and lbj is on the phone this national security advisor. monday and this is at a point where lbj is trying to keep vietnam off the agenda and of the front pages but as well aware major decisions are looming before him few months on the road. >> the more i think and getting into another. [inaudible]. that one can never get out of it. and i believe that the chinese communist come into it and i don't think that we can drive 10000 miles away from home in that area. [inaudible]. and don't think it's worth ripping apart i don't think that we can get out. [inaudible]. it is an awful mess. [inaudible]. what is it for three and what is it worth to this country. [inaudible]. we have a treaty everybody else has a treaty out there. and of course you start and they tissue right into your own kitchen. [inaudible]. and that is trouble the suffer the world if anything comes apart on it, that is the dilemma, that's exactly it. >> when everybody talk to seto my gosh, please and of course i read this morning and this is because it can be. [inaudible]. but thi

access at lbj store.com. >> what is the instrumental purpose of this book?do host: what is the instrumental purpose of this book? what you hope to accomplish or who do you hope to reach? >> i would like to hope the book will accomplish a couple of things. first of all i know realistically it will be read by more conservatives than people who are independent or liberal. i get two things out of it. first of all get arguments they can use in debate they may or may not be having but i'm optimistic in the future we will return to an era where we can have a more robust public discourse of dialogue.

> you will hear a conversation that, you know, just knocks you out and shows you what a human being lbj is and funny he is and, you know, so interesting to be around and then you realize that lbj were around to see this thing published or played in public, he would be horrified and angry. which brings me to the hagar slacks tape when lbj in 1964 describes in two granular detail how he would like his trousers cut. he's talking to the head of hagar slacks. after my first book came out i was talking to mrs. johnson, i said were you happy with the way that the tapes and the book were received? and, you know, she always would tell you what she really thought. and she said, well, i was, but to tell you the truth, i could have lived the rest of my days happily without hearing you play the hagar slacks tape on tv, but, she said, you should know that tape is my grandchildren's favorite. and i have never quite figured out why that was, but about a month later i got a letter from old mr. hagar, who was still alive, offering me a free pair of custom-made hagar slacks. that's an experience i never h

and then you realize that lbj were around to see this thing published or played in public he would bend angry which brings me to the hagar slacks tape when lbj in 1964 describes in two -- two granular detail how he would like his trousers cut. he is talking to the head of hagar slacks. after my first book came out i was talking to mrs. johnson, i said were you happy with the way that the tapes and the book were received? and, you know, she always would tell you what she really thought and she said, well, i was but to tell you the truth i could have lived the rest of my days happily without hearing you play the hagar slacks tape on tv, but, she said, you should know that tape is my grandchildren's favorite and i've never quite figured out why that was but about a month later i got a letter from old mr. hagar was still alive offering me a free pair of custom-made hagar slacks. that's an experience i never had before in this business. >> watch the full program at c-span.org/history. >>> each week american history tvs american artifacts takes viewers behind the scenes at archives, museums

and michael, this is a direct callback, reminding everyone that with the death of jfk, lbj inheritednd cabinet members. he used to call them the harvards. and certainly it can be said that during his youthful years in texas, he never met anyone named mcgeorge until he got to the white house. >> and maybe later on he felt that that was not a bad thing since he and mack bundy did not end up too well, they were on opposite sides. but i understand where david is coming from. and i'm much too polite to note that ignatius himself went to harvard so he knows whereof he speaks. but i think if you try to explain this in terms of the people who were as linden johnson would have said, too smart for their own britches, as you know, brian, that comes from a talk that lbj had with sam rayburn in 1961, and lbj was saying how great all of these people under jfk were, the new president and sam rayburn said yes, they all sound very smart, but i sure wish lyndon, one of them had run for office. well the people that you have mentioned have not run for office. but joe biden has. and joe biden has a natio

