that on the agenda and actualized it. that was the concern of doctor king. that was the real motive and the impetus that was given to the poor people's campaign. he had already talked about the insufficient funds. he already said things about, i remember very well of the speech he gave in harlem at the riverside church. this is a year before his assassination pick he stood there and he told them about the war in vietnam. that the absolutely -- absolute waste of the money going to that war. he talked about the evils. in terms of military, racism and poverty. that is with the -- that motivated him to say something needed to be done pick even when he went down to memphis and probably the best discussion you can read about the poor people's campaign and its origins was to read caretta scott kings autobiography pick she recounts the conversation with her husband and she -- he was beginning to think deeply about taking it beyond the concerns about race and begin to put it into a class context. one of the things that we have

>> lbj up to a point. >> yes, and george w. bush, what happened in iraq, that was consequential. [laughter] >> we are going to have to wrap up. thank you both very very much. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv come only on c-span3. americaneekend, cruces,tv includes las new mexico where staff travel to see its historic sites. the city was founded in 1849 and means the crosses in spanish. learn more about las cruces this weekend here on american history tv. >> by the time the americans came out to this part of what would later become the united states, this is already old. even the you. -- european histories are old. >> while in less kisses, we took a ride with new mexico state parks interpreter alex mares. >> thank you so much for showing us. alex: thank you for inviting me. >> you were born and raised here, right? lei am a child

that was right after lbj announced he wasn't going to run. these pictures were all over on the paper. actually, in my whole vietnam experience, i had a lot of close calls, but that was really want. -- but that was an early one. steve: in 1968, 62.5 million americans received a newspaper either in the morning or afternoon. according to pew research --pugh research, that number is down by about 20 million. the most recent number, 2014, just over 40 million. what does that tell you about the press? >> it tells me the world of newspapers was big and alive back then and now, it has been supplanted by television, radio, the internet. it is amazing to me that there are still as many newspapers as there are functioning. we live in a world today that is so completely different from what it was in 1968. in that world, we were closer to events. we depended upon a more limited group of people. that could be argued as a negative because you have the slant of only those people, but at the same time, they were highly experienced, professional reporters. tod

and this goes back to 160s, into the 1960s, the lbj, the johnson administration put that on the agenda. and never really actualized it. and that was a concern of dr. king. that was the real motive and the impetus that was given to the poor people's campaign. he had already talked about that check, the whole insufficient funds. he already said things about, i remember very well the speech he gave in harlem, at riverside church. where he talked. this was a year before his assassination. he stood there and he told them about that war in vietnam. that the absolute waste of the country's resources, and money going to an unwinnable war. he talked about those tripletts, those evils, in terms of militarism, racism, and poverty. is to read coretta scott king's. you read her autobiography. she recounts the conversations she had with her husband. and how he was beginning to think deeply about taking it beyond just the concerns about race in this country. and beginning to put it into a class context and that's one of the things that we in the movement have been talking about for several years now.

boom, that's my money, lbj, what are you doing with my money? he is buying all those busts. right? what happens when you have all these competing interests that the government starts spending a lot more than it takes in. 1967 the rate is 6%, 1969 we are going into a slight recession. 1970s that give in to stagflation. do you know? what does it sound like? >> [indiscernible] >> the economy growing, not necessarily plateauing. >> the unemployment rate is going up. the economy is stagnant. wages are staying the same. inflation is going up. what happens if wages are staying the same and inflation is going up? >> cost of living. >> my buying power, how much i can make, starts to erode. when that happens, what do the public think >> [indiscernible] . >> we need an administration change. >> we need something, somebody to offer solutions and that's why you are going for all these different candidates, but the nation is starting to split. in 1969 that anti-war movement that was relatively small in 1966 and '67 is starting to grow, more marches that will grow over 700,000 participants. oh, i

it was a fantastic performance. >> lbj controlled the convention in order to get humphrey through. but there was still chaos. the delegates in fistfights. the media roughed up. all the chaos outside. the underlying question for me was, how could the delegates not understand that the only way the party could beat dick nixon was to turn against the war? and there is many pages to how politics works in terms of obligations and favors and property. another element of the tragedy was the figure of eugene mccarthy, who was a brilliant man and when -- in many ways. he had great courage to take on johnson at all in the spring of 1958. a man who was infuriatingly diffident. he was on emphatic in speech. he would not rile up the crowd. he would not play the game. he was not a mixer. he seemed like a professor. he wrote poetry and hung out with robert lowell and all the stuff that drove me nuts. i was for bobby. and, mailer wrote those pages of interviewing him, talking to him, and comes out with great respect. for his toughness dick mccarthy said something that now, to me, at least, is heart

the 64, 65, 66, where lbj was able to get a lot of things past , a progressive area of teddy those were times where big changes were happening. we had an opportunity in 2009 but we put. because we put, our base got cynical and did not turn out and swing voters also felt like well, they are not doing anything for me. i think that is how we broke the coalition in the first place. why is it time to have a moment now? guest: what is in place now is trump, mcconnell, and the house republicans. periodhe most right wing in american history and they have gone so far to the extreme. we have an opportunity to lay out a bold agenda really focused on working-class folks, all kinds. my book about how there is a lot more that unites people, a lot more that unites the democratic race and swing voters, then there is that divides them. host: "how to democrat in the age of trump." joinu want to join the -- the conversation, the phones are split as usual -- we're talking with veteran democratic consultant mike lux. i want to show view -- viewers the about the author page. the first sentence of the first t

lbj, what are you doing with my money buying all those busts, right? what happens when you have all these competing interests is the government starts spending a lot more than it takes in. 1967, the inflation rate is 3%. by 1969, it's 6% and growing. 1969 will go into a slight recession. ultimately in the 1970s, that will give way to stagflation. what is stagflation, anybody know? what does it sound like? >> you're not shifting either way. >> okay. >> your economy is growing, not necessarily just plateauing. >> the unemployment rate is going up, the economy is stagnant, wages are staying the same, inflation is going up. and what happens if wages are staying the same and inflation is going up? >> poverty. >> the cost of living. >> my buying power, how much i can make and do with my tweet tucket starts to erode. and the more that happens, what are the people in peoria thinking? >> we need an administration change. we need somebody that is -- >> for the people. we need something. we need somebody to offer some solutions. and that's why you're going for al