but back to lbj. i mean when you talk about his years there working at the school with immigrants and students who had nothing really and were even less fortunate than he was because, he wasn't born into great wealth either. he really invested in these children. and that a spark in him, i think that can really happen. that's something touches you and you realize that it's not fair it fair that he said when you later he much later said when you see scar of prejudice on a kid's face never forget what it's like and in fact going way, way forward when he was giving the speech, voting rights, which my husband was honored to have helped him on that speech. and it was speech after the selma demonstrations. we may have talked about this when we were here together this last time. and my husband had only 9 hours to write that speech. and johnson knew enough not to bother him that whole time. the only time he called him up was to say, i'd like to about cotulla and didn't no exam. my husband, richard goodman knew

but back to lbj. i mean when you talk about his years there working at the school with immigrants and students who had nothing really and were even less fortunate than he was because, he wasn't born into great wealth either. he really invested in these children. and that a spark in him, i think that can really happen. that's something touches you and you realize that it's not fair it fair that he said when you later he much later said when you see scar of prejudice on a kid's face never forget what it's like and in fact going way, way forward when he was giving the speech, voting rights, which my husband was honored to have helped him on that speech. and it was speech after the selma demonstrations. we may have talked about this when we were here together this last time. and my husband had only 9 hours to write that speech. and johnson knew enough not to bother him that whole time. the only time he called him up was to say, i'd like to about cotulla and didn't no exam. my husband, richard goodman knew

so he sends johnson sends bunker out private meeting between bunker and lbj.bunker tells me this and says you know ellsworth, we need to turn the war over to the vietnamese. and then he sends out coma, the pacification side. abrams the military. so when kissinger writes that the president has decided bunker suspicions lulled in may of 71, bunker did not the implication in and he could not believe that kissinger would go against the public policy of president nixon. and so when i pointed this out to him that led to sort of some awkward things between the ambassador and myself but i i wanted to i decided after his book was not published but i decided that you know, for the sake of the record and history i wanted to get to the bottom of this. so i so, i got to know richard nixon. so i got i got a bunch of letters from richard nixon. i spent a number of years cultivating him. and i have to admit in public, i had you know, i had an intent. you know, i, i, i had a private purpose in doing this because at some point i was going to ask him. and the point came in 1989,

his most recent book is lbj and mcnamara: the vietnam partnership destined to fail. before we get into the what's in the book what's the format of this book? >> is a series or a serial . it appears llon my cell stack which is called app platform, stubs stack is the prescription newsletters that a whole lot of folks are starting to use now leand i decided to do it as a series or a number of reasons. one was that i believe in the series concept . an awful lot of people now listen to podcasts and what are podcasts, a whole series in addition to which the series narrative in other words writing a book as a series goes all the way back to the 19th century. dickens did it and a lot of people have done it before me and i decided to do this as a series because i thought it was a way to present the material that was accessible and to try the digital format. of a series because really for 20 years or so now i've been trying to figure out how digital really works for my kind of writing . so this is the time to try it as a series. book length 18 parts, and each one is a couple t

the relationship between lbj and robert mcnamara.re a lot of different ways of publishing books. in the early part of the century, i did the starr report. we turned it into a book. it was for sale all over the country and 72 hours. later i created an enterprise called caravan. it was intended to help publishers. a lot of them were academic and university presses that did not have their own resources. in 2007, suddenly there was the kindle and the iphone. everybody used that technology. i was doing that as a way to anticipate what was going to calm after that. over the years i tried to continue what is the best way for our kind of material. to actually reach the audience that we want to reach. i think technology has made it much more possible than it was. that was it. there are a lot of different ways for people to read books. that is still the most prominent. people still prefer the printed book. that is much easier to carry on the plane. that is the fastest growing sector of the publishing world, the audiobook. 20 years ago it was a

