he came in on a wave that he was going to carry on for the dead president. >> ♪ hello lyndon, hello lyndonit's so great to have you there where you belong ♪ >>> the day before the election there was a large but peaceful march. >> in your heart you know who's right. his slogan with his picture. the democrats brought out the far right. >> reporter: he played it up. made it the high point of his convention acceptance speech. >> i will be reminded that extremism is no vice. >> it just electrified the place. his supporters rose. every man, woman, cheering. that's what they wanted to hear. that's the red meat. >> reporter: but the red meat line came back to hunt goldwater. moderate republicans left san francisco in disgust. and for democrats it set up what some said the most controversial tv ad in political history. >> these are the faces to make a land in which all children can live. >> reporter: the liberal was not branded as too extreme, too dangerous. he lost in a landslide. >>> still to come on a second look. >> i accept this award on behalf of the civil rights movement. >> martin luther ki

johnson played lyndon johnson was rather dismissive of humor come for a.if you can deal with the relationship in your book? >> i do at times about johnson's relationship with hubert humphrey. particularly in the narrative here, too. he goes through this really tortured episode in the summer of 1964 and it becomes public about who is going to be his vice president. a lot of the sort of media focuses on this question of because the vice presidency is empty i should say after -- >> was there any thought of actually appointing someone or it just never came up? because i don't think i have ever seen any reference to that. did they even consider doing it? >> i'm trying to remember. i don't think that it was a part of the conversation. we were so focused on because of the kennedy assassination and i think that the kennedy assassination does prompt us because to think that there's a lot more because it is quite caring for the country not only that there is no vice presidency but the speaker of the house john mccormick who at that point there is this idea that the

lyndon johnson, he didn't like the press much. but i think he understood the press. he understood his position in society. richard nixon was fighting with the press from day one. and didn't like it and thought that the press was all, all out to get them. it's hard to build a relationship with anybody who feels that way about you. gerry ford love the press and understood the press, and the result is, he had a terrific press. he will like him. --y didn't suck up to them to him and they flatter -- and didn't flatter all over him, but they try to understand him. , he felt besieged. he thought the press was always eastern and northern, quite like lyndon johnson, as a matter of fact. isolated andlt hostile toward the press. reagan, who was the best manipulator probably of all of , handling the press was a royalty. he was good at it -- was a role to him. he was good at it, but he didn't like the press and he didn't understand the press. and he did not understand the press's role in society. that is the trouble with these .eople they think that they and the press have a comm

he felt the press was northern and elite, quite like lyndon johnson. he quickly felt isolated and high still -- hostile. reagan, who was the best manipulator of all of them, handling the press was a role to him. he was good at it. he didn't like the press and did not understand the press. he didn't understand their role in society. that is the problem with these people. they and the press have a common job. they do not. the white house press officer, the press system, their job is to tell the truth to the country in the way that makes them look best. our job is to try to find the truth, period. and mind you, they all lie to the press. as soon as those lies start coming in, it is difficult to treat them the same. who was definitely a friendly and decent person, he looks you in the eye and says clarence thomas is the best person he can find to be on the supreme court. and the appointment had nothing to do with race. that is not true. press recognizes that and as as him in a way -- result of that single statement. that is going to make him enemies. >> is

we want a lyndon johnson you can make the system work.annot abide the personality that comes with that. we want someone who can turn on the charm and the bullying and the manipulative qualities and the neediness when it works in the political arena. but turn it off so they never get into trouble and never do anything untoward in their personal life, but we can't have that unless you accept politicians as the flawed, complex human beings but the rest of us are. >> when you look at 2016? are people prepared, do you think, elections are always about the future. >> i agree. >> referendums on the past. people look to the future and they want the future to being propelled by change, by fresh ideas. they look at people that been around for a time and saying that is not. it allows someone like barack obama to break through. if they are skilled, if they have an experience that people say i feel good about supporting this idea. someone let it rip the academic record, someone who had a perfect family, someone of color, and at the same time they want

going back, lyndon johnson was totally out of control. of course, back then the press never reported any of this. he would defecate in front of aids as he was being briefed. he would hold a press conference at his ranch in texas and urinate in front of reporters, including female reporters. when he went into air force one he had this routine of a nearly stripping naked as soon as cnn's in the airplane, even with his own daughters and wife there in the airplane. one day when he was vice presidents, johnson was late for an appointment with jfk, being driven by the secret service from the capitol to the white house at about 5:00 p.m., rush hour, and he was late. and so he told the secret service agent who was driving to drive up on the sidewalk, get they're faster. the agent, of course, refused. the sidewalk was pedestrians. johnson wrote up a newspaper ended the agent on the side of the head and said, your fired. one agent said, if the guy were not president he would be in a mental hospital. it really is true, and yet we entrusted our count