, it is about 700 hours of lbj's telephone conversations in nixon, there are nearly 400,000 hours ofcordings, not just of his telephone conversations but he had microphones in the oval office, and the room in camp david and then on telephone, including the most private room in the white house where he like to retire at the end of the day. his favorite actually with the lincoln sitting room. and so the end of the day to call people up and talk to them about the events of the day so you have this entire you know record of nixon talking and sounding off about everything that happened during the day and in addition to that, his chief of staff kept him and audio diary every night. in the memoirs of the former white house aide, practically everybody who played an important role in watergate. hundreds of thousands of documents from the nixon white house. so you end up with the richest repository of information and that you could for any president. because many will never take themselves again, would never be able to get as close and view of what is really going on in the white house as we d

i think with lbj there were about 700 hours of lbj's telephone conversations. with nixon there were nearly 4000 tape recordings not just of his telephone conversations that he had microphones planted in the oval office in the cabinet room at camp david and then on telephone -- telephones including the most private in the white house where he liked to retire at the end of the day and his favorite room in the white house actually was the lincoln sitting room. and at the end of the day he would call people up and talk to them about the events of the day. he had this entire record of nixon and sounding off about everything that happened during the day. in addition to that his chief of staff bob alderman kept an audio diary every night, memoirs of the former white house aide. practically everybody who played an important role in watergate, hundreds of thousands of documents from the nixon white house. so you end up with the richest repository of information that you can imagine for any president in because no president is going ever going to -- we are never going to

i mean, i think with lbj there was about 700 hours of lbj's telephone conversations with nixon there's nearly 400 -- 4000 hours of tape recordings, not just of his telephone conversations, but he had microphones planted in the oval office, the cabinet room, up in camp david, and then on telephones including the most private room in the white house where he liked to retire at the end end of the day, his favorite room in the white house actually was the lincoln sitting room. and at the end of the day he would call people up and talk to them about the events of the day so you have this entire record of nixon talking and sounding off about everything that happened during the day. then in addition to that, his chief of staff bob halderman captain audio diary every night, memoirs of the former house white -- why does it come back to that but who plays an important role in watergate, you know, hundreds of thousands of documents from the nixon white house. so you end up with the richest repository of information that you can imagine for any president. because no president is ever going to tape

you know, you mentioned at the end of june, lbj hospital had only one patient. my entire system had 11 patients total. right now, 122. it took five weeks to get from that low of 11 to a high of 122 this morning. when i look at the last surge, it took me three months to get from a baseline to a high. so, it's really a rapid rise in the number of covid patients that is very concerning and really the crux of the issue right now. >> so, as you see the pace increase, i know there was a letter sent by congresswoman sheila jackson lee who represents houston there to the governor saying he has to do something to get some federal resources in. talk to me about your personnel that you have and would a fema team, like the medical team that went to springfield when their hospitals filled up, do you need those? >> yes. let me explain. i'm going to give you a couple examples. first of all to your question about my staffing, today harris health system, my hospitals, we are over 250 nurses short. they're not all critical area emergency room intensive care units operating room n

. >> for the reason of thinking of you this week is the top of lbj comparisons and parallels.nd your intense concentration as an author and historian on president johnson. in fact, there was something written in the post yesterday by david ignatius that i wanted to read and get your take on. he writes it this way. the reversals in afghanistan are confounding for a biden national security team that has rarely known personal failure. jake sullivan, the national security adviser, went to yale, oxford and yellow school. antony blinken, secretary of state, attended harvard and columbia law. columbia law and michael this is a direct call back. reminding everyone that with the death of jfk, lbj inherited all those advisers and cabinet members. he used to call them the harvard's. and certainly can be said -- >> right. >> it can be said during his youthful years in texas, he never met anyone named mcgeorge until he got to the white house. >> [laughs] and lady later on maybe felt that that was not a bad thing. met bundy and he were on opposite sides. i understand where david is coming f

i don't think lbj ever had good options. get out as soon as possible when he took office but he also thought he had an enormous amount approving could not do that. with the american foreign-policy is quite a few periods of history and then to serve t domestic political influencef and in the president of the day. but i don't think lbj had utterly good options that is the worst options to escalate. host: for the past two hours we have been talking with best-selling author and military historian, former editor-in-chief of the daily telegraph and the evening standard, max hastings there is his website and his latest book, operation pedestal. he is working on a book on the cuban missile crisis. we will look forward to that. thank you for the past two hours on booktv from england. >> thank you for having me and i think representing four years of angst and anxiety many saw this coming from a mile away i think millions of americans felt the same way that in that moment the entire country recognize the fragility of our democracy and

