kennedy and lyndon baines johnson. so now it is afternoon. good afternoon. and remembering that we're honoring two presidents, george washington and abraham lincoln. here is a little something from abraham lincoln that seems fit for this afternoon. the probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. that seems to be very appropriate for our conversation about civil rights in the united states. we ended the conversation in the first panel having looked at the double "v" victory, the world war ii, the cold war, the personal responses of people like ernie green of the little rock nine to what was happening in terms of the violence, and the movement by both truman and eisenhower, though they not be supporters of social equality to do some things to move the country forward with regard to civil rights. now we come to the terms of john f. kennedy and lyndon baines johnson typically regarded by people who think of the modern civil rights movement as two presidents that were very much associated w

lyndon b. johnson. >>> 35 years. that's how long two-time pulitzer prize winning author robert carol has spent researching, thinking about, and writing about the life of president lyndon baineshat extraordinary toil, other than two pulitzer prizes, 3,388 pages so far. he has just published the "passage of power," the fourth volume of his l.b.j. biography, and the 76-year-old is far from done. he says he will move to vietnam to write the next volume on the warriors. before he does that, he joins me today. >> great to be back. >> so in the last volume, you had gotten to the point where lyndon johnson, through this extraordinary skill he had at running the senate, had passed the most -- the most important civil rights legislation since reconstruction, perhaps one of the most important pieces of legislation in american history. >> yes. >> then he begins his years as vice president, which is a huge letdown for a man who had really run washington. >> yes. he is humiliated by the kennedys. they look down on him, and they're afraid of him. they're afraid to let him on the leash. they keep him on a very short leash. he is, as you say, probably the greatest legislator in american hist

the papers of the lyndon baines johnson, the 36th president of the united states. when you want to do research in the boxes, you sit in this room the boxes that you want. an archivist goes down and brings them up to you on your the hole in the boxes, the box on your desk. that is what happens. the boxes are brought up when you want to read them. >> this is an honor for me. for many years, i have been watching ted kennedy and the senate appeared in my last book, i wanted to write about the senate and its history and power. in order to get a feeling for the institution itself, i would sit week after week in the room trying to absorb how it worked. meant to america. anything, he writes "no." sometimes he writes "no out." he said that meant he was never getting anything from lyndon johnson. >> that was when he was head of the congressional campaign decide how much money to give. what does it reveal? >> all power corrupts. i do not think that is always true. i think what is always true is that power reveals. case of lyndon johnson. power does not always corrupt. they ca

kennedy and lyndon baines johnson, typically regarded by people who think of the modern civil rights movement as two presidents that were very much associated with civil rights. and the question on the program is to ask how legislation was moved forward. what were the forces that inspired the legislative process by these two presidents to advance actual civil rights legislation. and we certainly have the panel to do that. so let's start with -- because i like a little context. after we leave eisenhower and now it's john f. kennedy's time, what was happening in the country in terms of the naacp, in terms of what lawyers were doing. kenneth mack, in terms of the restlessness of the black community about where civil right was. because the little rock nine, that was considered a victory of sorts. but yet we were so far from legislation. kenneth mack, i think i'll start with you. >> okay. >> all right. put the context for us. >> what was going on in the country? several things. first, the brown decision had been decided. it had been unevenly enforced. there had been the little rock crisis

he's the director of the lyndon baines johnson presidential library and museum, and he himself is a journalist and an acclaimed author, and i hope he asks these guys the toughest questions, so without any further adieu, please welcome mr. mark updegrove, miss susan sterner, miss carol powers and mr. david hume kennerly. [ applause ] >> well, thank you. it's a great honor to be here. the great ancel adams photographer once said a photograph is usually looked at but rarely looked into. today we have the opportunity to look into the photographs of three great photographers and what they say about three extraordinary first ladies, two of whom are in the first row. betty ford, barbara bush and laura bush, and i have the easiest job of anybody today because i get to run this panel like tom sawyer painted his fence. i get my friends to do it, and they are going to share some of their work with you and talk about the extraordinary images that they have taken, and the first one up at this podium will be david kennerly, and i'll tell you a quick story about david kennerly which happens to be true. it in