lbj versus jfk versus nixon and campaign that forged three presidencies. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. let's start by looking at thee results in 1960. john kennedy received 34 million plus.7 votes 49.7%, three and three electoral votes he won 22 states. richard nixon, 34.1 million votes, 49.5% of the votes, 219 electoral votes and he won 26 states. there is a difference of only 120,000 votes in this election. david, that was close. [laughter] as it former announcer bob murphy used to say closer than last year's best. and it was so close. it was close in state after state. his close in the polls beforehand. you take a look at how many states jfk wins and almost all of them are by less than 52%. he only has a couple blowout states. larger margins, but he does not win by as much. some say congressional quarterly said that he actually won the popular vote because of a controversies with the popular vote in mississippi. and of course, the mississippi controversies are chicago, illinois, texas, but nixon does not contest that. >> rib written a book about this jfk versus acc

so lbj also the first cavalry division to vietnam. and a division, the republic of korea, the capital infantry division. these two divisions were not given a defensive roles. they were directed to conduct offensive operations. so that's what that's what separate is what happened here with the first came from what happened with the marine set at training and in the other army brigades in the south. in 1964 was the year of escalation for the north vietnam. ho chi minh was getting impatient. they wanted to they wanted to seize the western central highlands. they wanted to cut country in half. and he wanted things the thinks to move along. so they launched a campaign, the central south vietnam area, where they would increase the control, the boxing area and, they would attempt to seize of the western central highlands, the north vietnamese army, 325th infantry division should have moved south at the direction of ho chi minh and the troops were crossing the border from cambodia into the central highlands. this was the first attempt by the

professor nicanor, was that a shock to everyone when lbj shut down? yeah, that that statement shocked everyone, even the press who had received a copy of his false speech in advance, which was a vietnam speech, had no idea about the surprise ending because it wasn't included in the copy that the white house provided to the press. and what we now know decades later is that johnson had been thinking since the state of the union about the right timing to withdrawal, even as he delivered his state of the union in 1968. he had those final lines, that surprise ending on a piece of paper in his in his jacket pocket. and that allowed him to pull them out when the timing felt right and he could add them as a surprise ending to almost any address that he gave his his press team. and also lady bird johnson thought he was the right time to do it was the state of the union. and we don't know why today he couldn't go through with it. when he finally did on march 31st, a lot of people at the time thought it was a direct response to vietnam. the fact that it wasn't g

so it was, "lbj, how many kids did you kill today?" - [protesters] hey, hey, lbj!etnam war was dr. martin luther king, jr. - the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play - [narrator] that april when he went to memphis, he seemed to have his legacy on his mind. - i went to pick him up and i said, "i'm here. i'm ready to get my passenger." the kids picked up his briefcase by the door, grabbed it, and said, "daddy, don't leave us." and he said, "oh, i'll be right back. i'm just going to memphis." "daddy, don't go. daddy, please don't leave us." such plea, i still hear it. - i may not get there with you. but i want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. (people cheering) - i have read that speech a hundred times. the only thing i can come up with is that maybe it had finally come down on him that he's not gonna live long and maybe he didn't care because he didn't like living in this world where we burn children. (distant siren wailing) - i said, "dr

in 1960 when john kennedy was -- was trying to decide whether to name lbj's running mate, bobby activelyrgued against it. kennedy believes that johnson as a southern governor, southern senator was essential to the ticket, but bobby was deeply opposed and tried basically to turn it around and it never recovered. soso bobby and -- and makes clear that johnson really turned on goodwin and goodwin had a relationship with the kennedys. in fact, lyndon johnson was a man of immense intense awesome emotion, rage, animus, pride and all of those things drove him, one of the reasons why history has made bob mcdamara the equal in sense of johnson in carrying the blame for vietnam is because of mcdamara's personality. he looked and sound like a man that was really sure of himself. hese sounded like a slick young man and public posture sounded decisive and full of confidence even if privately he was -- he reservations, his doubts and those were really strong as 1967-68 came along. finally, by the time that mcdamara left, johnson was telling people that he was a screw ball but w never turned on him pub

during lbj. during barack obama. obviously, the higher we get, the better. but this is not 60 votes, which is what they had at the beginning of president obama. i think we did pretty well with narrow majorities during the previous administration. three new supreme court justices. comprehensive 30-your overdue tax reform. it is harder but we were successful before with a narrow majority and i think we will be again. >> looking at the results from last night, what do you take away from the mood of the country,