as far as for lbj, i don't think he ever had good options.irst good option was probably to cut his losses and get out as soon as after he took office. he too, he felt he had an enormous amount to proof and didn't feel able to do that. maybe american foreign policy quite a few periods in history is that stuff has been done to serve domestic american political rather than in accordance with the best judgment of the president of the day. that's very often been the case but i don't think lbj ever had any good options in vietnam that probably the worst option is to escalate on the scale that he did. >> for the past 2 hours, we have been talking with best-selling author and military historian, former edtory in chief of the daily telegraph and the evening standard, max hastings. there's his website and his latest book operation pedestal as he noted he's working on a book on the cuban missile cries. crisis. we will look forward ♪ >> weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday american history tv documents america's stories. and on s

with lbj it's about 700 hours of lbj telephonee conversations. with nixon there is nearly 4,000 tape recordings not just of the telephone conversations but he had microphones planted in the oval office, the cabinet room in camp david and then on telephones including the most private t room in the white houe where he like to retire at the end of the day was the link in the sitting room. and at the end of the day he would call people up and talk to them about the events of the day so you had this entire record of nixon sounding off about everything that happened during the day. in addition to that, the chief of staff kept an audio diary every night and the memoirs of the former white house aides and hundreds of thousands of documents from the white house so you end up with the richest information you could imagine and because no president is ever going to tape themselves again we are never going to get as close a view of what's going on in the white house as we do with richard nixon even though it was never nixon's intention. nixon regarded these a

lbj dies in the middle of all of this and they are deciding whether to bury or have a memorial servicefor johnson in the national cathedral in washington but nixon one of his enemies is the dean of the cathedral who is a leader of the antiwar movement so nixon goes off on a tirade against the dean of the cathedral and isn't going to allow a funeral to take place and if it does he's not going to attend and so on and so forth so you get a kind of insight into the depth of his hatred of the other side which is very revealing. >> what about the environment in the newsroom at the post during that time period what do you know about that? >> i started working for the post after this period but i do know some of the actors including bob word word and carl bernstein. of course for journalists like those two they were young reporters at the time and this was the kind of story perhaps they dreamt of and the post was under great pressure from the administration. it had just begun going public so there was pressure to restrain the reporters but she sided with the reporters so the post was breaking

i don't think lbj ever had good options.n probably was to cut his losses and get out as soon as possible after he took office. he felt we had enormous -- and he didn't feel able to do that. the test of american foreign policy and that period may be and there were quite a few periods of history is to serve domestic american political -- in accordance with the best judgment of the president of the day. i don't think lbj ever had a good option. that's probably the worst option. >> host: for the past two hours we've been talking with best-selling author and military historian and former editor-in-chief of the daily telegraph and the evening standard max hastings. there is his web site and his latest book "operation pedestal" and as he noted he's working on a book on the cuban missile crisis so we will look forward to that. sir max thank you for the past two hours on booktv from england. >> guest: thank you peter for having us. at that very moment when the capitol police officer told they are going to take cover stood up and i wa

lbj. who can make these domestic achievements, and then confronted a cold war conflict. lead a cold war conflict, that was a hot war, that ended up being the kind of american tragedy. so, long answer, short takeaway is we don't really know yet. i do know this, joe biden is a friend of mine, i try to help him when i can. and i'm glad he's the one there and not the fellow he beat. our mutual friend david niches at the washington post puts it this way, john. for president biden john, you invoked the lbj administration, that was two presidents later we saw those pictures of the people clinging onto the landing rails of helicopters and helicopters going off the side of our navy ships because we can accomodate the space or the size. as lofty as the goal was, ending our longest war, john, it sounds bad. it looks bad. and as the title goes, there will be blood. >> there will be, my father fought in vietnam. i got one of the most poignant notes i've received from anybody, much less a president, from gerald ford ones. he had been part of a project talking about april 30th, 1975, t