. >> mark updegrove, director of the lyndon baines johnson presidential library and museum, recounts the presidency of lyndon johnson. sworn into office following the assassination of john f. kennedy, president johnson served for five years and signed 207 laws, including the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> good afternoon. i'm director of the john f. kennedy presidential library and museum, and on behalf of tom mcknight, executive director of the kennedy library foundation and all of my library and foundation colleagues i thank you all for coming and our c-span viewers tuning in. i also acknowledge the generous underwriters of the kennedy library forum, lead sponsor, banc of america, raytheon, boston capital, the boston foundation and our media partners "the boston globe" your let me state from the outset as clearly as i can that few individuals stood more to help john f. kennedy get elected and his running mate, lyndon johnson, who had an impact on jfk's victory in the 1960 election. it must also be noted that before

and mark updegrove of lyndon baines johnson's library down the road. want to say something about doris kearns goodwind, we're fortunate to have her here. she's an awesome historian. i read a lot of history when i was president. i can hear people saying, we paid you all that money and all you did was sit around reading? it was fascinating. i didn't watch much tv. anyway, it was fascinating to read history while i had the honor of making history, and no better historian to help a president understand the past and the future, by the way, than doris kearns goodwind, so we're honored you're here. and so the other thing that impressed me about doris kearns goodwin is she raised a son who became a united states marine, volunteered to be a united states marine, after september the 11th. i had the honor of introducing the best first lady ever. mom, would you take a tie? obviously, i don't mind being surrounded by strong women. i was raised by one. i married one. and i believe we're raising two. welcome, former first ladies, barbara and laura bush. >> thank you

kennedy and lyndon baines johnson.

what you're looking at here are the papers of the lyndon baines johnson, the 36th president of the unitedtates. >> this is the reading room? >> you have to be an accredited researcher to use it. when you want to do research in the boxes, you sit in this room and put in a request form for the boxes that you want. an archivist goes down and brings them up to you on your desk and you accumulate a whole cart of boxes. sometimes you can actually see the hole in the boxes, the box on your desk. that is what happens. the boxes are brought up when you want to read them. >> this is an honor for me. for many years, i have been watching ted kennedy and the senate appeared in my last book, i wanted to write about the senate and its history and power. in order to get a feeling for the institution itself, i would sit week after week in the senate gallery in the committee room trying to absorb how it worked. while i was doing it, i came by accident to the realization of how much edward kennedy has meant to america. >> if he is the giving them anything, he writes "no." sometimes he writes "no out." he sa

. >> in your fourth book, you talk about the tension between lyndon baines johnson and robert kennedy. give us some background on when they did it and why there's so much hatred. >> it is fascinating. lyndon johnson is a majority leader. robert kennedy is this 27 year olds one for a senator joseph. how do we know what happened the first time? they told me the same story. he had breakfast every morning. joe mccarthy had a big round table near the register or he would do its. johnson walks in. mccarthy is there with 45. mccarthy jumps upper. all the others there get up. johnson walks over. he sees that bobby kennedy is not getting up. he stands there. he is forcing him. he does. george is his press secretary. he says there was no reason for it you see two dogs coming into the room. it is a low growl. it is something between those two guys. two guys.

a man of distinguished service to this country as a military veteran who was decorated by lyndon baines johnsongospel year in and year out. to reduce his ministry to a sound bite which is what happened in the last election won't play well this time around. and of course, it shows that the republicans are stuck in the paflt that's the theme that the democrats can exploit usefully to show, we're forward. they're meyered in what is behind us. >> in a rare appearance before reporters, mitt romney appeared and he disavowed this campaign. but was asked about a previous interview with sean hannity where he referenced jeremiah wright, completely unprompted. here's what romney said today. listen to this, krystal. >> i'm not familiar with precisely what i said but i stand by what inwhatever it was. >> krystal, i'm not precisely aware of what i said. but i stand by what i said. explain that to me. >> it is classic rox i think there was a story about how he has been very kicking reporters off the rope line. he's been very hard to get ahold of. he has not done many interviews. i think comments like that are

the moment when lyndon baines johnson was sworn in as america's 36th president is at the heart of a fourthllment of an epic series "the years of lyndon johnson: the passage of power." author, historian robert caro, has been working on this for only 40 years, and joins me now. it is such a privilege, such a pleasure. i have to tell you that as a young journalist, i read "the power broker," the robert moses book, and ended up teaching it in an urban studies class that i was teaching in philadelphia as the perfect example of how power can corrupt the soul. so, i've been wanting to meet you for only 40 years. it's great to even see you this way. tell us about, set the stage for how lyndon johnson was so, really abused by the kennedys, by the white house staff, as vice president in 1963, and then of course, going into dallas. >> well, you know, jackie kennedy once wrote ted sorensen, jack kennedy's speech writer "you must know how frightened my husband became that lyndon johnson might become president one day" that was after the cuban missile process while the kennedys were trying defuse the cr