lbj, with whom he was very close. and that's quite a story. and i think, i think i understand it, but i think the best if maybe you guys could unpack it for us and tell us exactly what happened. well. in those days, president johnson said, well, let me back up. i'm sorry president johnson had just become president with the assassination of kennedy. i'm sorry. i'm not very good with this president. president johnson had just become president. but the assassination of president kennedy and he he thought it was a little unseemly for him to seeking higher office right away. he wanted be the president. it was never a question of that. but, i mean, in in his own right. but he didn't want his on the ballot. so in the there were only a few primaries in those days not like there are today. and he asked in the states where there were primaries, if a favorite son could stand in for him, if the favorite son won, the favorite son would then say, oh, all of my delegates will go for lyndon johnson. and when it came to maryland, he asked danny bruce to do it.

democrats had massive majorities in the 1930's, during lbj, during barack obama. obviously the higher we get, the better. this is not 60 votes, which is what they had at the beginning of president obama. i think we did pretty well with narrow majorities in the previous administration. three new supreme court justices, 54 circuit court judges, copperheads of tax reform. it's harder but i think we were successful before with a narrow majority in a think we will be again. >> looking at the results from last night, what do you take away from the mood of the country, where it is now and where it is headed and where it lands? >> if you're looking for a simple answer, i think it was a referendum on the current administration. in part. people were just not happy with this administration and the democratic nominee was part of it. >> in your role as former leader moving forward, what do you think your level of engagement is going to be directly new trump administration, again, given your criticisms of the former president. >> i will do everything i can to help the new admin

the democrats had massive majorities during the 305, during _ majorities during the 305, during lbj,ter. but this is not 60 votes, which is what they— not 60 votes, which is what they had _ not 60 votes, which is what they had at the beginning of president obama. i think we did pre5ident obama. i think we did pretty— president obama. i think we did pretty well. with narrow majorities, throughout the administration. three new supreme _ administration. three new supreme courtjustices. 54 new judges — supreme courtjustices. 54 new judges. comprehensive, 30 overdue _ judges. comprehensive, 30 overdue tax reform. yeah, is harder— overdue tax reform. yeah, is harder but— overdue tax reform. yeah, is harder but i think we were successful before with a narrow maiority — successful before with a narrow majority and i think we will be again — majority and i think we will be aaain. , , ., again. the results from last niaht, again. the results from last night. what _ again. the results from last night, what do _ again. the results from last night, what do you - again. the results from last night

during lbj. during barack obama. obviously, the higher we get, the better. but this is not 60 votes, which is what they had at the beginning of president obama. i think we did pretty well with narrow majorities during the previous administration. three new supreme court justices. comprehensive 30-your overdue tax reform. it is harder but we were successful before with a narrow majority and i think we will be again. >> looking at the results from last night, what do you take away from the mood of the country, where it is headed and how it lands according to your expectations? >> if you are looking for a simple answer, i think it was a referendum on the current administration in part. people were just not happy with this administration. the democratic nominee obviously was a part of it. >> in your role as former leader, moving forward what is your level of engagement directly with the new trump administration? given your criticisms of the former president. >> i will do everything i can to help the new administration be successful. >> would you be in support of

they went into kings house and placed bugs and the monitor them and even got worse under lbj by the wayhis quickly. kennedy's got a lot worse than this. johnson even stepped it up. he is the irs and the cia to spy on barry goldwater presidential campaign. widespread wiretapping of the campaign headquarters. in fact they uncovered one of the barry goldwater's staffers was a gate which goldwater knew they were threatening to use that goldwater wandered h wonded they know that? he called a senior person in the johnson campaign and said do not destroy this man's life. do not destroy this man's life but they threaten to do it ultimately they didn't. johnson was so paranoid about the kennedys he had the fbi sent a team of men to the 1964 democratic convention in atlantic city and then attorney journal robert kennedy was unaware of it so he directly had the fbi monitor, send men to his own convention's own nominating convention they tapped martin luther king's hotel room. they bugged it they bugged the rooms of other civil rights leaders attending the convention that information went to johnso