here at houston's lbj hospital, the emergency room is simply overwhelmed. so much so that the blue and white tents behind me have been set up at overflow units because so many people right now are in the emergency room waiting for icu beds. >> janet shamlian reporting from houston. >>> hurricane season is picking up, and the latest storm is taking aim at florida. tropical depression fred is churning its way through the caribbean. fred is the sixth named storm of the hurricane season and is expected to hit the sunshine state this weekend. now it's unclear just how strong fred will be when and if it makes landfall. but meteorologists have a revolutionary new tool to help them make predictions. ben tracy has the story from jacksonville, florida. >> so we're close to the moment of truth. >> this is not the moment of truth. the moment of truth is the hurricane. this is the easy bit. ige saboats, but dyf joyridtheyecaunting drones, destined to faceplanet >> tse things have nowhatre to . >> exactly. exactly. >> reporter: richard jenkins is the founder and ceo of s

enormous possibility, the $3.5 trillion budget resolution would be the biggest social agenda since lbj legacy if the deal does get passed? >> it would be legacy-making legislation. we've lived in the shadow of ronald reagan for so long that any big commitment to the social safety net has been generally absent with the exception of course of the first obama year with health care. and if this moves through, we'll see a new kind of commitment and a signal that liberalism is still alive and well even in 2021. >> so interesting, you hear democrats cheer this biggest social change since even the new deal and then you hear republicans saying this would be the biggest social change since lbj and the new deal. they both say the same thing to either cheer or jeer this movement. meantime, in your latest op-ed, you highlight the differences between how democrats handled the accusations of sexual harassment against governor cuomo and how arepublicans handled similar accusations against donald trump. explain. >> yeah, just the difference with parties. we've seen how the republican party as a whole i

john, you invoked the lbj administration.of people clinging on to the landing rails of helicopters and helicopters going off the side of our navy ships because we could not accommodate the space or the size. as lofty as the goal was, ending our longest war, john, it sounds bad, it looks bad. and as the title goes, there will be blood. >> there will be, and my in father fought in vietnam. i got one of the most poignant notes i ever received from anybody much less a president from gerald ford once. he had been part of a project talking about april 30th, 1975. the fall of saigon, that evacuation in that period. and he talks about, i remember the phrase was, that most tragic of days. it was, it's stuck with me. that most tragic of days. it understand-- it ended the wa killed 49 americans a day on average. 49. ultimately 55,000, i think, american casualties. and for a president, i think one of the thing that is is worthwhile to think about. as our friend wrote about wonderfully, this is the most solemn and difficult thing that any

we have signed copies available at our lbj store which you can access at lbj start.com. ♪♪ >> weekendsan2 bring the best in american history and nonfiction books. on sunday 4:00 p.m. eastern tv magazine staff writer reflecting on past and future of what he calls comes america in his latest book. 10:00 p.m. eastern on "afterwards" from a podcast or and journalist ben shapiro discusses his new book the authoritarian moment in which he argues progressive left is pushing authoritarian agenda in america. he's interviewed by national syndicated radio talkshow host. watch tv i really can't on c-span2. find a schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> c-span shop.org is c-span's online store. there's a collection of c-span products are proud to see what's new. you still have time to order the congressional directory with contact information for members of congress and the biden administration. go to c-span shop.org. >> next, editor-in-chief, alex marlowe argues the media has destroyed credibility interviewed by recent magazine editor at large round table podcast h

lbj did his best to co-opt him. and nixon put him at the top of his enemies list. to register an international perspective on all this, winston churchill once dubbed drew pearson the most colossal liar in the united states. so i discovered a pattern. pearson certainly made his share of mistakes. usually through haste of his understanding and sometimes the people who leaked to him were less than honest about their intentions. i never found an instance where he knowingly lied. instead it was his accusers who lied regularly to cover their own tracks. raised as a quaker, he regarded truth seeking as both a moral obligation and a self-defense mechanism. he was sued for liable. at least 120 times. more than any other journalist. and he won every case except for one. and that one he would have tried to appeal except his lawyers said it would be cheaper to settle it out of court. the way he won all those cases was by demonstrating that the information he had written about was true. the one case that he lost in this case, even his opponents' lawyers thought that pearson had

lbj wouldn't have done that unless he had been pushed and pushed and pushed by martin luther king and other civil rights leaders. remember, it took the montgomery march months before signing for it to remove it. i think joe biden, good person, but i think joe biden still believes in a system that no longer exists which is you have an equal trustworthy person that believes in the same principles as you. i don't think that exists with the republican party. like the texas legislatures that went there with other folks around the country, many people are pushing and should keep pushing the president because i think the president is inclined to do the right thing but sometimes as i said good people have to be pushed to do the right thing because many times the right thing is hard. >> yeah. sources are telling cnn that the house select committee looking into january 6th is wondering whether to pursue logs from the trump white house on the day of the riot. are you worried about what we'll learn if they get the records? >> well, i'm a huge believer in transparency. i don't think our government