lyndon johnson had a vision for what america can be. ronald reagan had the vision , and they were both, i think, very successful in communicating that vision. is that what is lacking, or have there been structural changes in the american political system to make that much more difficult? >> a lot of it comes down to a question of emphasis. i am sure that chase gets asked a lot that question of could reagan get elected in today's republican party, which people talk about a lot as sort of this idea that there are so many purists in today's republican party that even ronald reagan is an ideologically -- is not ideologically pure enough. my own feeling on that, and this is something i try and describe, is reagan is incredibly good at figuring out exactly where east to be as a conservative to get elected. the difference -- and this is what made reagan an effective political leader starting in the 60's is at the same time as he is focused on what he has to do to win the support of his fellow conservatives, he is always asking himself how we s

so let's talk about lyndon johnson. how did you actually get a job working for him because most white house fellas don't work for the president of the united states. the usually work in some department. how did you get to work for them? >> there's no question that every part of my career as a presidential historian goes back to lyndon johnson. when i was selected as a white house fellow with the big dance at the white house and he did dance with me. there were only three women out of the 16 white house fellas. but you're right, he could've been assigned anywhere in the white house, but he whispered that i said he wanted me to be assigned directly to him. but then it was not that simple in the months leading to my selection like many other young people i was a graduate student at high harvard. i'd written an article that, the new republic because i was involved in the antiwar movement with the title, how true bill clinton john and from power. [laughter] it came out two days after the dance at the white house so i was cer

in 1964, president lyndon johnson came through here after he declared the war on poverty. this is the area that became the face of his campaign. >> and we are just not willing to accept the necessity of poverty. >> reporter: back then, the poverty rate in some areas was around 60%. eastern kentucky has made big strides in the 50 years since lyndon johnson came through here, but even still the area continues to struggle today. the poverty rate in eastern kentucky has dropped, but in some parts still hovers around 30%. unemployment in some counties is more than 10%, much higher than the national average. and the region is still dependent on coal, which has meant trouble as the industry's gone south. how big is the coal industry? >> everything here stems off of coal. >> reporter: like many here, tobey miller's roots run deep, and they run through the coal mines. >> well, my papaw, he worked in the mines, used to tell me stories about when he moved here. >> reporter: miller's papaw, his grandfather, bought the family farm in knox county in 1941 with the money he earned from co

reagan's launch political career, despite the fact that goldwater lost to president lyndon johnson indslide. [applause] >> federal employees number 2.5 million and federal, state and local, one out of six of the nation's workforce. these proliferating bureaus with their thousands of regulations have cost us many of our constitutional safeguards. how many of us realize that federal agents can invade a man's property without a warrant, and pose a fine without a formal hearing, let alone jury?-- trial by in chico, arkansas, james ware over planted his rice. the government obtained a $17,000 judgment and the u.s. marshals sold his farm at auction. the government said it was necessary as a warning to others to make the system work. [applause] last february 19, at the university of minnesota, norman thomas, six time candidate for president on the socialist party ticket said if barry goldwater became president, he would stop the advance of socialism in the united states. i think that is exactly what he will do. [applause] but as a former democrat, i can tell you norman thomas is not the only

end of january with the tet offensive in vietnam which undermined public confidence in president lyndon the war.n's conduct of war thatn vietnam is a president johnson inherited from president kennedy. but continued. escalated and in late 1967 in which of the year the election i'm talking about took place, johnson and other in his figures administration went around the called the hat they success offensive making the case we have finally turned the vietnam, that success was near. new year in vietnam is like thanksgiving in our country. in 1968 varies from year to year. happened to fall on january 30. because it was a holiday and a among read understanding the south vietnamese that a fire would be in place in de facto basis, the soldiers went back to their home villages with ighborhoods to be their families. the north vietnamese with the the vietcong, a ommunist force took that occasion in an attack they never had before, the major cities of including saigon, including for a few years of the g portions american embassy in saigon. studied the tet offensive militarily has concluded it ende