easy to remember, every time you turned on your light you know it is lbj. this is 68,000 projects around the country. how do you explain it? >> no way to characterize it one project at a time. i did the math. if i visit three projects a day for the raft of my life i would not live long enough to see all of them. a better way to think of it is what they all have in common. not just these projects but the other steps taken place under the president's leadership. our department like aviation consumer protection, making it easier to be an airplane passenger, outside of my department that made every day life from hearing aids over-the- counter to the ftc rule that says if you sign up for something like a gym membership or newspaper it should be easy to cancel. what do all of these things have in common? here is how i think of it, three things, one, recognizing the scale of the problems that face the country. two, recognizing that government, not always big government, but the right kind of government can be a solution if used in the right way, and then three, no

and yet, you these majestic turn every page biographies of lbj that that don't acknowledge this kind of role for ladybird and never didn't find this material all that that julia found is it. you say it's time. does that mean is it sexism is what it that makes it possible now to see these forces with women in political lives that weren't before? well, i mean, you explored this in the matriarch, right. barbara bush was a political force in although, you know george, h.w. bush is much beloved, really this powerful woman behind. the scenes that has the the chessboard in mind. and i think, you know, in theodore roosevelt's case, there's literal deficit of material. you know, edith burned much of their correspondence intentionally, did not want her to be associated with some of his decisions and his ascent. you had barry, his older sister, who similarly locked letters away that she had written him. so we have in many cases, only his side of the discussion. when edmund morris and, david mccullough, wrote their seminal works in the late 1970s, early 1980s, the rise of theodore roosevelt and

at the same time i think lbj when he won big in 1964, he said what an ordinary person wants is not a take molly and the kids on vacation, a little music in the house, medicare for the kids, ordinary daily life, and i think that somehow that was lost in this time and that has to be regained, that is the most important thing. >> neil: was interesting, too, doris, you look at some of the most successful presidents or those who wowed the public and the common man, if you will, fdr came from a lot of money, one of the richest families in the country, john f. kennedy came from a lot of money, one of the richest families in the country, and yet they were able to do that. donald trump, whatever you think of him in this outreach to average folks, whether it is serving fries and mcdonald's, which, by the way, looked very appealing to me, but that this is something that connects with people, and a lot of people just forget that soft touch. >> no, i think, you know what it was? when you think about fdr and teddy roosevelt in particular, you are right, very privileged background but they were fig

and every time you turned on the light, you know it was lbj. this is 68,000 projects around the country. how do you explain it? >> yeah, there's no way to characterize it just one project at a time. i did the math, and i think if i were to visit three projects a day for the rest of my life, i still would not live long enough to see all of them. so i think a better way to think of it is what they all have in common. not just these, but the other steps that have taken place under the president's leadership. things in our department like aviation consumer protection. things that took place outside of my department that have made every day life easier from getting hearing aids over the counter to the ftc's rule that now says if you sign up for something like a gym membership or newspaper subscription, it should be just as easy to cancel. what do they have in common? one, recognizing the scale of the problems that face the country. two, recognizing that government, not always big government, but the right kind of government can be a solution if used

and i think what lbj would tell him is that every decision you make during this transition period uses up capital. after he had won in 1964, by 15 million votes, i mean so much more than was won in this election he knew that it would dwindle with every decision he made. he'd have a fight with congress, a fight with the press. he would make a decision and it would dwindle. so he told his staff, get off the he said, get your off the ground and get my program through and make sure you have the right priorities in mind. so every choice you make of cabinet, every decision you make as to whether to go after your enemies or not the tone you set when jefferson came in as president, there had been a huge, vitriolic fight with adams during the presidential election. almost a civil war they feared was going to come and what he did is he said, we are all federalists. we are all republicans. we need civility and magnanimity right now and he reached out for common ground and that tone can be set in language. so all these things that are happening now will determine really the success of the presiden

i'm joined by the presidential historian and president and ceo of the lbj foundation, and it's great you here, mark. when you do look at trump's win, how does it stack up against previous elections here in the u.s.? >> well, it's only the second time since 1988 that a republican has won the popular vote. the only other one was george w. bush in 2004. so it's impressive in that regard. you talked about ronald reagan's win in 1984, a huge landslide without question. nixon in 1972 also a landslide. but in this divided environment, to get the mandate that trump got, to get 50 plus percent of the popular vote and the electoral college tally, that's an impressive win. in terms of his historical importance is this is without question the most impressive political comeback, not only in this century, but in the history of the united states. >> yeah, nixon used to be the standard for that. but looking at this, and we had a conversation with democrats just a few moments ago about what it looks like moving forward for their party, and you look at the what ifs that haunt biden's legacy. two are w