is and how does he compare to an lbj, or nixon on this issue? >> absolutely crucial, joe biden as you know ran for the senate and one, in 1972, and it's time when richard nixon was still carrying out the vietnam war, despite his promise to end it for years earlier. against george mcgovern the democratic nominee. who said elect me president, i'll and this were immediately. biden was on -- her even from his own experience, here is joe biden, are we lucky that that experience almost 50 years ago, put in his mind this idea that you can't keep on asking young americans, other americans, to give their lives in those of our allies, if the american people don't get with the wars, about and don't support it. >> yes, and it's interesting because we talk about the american public not being interested in foreign policy. in presidents are almost defined by foreign policy to buckles, whether it's lbj, george w. bush, ronald reagan both positively and negatively for the cold war. >> in eisenhower who's seen as a commanding victory. 1956, there was a hungarian

you can see martin luther king there with lbj.ored with a new statue in houston, the vice president tracing the rise and fall of this law. the law was weakened by chief justice roberts and the conservative bloc on the supreme court. >> the supreme court has stripped away protections contained within the voting rights act and states have responded with a slew of antivoter legislation. americans deserve options to be able to cast their ballot. and that is why president joe biden and i are calling on congress to pass the for the people act and the john lewis voting rights advancement act. >> a large part of this boils down to how bad you think voter suppression is. the original law operated on the premise that it is so bad, it must be stopped in advance. unlike some other problems or even crimes, that there was a larger national imperative to protect this right to vote, not just punish voter suppression after the fact. so the law had something that required states with a history of racist voting tactics to get clearance in advance fo

like lbj biden is a creature of the senate.large part to influence behind the scenes, rallying and pressing former colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together. presidential style aside, there is a final real dollars and cents comparison. if as projected biden's infrastructure spending equals 2.5% of gdp, that would approach levels of infrastructure investment we haven't seen as a country since the new deal. so, yeah, that's a big f-ing deal and that's your reality check. >> that is a quote, a throwback there, homage to biden, of course. john, i want to get your thoughts on what we heard from our colleague donie o'sullivan's report where he went to the mypillow guy conference. and a speaker told cnn, said that cnn should just report their lies and not fact check them. >> i mean, that was just like chef's kiss perfect. why don't you just start reporting what we're saying rather than fact checking it? oh, the frustration of having to actually have your lies be fact checked. look, it actually kind of gives away the ghost

i think of lbj. lbj wouldn't have done that, unless he had been pushed.er civil-rights leaders. remember, it took the selma-to-montgomery march just months before signing of that act. and so, i think joe biden, good person. but i think joe biden still believes in a system that no longer exists. which is that you have a equal, trustworthy partner on the other side of the aisle that -- that believes in the same principles as you. i don't think that exists, anymore, with the republican party. and so, i think that, like the texas legislators who went up there, like many of the folks around the country. many people are pushing athey should keep pushing the president because i think the president is inclined to do the right thing. but sometimes, as i said, good people have to be pushed to do the right thing. because many times, the right thing is hard. >> yeah. sources are telling cnn that the house-select committee, looking into january 6th, is weighing whether to pursue logs from the trump white house on the day of the riot. are you worried about what we'll l

memory of vietnam for biden and other politicians of his generation is, and how does he compare to an lbj this issue? >> oh, absolutely crucial because joe biden, as you know, ran for the senate and won in 1972 at a time that richard nixon was still carrying on the vietnam war, despite his promise to end it four years earlier, against george mcgovern, the democratic nominee who said, elect me president and i will end this war immediately after inauguration day. biden was on the side, needless to say, of george mcgovern. he knew how unfair that war was and how unsupported it was. oftentimes you will see a president who doesn't learn from history or even from his own experience. here is joe biden. aren't we lucky that that experience almost 50 years ago put in his mind this idea that you can't keep on asking young americans and other americans to give their lives and those of our allies if the american people don't get what the war is about and don't support it. >> yeah, and it is interesting because we often talk about the american public not being interested in foreign policy, and yet pre