you can be a guy removed from it or lyndon johnson, as we all know, was down there working, you know,he famed johnson treatment to legislators. at the end of the day, are you the one everyone alooking at? that's the biggest appeal for both of them. they both interestingly had the same idol for who did that best, fdr. they interpreted the fdr leg ac differently. for johnson, for fdr the way he was able to transform people's lives, and johnson passed a progressive program. for reagan, fdr was able to connect with millions and millions of people he would never know, never see but he could make them feel like he knew who they were and what he wanted. reagan tried to imlate that in his own political career. >> you write reagan created his own legacy, lbj was always working off of kennedy. and you write, johnson would encourage the myth of kennedy, the martyr, so that he could be the martyr's redeemer. that way kennedy would live on forever and so would i. he had seen his country searching for a story to believe in. seizing a moment of opportunity in the chaotic aftermath of the assassinati

. >> ifill: finally tonight, president lyndon johnson was not the only member of his family to becomehampion of civil rights. lady bird johnson undertook her own campaign to save the law signed 50 years ago. her own whistle stop tour of the south. judy woodruff has that, lesser known, part of the story. i'm proud that i am part of the south. >> woodruff: less than a month before the presidential elections, lady bird johnson boarded a train in washington to step through eight southern states to win back southern democrats to lyndon johnson camp after the passage of the civil rights about. the president's aides were not sold on the use of such a trip including the director of the johnson presidential library. >> the president's advisors dissuaded lady bird johnson from making a trip through the south because they thought the southern states were a lost cause. lady bird johnson and lyndon johnson that it was important as southerners to state their case to fellow southerners even if they didn't vote for them. >> woodruff: lady bird was joined on the train for part of the trip as the johns

a search warrant is issued for the home of suspect lyndon wesley, but nothing is found.ns, or other evidence. suspect navahcia edwards, a part-time adult actress, has been tied to the crime. her credit card records show that she rented the getaway car and purchased the masks. because she's not making enough money as an adult actress, police believe she pulled off the heist to pay back the $20,000 she owes for stealing from a chase bank where she worked. it's that debt that winds up getting her arrested. >> she had not made full restitution on the bank embezzling case, we were actively out looking for her. we got the okay if we were to locate her to take her into custody based on the embezzlement case. we found her driving down 294 in a car by herself and some other detectives saw her driving, got behind her. i was in contact with the fbi and they said tell them to go ahead and pull her over and take her into custody. >> but once in custody, navahcia edwards doesn't cooperate. she continues to deny that she's responsible, even after her partner in crime and boyfriend, lyn

just as lyndon johnson did not kill jfk i did not order the watergate break-in. no one could have been more amazed the ninth tried to turn off on two occasions -- i know you like to write books of fiction. that is fine. >> i move u.s. to the fiction section in barnes and noble. >> everyone who has read your book told me it is a good book of fiction. i like to deal with facts. ideal with primary sources, not secondary sources. if and maybe when we go to court we wi >> i welcome that opportunity because truth is the ultimate defense . >> on these revisionist -- >> i am harold denton, i want to ask mr. dean if you could comment on your involvement or your knowledge of the high-level meetings that occurred and the people who attended those meetings that led up to the war on drugs and the operation intercept in el paso. >> i had absolutely none. >> no knowledge of that? >> none. >> none whatsoever. >> do you have an opinion of what occurred? >> buried the letters and newspaper -- >> you don't know the causes of the war on drugs. >> i do not. >> if you don't mind let's

handed a report of the residence commission on the assassination of president kennedy to president lyndon johnson in the oval office. the seven commissioners pictured here with president johnson and general counsel julie rankin concluded that lee harvey oswald had been alone in killing president kennedy. for warn commission worked nine months in this building, the washington office of the fw, a short walk to the supreme court building and the u.s. capitol. we set up a camera in a fourth floor conference room to talk to .nvestigative journals using key phone calls, documents and artifacts, explains how some the -- explains the lingering questions. >> we are now on the fourth floor of the u.s. capitol historic society. now i am going to show you the office of chief test is earl warren. his desk editors chair. feet froms than 150 the core building where he worked every day and then came here in the after-hours hours to see how the investigation was going on. if you glance out our no, you'll see why the proximity of the court and the building would be more to his choosing. >> this is an artif

lyndon johnson, war and poverty. state had to implement in a fashion that they found judicious these big programs. the affordable care act is the largest expansion of government in the last 50 years. what is interesting about the federal government, the federal government can do a whole lot. it's just in our own times we live in an age where there is the most economic inequality in american history since the gilded age in the late 19th century the age of the rockefellers and the vanderbilt, these titans. what the federal government can do when we think about ferguson would be whether it's a great society or an urban renewal program. what's interesting is that what impact white americans as well and latinos. the reason why i say that as americans we should think about black equality because even the new deal and great society because of institutional racism black equality was not actually achieved even though there were these huge federal mandates. in 2014 because we are aware of racial injustice we should have huge f