memoir you have here capturing kind of different elements of of president reagan when i really liked lbj we knew that whenever we got into trouble entering the sentence formulation, when we got into trouble, the staff of the administration. yeah, we can make up the cue cards and put him on television and he could sway the day he could bring along like nobody i've ever known. i imagine that was a nice security blanket for a cabinet official or now security adviser. right. i think he really viewed him that way. i think there was and a number of things that that were helpful i think he viewed well first i knew he he viewed working in the reagan administration as an honor and he writes about that extensively. i think the second thing is, as reagan was a strategic visionary but not a day day manager, which for i think my dad super helpful. i think you he he writes later that he had a meeting a week president reagan as secretary of defense for an and he said i don't even think we use that full hour because he was so overwhelmingly supportive of what we were doing. so he he didn't have the his

i am joined by the president of historian and president and ceo of the lbj foundation, mark updegroveit is great to have you here. when you do look at trumps win, how does it stack up against previous elections in the u.s.? >> this is only the second time since 1988 , that a republican has one the popular vote. the only other time was george w. bush in 2004. it is impressive in that regard, you talked about ronald reagan's win in 1984 , without question a huge landslide. richard nixon in 1972, and a landslide. but, i think in particular, in this divided environment to get the mandate that trump got, to get 50+ percent of the popular vote , to get that electoral vote tallied , that is an impressive win and i think the one thing you have to say about this in terms of the historic importance, caitlin, this is without question the most impressive political comeback, not only in this century, but in the history of the united states. >> nixon used to be the standardbearer for that, but you know, as we look at that, we had a conversation with democrats a few moments ago about what this looks

. >> truman had dissident voices and later on, lbj, rather.. what you need in the trump administration is not so much dissident voices per se. you need more traditional voices who will say things like nato has worked and u.s. foreign policy the last several decades has succeeded and you need some dissident voices who might argue we have been well served by what we have done in the world. >> you add that and foreign policy the first term and he didn't like it. looks like he has some of that. >> marco rubio. >> you're right. there is a guy, again, out of the intel committee that worked very well with democrats on the intel committee so i stand corrected. really quick. arizona is your beat. i'm curious. what do you think is next for kerry lake? >> i don't think she is going away. she won't be in the u.s. senate six years. >> do you think she will work in the trump administration? >> i would be surprised if they didn't welcome her in in some capacity. i think if she had had not run for the u.s. senate she could be a press secretary for him but onc

he wanted to know all about it in 1968 after hubert humphrey received the nomination for president lbj fbi tapping his valance because johnson wanted to know if humphrey was loyal to him including regarding the vietnam war. surveilled is in the fbi the irs the cia and other federal agencies did you know any of this? probably not. now you do. what about barack obama? oh no. the hill newspaper i write this and on freedom of the press 2016 the "new york times" reporter who subpoenaed twice in the 2010 indictment of jeffrey sterling under the espionage act of 1917. he refused to reveal his sources but eric holder and barack obama were going to force him they were going to try. he was subjected to subpoenas responses rejected by the supreme court. threat of imprisonment by the obama regime until it was decided he would not be forced to testify at all. even jake tapper at the time said the obama administration use the espionage act as a by demonstration used it against donald trump or the espionage act to go after whistleblowers who linked to journalist more than all previous administrations