he has spent more than 30 years of his life chron klg the life of president lyndon baines johnson. there's these three books already out "the path to power, means of ascent, master of the senate" and now this book, it is called "the passage of power." it clearly is the passage of power from president kennedy to president johnson. it is a remarkable book and many people have talked about it. columnist in george will has said that when the multivolume series is complete it will rank as america's most ambitiously conceived, assiduously researched and compulsively readable political biography. i am pleased to have robert caro back at this table. welcome. >> i'm glad to be back. >> rose: this is what the "new york times" said: "this engrossing volume spanning 1958 to 1964 is the fourth and presumably penultimate volume in the series that began with the path to power published in 1982 and it showcases mr. caro's masterly gift as a writer, his sense of narrative, his talent for enabled readers to see and feel history in the making and his ability to situate his subjects' actions within th

robert caro has spent nearly four decades telling the story of a single man-- former president lyndon baines johnson. the fourth hefty volume in his series of biographies is "the passage of power." it covers the pivotal four years between 1960 to 1964 as he rose from senator to vice president then through the stunning tragedy of the kennedy assassination to president. and there yet a fifth volume to come. robert caro joins me now. >> nice to be here. >> ifill: seems like this is a book about transformation. >> yes, the transformation at the lyndon johnson as the mighty senate majority leader, the most powerful majority leader in history. he was sentenced to the pit of the vice presidency and three years of humiliation and in the single crack of a gunshot it's all reversed and he's president of the united states. >> pelley: you use that term "crack of a gunshot" throughout the book. seems li that is the running theme. he says he thought it was a motorcycle... he knew it was the crack of a hunting rifle. so does the secret service agent in johnson's car. at the moment the gunshot sounds he sees the pr

peace prize in oslo, norway, and he was summoned to the white house by then lyndon baines -- president lyndon baines johnson. while at the white house, dr. king looked lyndon johnson and the guy and said, president johnson, now is -- looked him square in the eye and said, president johnson, now is the time for the rights act. and he said, don't take me there today. you know i just use all of my capital and resources and good will in trying to get the congress to pass a civil rights act. we've got to wait on a voting rights act. dr. king said, mr. president, i'm very disappointed with you. because you know the 15th amendment that was added to the constitution in 1870 has no meaning for african-americans today. we need a voting rights act. that is when selma, montgomery took place and all of the violence that you know so much about. it is what john lewis would have talked about today. that is when they sell month, montgomery -- selma, montgomery voting rights movement began. and pres. johnson called a nationwide press conference to announce that he was changing his position and that he would support a strong

in fact when i recently read about lyndon baines johnson talking to his to thank ambassador south vietnamhenry cabot lodge and saying, i'm not going to go down in history as the first american president to lose a war and mumbled under my breath, hold the phone. that ship sailed because hasn't james madison already lost the war at least sort of? which made me think a little bit about a winners than losers and he won the war of 1812 anyways? although it may seem one candidate is canada -- that me explain. and a handed misreading of what the neighbors were thinking, and many americans talked themselves into thinking that the canadians would welcome an invading american forces open arms and it wasn't only jefferson. henry clay assured president madison that the militia of kentucky alone competent to place canada at your feet. quite incorrect as it happened. when it came to the american invasion the canadians did not welcome the south as liberators and a three-pronged invasion of canada approved abject failure. in august 1812 the northwestern army of the united states surrendered to a much sma

when he came back to this country he was summoned to the white house by then president lyndon baines johnsons work on civil rights and while at the white house, dr. king looked lyndon johnson squarely in the eye and say, president johnson, now is the time sir, for a voting rights act. president johnson said no, don't take me there today. you know i just used all of my capital and all my resources and all my good goodwill trying to persuade the congress to pass a civil rights act. we have got to wait on voting rights act. dr. king said, mr. president, i'm very dis.ed with you, you know the 15th amendment that was added to the constitution in 1870 has really no meaning to african-americans today. we need a voting rights act. that is when selma to montgomery took place and all of the violence you know so much on the edmund fetter bridge that i'm sure john lewis would have talked about today. that is when the selma to montgomery voting rights movement began in earnest. finally in 1965 president johnson called a nationwide press conference to announce he was changing his position. he would suppor

in fact when i recently read about lyndon baines johnson talking to his to thank ambassador south vietnamenry cabot lodge and saying, i'm not going to go down in history as the first american president to lose a war and mumbled under my breath, hold the phone. that ship sailed because hasn't james madison already lost the war at least sort of? which made me think a little bit about a winners than losers and he won the war of 1812 anyways? although it may seem one candidate is canada -- that me explain. and a handed misreading of what the neighbors were thinking, and many americans talked themselves into thinking that the canadians would welcome an invading american forces open arms and it wasn't only jefferson. henry clay assured president madison that the militia of kentucky alone competent to place canada at your feet. quite incorrect as it happened. when it came to the american invasion the canadians did not welcome the south as liberators and a three-pronged invasion of canada approved abject failure. in august 1812 the northwestern army of the united states surrendered to a much smal