but he has-- he lacks the lyndon johnson touch, that made it possible for lyndon johnson to get thingsdone. >> rose: but that's also the abraham lincoln touch, isn't it? >> well it was. it was the abraham lincoln touch. now of course lincoln and johnson, their parties controlled congress by a substantial margins. and that has not been the case with obama. so in some respects, i think obama has been a victim of bad luck. >> rose: when it comes to the makeup of the opposition. >> in the terms of the makeup of the opposition and their implacable determination to oppose everything he stands for. >> rose: you were once told that you would be forced to choose between becoming a popular historian or a historian's historian. did you ever make that choice? >> i believe you can be both. >> rose: that's exactly what i was going to say. >> so i think-- . >> rose: because history is exciting and popular. >> yes. and i think that history can be serious. can be educational, and at the same time, can be entertaining. >> rose: yes. >> if it is well written. >> if it's well written. and if it has a grea

aspect is behind andrew cuomo and hitting him for being under federal criminal investigation after a lyndonnson 1984 daysy ads one of the most famous attack ads in u.s. history. >> 6, 6, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. >> these are the stakes. do we reelect a governor who may end up in jail? >> generally, an attack ad has to be believable. cuomo may go to jail or may not but that may not be as significant as a nuclear explosion. the ad is getting some attack. strategists in both parties say one of the most effective and entertaining ad campaigns this week came from rock the vote, the organization released a series of ads titled care like crazy. the spots underscore if younger people don't participate, more political power will go fopeople that they may not like. >> sure, voting's a hassle, getting registered and making time to vote. but between golf clinic and lunch at the club, i vote because only educated people will life experience should be voting, not kids who think they know everything. laws making it harder for rift-raft to vote? >> not going to glet a bunch of kids whine being their

we want a lyndon johnson who can make the system work.tive qualities and the neediness when it works in the political arena, but turn it off so that they never get into trouble in a personal way, never do anything untoward in their personal life and always treat people well we can't have that unless and until you accept politicians as the flawed complex human beings that the rest of us are. >> rose: so when you look at 2016, are people prepared, do you think, to see -- i mean, elections are always about the future, i think. >> i agree. >> rose: and some people i can i think look toá]t they want the future to be propelled by change, propelled by fresh ideas, and they look at people who have been around for a time and they say, welshes, you know, let's not and therefore it allows someone like barack obama to breakthrough if they are skilled, if they are articulate, if they have an experience that in a sense people say i feel good about supporting this idea. someone with a terrific academic record, someone who had a terrific family, someone

going back lyndon johnson was totally out of control. he would sit on the toilet and defecate as he was being briefed and hold a press conference at his ranch in texas and friends of the mill reporters the allied air force one he would strip naked as soon as he got on to the airplane with his own daughters and wife care on the airplane. one day when he was vice president johnson was late with an appointment for jfk and about 5:00 p.m. it was rush hour. so he told secret service to drive up on the sidewalk to get there faster and he refused and then johnson said you are fired for care of that well-known every day. he wasn't the president he would be in a mental hospital but it is true we trust them under his direction to decide who is a maniac. when you peel back that area you find we really have made for judgments to electing our presidents and vice presidents. the secret service despite the recent publicity over all did a good job. when they get a of a threat into one of three categories class three as the intent to carry out the assass

on, hubert humphrey approached nelson regarding the campaign. >> by the way, you use a book from lyndon johnson, and it says that nelson's wife is not going to let him get off the ground, that was in 1964. >> that was part of the political realities of the time. it was funny, because people also have the contemporary connections. remember the mississippi elections when senator cochran won the him probably with the support of african-american voters who had registered. one of the great climactic, epic battle of these 64 campaign was goldwater versus rockefeller in california. which, and boasters, believe it or not, there was a poll but said that 70% of california republicans considered themselves moderates through the but it was the primary campaign to end all primary campaigns. groundwater was way ahead, and stews spencer, the great political strategist from the several campaigns, including ronald reagan, told me that were almost turned it around were african-american voters, mostly in los angeles, 50,000 of whom reregistered as republicans to vote in the primary for nelson rockefeller.