>> well, joy, i have quoted lbj on the show several times.he white man someone to look down on you can pick his pockets all day long. if you convince him long enough, it's what they have done it for decades. you are going to union workers and saying i don't support unions, i support scabs, i don't like paying overtime. i am going to bust up the framework of the american economy and people still vote for him. they are voting against their interests consistently pause they are not looking at donald trump and his best friend billionaire standing next to him. he says you don't have it because immigrants took it, because barack obama and his fancy educated black friends took it. he said thisst consistent consi. they say it's all about economic anxiety which we know that african americans understand especially african american women understand the brunt of economic anxiety because we are paid 66 -- >> yeah,yeah, basal we, talked this in the break. i mean, you literally had, you know, donald trump promise tariffs which will raise prices on everyone

think about lbj back in the 1950's.he senate was the power center in washington and operated not just as a check on presidential power but one of the most power parts of our governmental system. that is changing now. no one has one or more executive power than donald trump. expansions of executive power that we can point to recently, war powers. we have seen presidents, including george w. bush, expand war powers and the senate not checking them. executive orders have become more expansive and we know it is something trump wants to do, including for mass deportations. the vacancies act. president trump had several acting cabinet secretary's as a way to get around the senate. we spoke with an expert on presidential incident power about this. this is thomas berry from the cato institute. >> i think we are certainly at a lower ebb than we were in the 60s or most decades in the past -- the past. >> but where we sit today in november of 2024. would you say that senate power has been weakened and executive power really has be

the democratic party has not won white people since lbj.how we've got to go to this constituency every single time that has rejected the democratic party fornear 50 years, excuse me, lord . i think what the party has to do is admit that. it helps when you acknowledge the facts. admit that and figure out how do we get the balance right of appealing to the people who consistently turn out for us, who consistently show up for us and have over these last several decades and do some persuasion with other people because when you talk to people about the issues what is clear is, even though white people that don't vote for us align with us on the issues but they don't like our candidates. there is this split we have with them. we have a lot of work to do on that and it starts with an admission of the truth. it starts with, hello, talk to the voters. with all due respect, a lot of people on capitol hill, they don't have the answers. >> let me just be clear. nancy pelosi, everybody talks about how she is so strategic, she did all of that when she wa

he said no, the country is in peril, these are the most strong and i need them by my side and lbj used's better to have your enemies inside the tent than out, and that's his way of talking. neil: the lincoln thing, what a great book idea would have been if you'd come up with it and team of rivals and maybe they could make movies about it. >> i wish i would have. neil: and throwing it out there, doris. and we had the main republican senator who became bill clinton's defense secretary and we've had various presidents who have those from opposing party, not that many. lincoln stands out to your point on sheer percentage having his rivals in the cabinet and that worked. doesn't always worked because we're paranoid of that today. how do you think the trump cabinet, what you're seeing it, hasn't been approved and stamped on yet, what do you make of it? >> well, you know, better cough first. yay, i'm okay. neil: good. >> what's interesting is that also, reagan had loyalty in his cabinet, but he was loyalty to the philosophy and he also included competence and integrity as the two things that

that's lbj white house 1966.u, cindy, my mother-in-law, for sharing the pictures. i know they'll be watching this segment, but there's some pretty strong views on real versus synthetic. synthetic can be great, too. >> sam: yeah. >> rebecca: and lori did the research. jen b asks, "how can i get fast download speeds while out and about?” jen, we've engineered xfinity mobile with wifi speeds up to a gig, so you can download and do much more all at once. it's an idea that's quite attractive. or... another word... fashionable? i was gonna say- “popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!” can you do defying gravity?! yeah, get my harness. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile. and see wicked, only in theaters november 22nd. ♪ oh, oh, oh the right stuff ♪ >> rebecca: we are back with the right stuff. the countdown to the holidays is on. christmas is less than seven weeks away. it is the perfect time to upgrade your holiday tree. gma lifestyle contributor lori b is back with some great pick

points american history, the american ben franklin, the civil war, the new deal, and the roosevelts, lbj and the great society, the arc of justice bends upward and the quest to become more continues. the national center's sacred is to inspire americans, to learn about history so they can become more perfect and keep the republic in life and in his work. ken burns, the storyteller of america has done more advance that mission than any other american. that's why it's such a tremendous and unique honor for the national constitution center to award the 2024 liberty medal to ken burns. ken burns for nearly a half a century. you have pioneered the art of historical through documentary filmmaker king. your life and your work exemplify the daily quest to pursue happiness through virtuous self-mastery and lifelong learning. as america's story and history teacher, you've inspired americans to learn about our past in to avoid its errors and preserve its best. your exploration of. the american revolution illuminates the struggles, setbacks and triumphs of the revolutionary generation in their battle