the lesson of lbj is not that he had absolute power that he wielded absolutely.sting the grass roots across the nation to bring his kaus to the fore. he knew he would alienate southern states but did it anyway. it was that important. so different political times, media circumstances, polarization right now. but what do you look as the stakes for the voting rights and this president. >> the enfranchisement of voters has had a transformational effect on american democracy at every level, the participation of women, african-americans, minorities of every background has had an impact on what our government looks like today, how we function as a society, so any efforts that roll those back that keep people from the polls is devastating for all americans, obviously, potentially devastating for the democratic party going into the midterms. if he doesn't get something done now he risks the majority in the senate, the house, we risk the future of the country for years to come. it's not just about a political aim, it's about making sure that every voter is heard. one thing

temporary covid tents have also been set up outside lbj hospital in houston.cu beds completely full there. listen to the head of the medical group that runs the hospital testifying before texas lawmakers this week. >> if this continues, and i have no reason to believe that it will not, there is no way my hospital is going to be able to handle this. there is no way the region is going to be able to handle this. can you just give us a sense of what it is like in your hospital system? >> good morning. thank you for having me. let me start as always by thanking all of our healthcare staff, doctors, nurses, teches, everybody else and harris health system but also all other health systems here locally and also nationally. they are the true heroes and tired heroes after dealing with this pandemic for a year and a half. to answer your question, things are terrible. my hospitals are full. and it is really not so much that the hospitals are full, we're used to operating our hospitals, being the safety net for hospitals in t area for hospitals to be full, but what is con

. >> reporter: tents went up outside lbj hospital in houston to deal with the increasing number of patients. texas governor greg abbott has requested help for out of state health care workers to deal with the surge. >> what is really our choke point and our vulnerability now is the amount of nurses we have available to really take care of people, covid patients in our beds, as well as non-covid patients. >> reporter: in the last week the u.s. reported nearly 94,000 new pediatric covid cases, the highest since february. >> the reality is that children under 12 years of age do not have access to the vaccine yet. children 12 and above may have access to the vaccine but many have not been vaccinated yet. >> with schools starting up in the south, some districts are taking a ban on mask mandates. dallas and austin announced monday they will require masks in defiance of governor abbott. >> he's responsible for the state of texas, i'm responsible for dallas isd. >> ron desantis said they could withhold salaries of superintendents and school board members who implement mandates. the u.s. military is

backers from congress, the supreme court, and the labor department, bessie's name was considered by lbj himself. it's not clear what, if any, role in the decision was played by her affair, the one you will have to read about in the book, but she's also faced other hurdles. one male white house staffer criticized bessie's fashion forward appearance as quote flamboyant and another opined quote her age, 58 would tend to preclude her from consideration, end quote. by 1968, bessie had been passed over for seven federal judicial vacancies on those two courts alone, all filled by men, five older than she was. the silver lining from bessie not getting a judgeship is that she stayed at the labor department where she developed the national strategy and personally argued the first appeal under the equal pay act and somewhat ironically the age discrimination and employment act. by the time she retired in 1972, she had overseen the filing of 300 equal pay lawsuits in 40 states, ultimately recovering millions of dollars for thousands of employees and earning the title of the nation's number one fight

here at lbj hospital in houston, they've set up overflow tents and the covid cases at emergency departments here in texas have been skyrocketing. more than 1,500 covid patients were admitted across the country to the e.r. just yesterday. and that has caused a grid lock at many of the locations. and officials tell me that right now, nearly 600 people are waiting for beds. and more than 100 of them have covid. and david, in a sobering moment, an official told me today that some people are dying waiting for beds. right now, here in houston, there are 94 icu beds available, but in some parts of the state, david, there are none. >> marcus moore with the worstening situation in texas tonight. marcus, thank you. >>> we are also tracking severe storms at this hour. we're on the watch here in the east. washington, d.c. up through philadelphia and the images coming in tonight, this was a possible tornado in wisconsin. tornado watch in effect at this hour. of course, we're also tracking tropical storm fred, set to hit the u.s. by the end of the week. let's get right back to senior meteorologist rob ma