known as "the flying housewife," mock was honored at the white house by president lyndon johnson. geraldine mock died yesterday at her home in florida. she was 88. jimmy carter became a member of the nonagenarian president's club today. he celebrated with his wife rosalyn at the carter center in atlanta. mr. carter said winning the white house was the highlight of his political career, but he said his post-presidency has been the best time of his life. there's a story behind these amazing pictures. why are so many walrus coming ashore? that's next. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. ♪ i remember when i wouldn't give a little cut a second thought. when i didn't worry about the hepatitis c in my blood. when i didn't think twice about where i left my razor. hep c is a serious disease. take action now. go to hepc.com or call 1

because i am like you, congressman i have known people in the secret service sinned the lyndon johnson administration and these are great people who put their lives on the lines, patriots to the core kerr and this thing seems to be coming apart. >> one of the things -- >> i don't think it is necessarily all of a -- all of a sudden, by the way. i think that based upon some information we have gotten from whistle blowers, this goes back a ways. and just the information has not come out. don't get me wrong, the secret service is a great organization, but you have got -- we have got to look at certain things, like training, there has been a reduction in training. again, morale. this whole idea of reduction, with regard to high turnover. things of that nature. and it has led to a group of secret service agents who feel more comfortable, bob, coming to the congress and even going to their own superiors, and it seems as if we have a secrety service that doesn't even trust itself and that leads us to a lot of problems. and so ms. pearson, the director, the former director, she was in kind of a

so you see president obama, and i'm reminded of an article you wrote, bill, five years ago on lyndon johnson's decision to escalate the vietnam war and how johnson at that point felt that there was no good was going to come out of that escalation, that there was no purpose in it. but how could he face down these senators if he didn't stand up to -- -- and i feel that president obama has the same challenge. how does he not come across as being weak-willed or not tough on terror? the other thing, too, is that again we, for decades now this has been our policy, so how do you extricate yourself from that policy? we spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country. and when you add up to the department of defense, department of state, cia, veterans affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the iraq and afghan wars. so we're in this system that how do you start to break do

so we read the lyndon johnson biographies, martin luther king, john f. kennedy, bobby kennedy, and those all have important be sections on civil rights. but when you think about it, it's sort of the story about the blind men describing an elephant, you know? one touches the trunk and doesn't know about the tail and such. it's the same thing when you're doing biography. biography is a great format, but one thing that it does is it can't help but overemphasize the role of the subject in whatever they're talking about. even if the author tries to downplay it, the readers can say, well, you know, obviously lyndon johnson or john f. kennedy was absolutely central to the way the civil rights act passed, you know? it was his bill or his bill. and none of that's wrong. i think, as i said, there's some wonderful biographies out there. but they just, by nature, don't tell the whole story. and that is the way the story is often told. so what i wanted to do was say, well, what if we make the civil rights act the core? what happens then? and i was motivated also by,

that violence in 1965 inspires lyndon johnson on march 15th, 1965, in a joint address to congress to says that civil rights is a national priority. voting rights a national priority and johnson calls it a turning point in the politics of the dignity of humankind and the destiny of democracy. august 6th, 1965, the voting rights act is passed. five days later, los angeles explodes after an encounter between police and local people. that is the heroic period of the civil rights movement. i preface my comments on stokely carmichael by giving a short sketch precisely because even before stokely carmichael called for black power in 1966, he is one of the key activists in united states working for civil rights and radical democracy during the second half of the civil rights movement's heroic period. we think about stokely carmichael, before we can talk about the movement for black power we think of him as a community organizer, a community activist who from 1965 to 1966 was arrested 27 times for civil rights organizing. a student right here in washington d.c. at howard university who joined

lacks the lyndon johnson touch that made across the double -- that made it possible to get things doneit was the abraham lincoln touch. lincoln and johnson, their parties controlled congress by substantial margins. that has not been the case with obama. in some respects obama has been victim of bad luck. >> in terms of the makeup of the opposition? determination to oppose everything he stands for. >> you were once told you would be forced to choose between being a popular historian or a historian's historian. did you make that choice? >> i believe you can be both. >> i thought you would say that. >> history can be serious. history can be educational. , entertaining.e >> if it is well-written. >> if it has a great story to tell. >> if there is passion. that's right. >> live your passion for the civil war? >> the civil war is the hand everything that has happened in american history, fulfill the promise of the revolution and the constitution, the united states would survive as a nation based on broad popular suffrage. not as broad as today. most states blacks could not vote. more than an