he loved lyndon johnson like his son. he would spend perhaps most sundays in washington at the johnson's home. he loved the two danzig girls. the two johnson girls. connolly says go in there and talk to bobby kennedy. i have got to sign sam rayburn. he is a very smart, brilliant little man. he is a little timid. he walked back out. he said bobby kennedy was glaring at me. i walked outside. i said i will deal with him. i will not stay in there. connolly comes back with sam rayburn. bobby kennedy says he wants lyndon johnson to withdraw from the ticket. raborn says to bobby kennedy " are you authorized to speak for your brother?" bobby kennedy's "saysno." -- kennedy says "no." he says "they come back when you are." he comes down a third time to do get johnson to withdraw and this time he meets with johnson along. >> what do you think out of all the research did jack kennedy sent his brother down to get him off the ticket or not? >> i do not know. i do not know. no one can really know. robert kennedy and world history says of

lyndon johnson basically says "you cannot go around harry byrd." he has nine votes. >> they said how you know? >> johnson says "harry byrd always has 9 votes." we had to give what harry byrd wanted and we can have the tax cut bill. they realize $100 billion is a magic figure. he was the budget under $100 billion. the tax-cut bill starts. >> robert caro is our guest. his fourth book called "passage of power." >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] for a dvd copy of this program call 1-877-662-7726. for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at www.q-and- a.org. "q & a" programs are also available as c-span podcasts.

he admires lyndon johnson.hey made sure that lyndon johnson did not even know about the bay of pigs. that whole weekend, he is sent by kennedy to introduce the german chancellor a round texas to the legislature. he takes into a country fair. he is not even in washington during the bay of pigs. whether he actually ever knew about it, probably he never knew there was a planned invasion. one thing after another is that the kennedy administration does comment. they do not tell them. when kennedy introduces the civil rights bill, for a while they will not bring into the picture at all. finally ted sorensen calls to get advice. johnson has to say "i do not know what is in the bill. i know what i read in the new york times." this is the greatest parliamentarians of america and the 20th-century. this is a man to get things through congress that no one else could get through congress and they have not even consulted him on the bill or told him what is in it. the cuban missile crisis is a more involved story. at the end

>>he was lyndon johnson's press secretary with a couple from 1950 to 1965. in the senate, he is the closest aide and johnson relied on him. george reedy was a brilliant man. johnson relied on him to help him work out the strategy. -- in the senate. >> this is a couple of minutes. it is lyndon johnson on the phone with george reedy so we think it's a sense of what their relationship was. >> why would you answer me in there? >> i was outside. >> it is in the east room. >> they say 645 is the best time. we could lay it to them cold. they say 635 and cbs will carry live. abc will carry live. >> i thought 7:00? what it was and they will do it. we'll get better play at 645. >> i do believe that. -- i don't believe that. 7:00. 6:45 is 4:45 in part of our country. >> it will be replayed. >> that is not an answer. >> 5:00 is when people are getting off. i do not see why it it would be better. >> most of the stations will carry it live. that is why. they will do it at 7:00. there's no question there. >> i think you're stations will carry it. >> i do not think that. >>

that's why i call it the years of lyndon johnson. i wanted to show american history during the years of his life, and not just his life. c-span: in your acknowledgement, you thank a lot of people from the lyndon b. johnson library in austin, texas. >> guest: yes. c-span: how many years did you spend in the library? >> guest: well, i can't answer that. i've been working on the book for 14 years, ah, and in each year there are months that i spend in the library... some less than others. i've never counted that up. we've also spent, you know, a lot of time living up on the edge of the hill country in texas, so that i could interview the people in the perdenales valley, where johnson grew up -- people who grew up with him, the people who went to college with him, the people who were his first political machine, and i wanted to learn that whole culture of the hill country, so i could understand him better. c-span: you were born where? >> guest: i was born in new york city on central park west, where i now live. c-span: what's the first thi

jack kennedy came down the stairs early in the morning and offered lyndon johnson... in effect offered him the vice presidency. johnson says he has to think about it but jack kennedy goes upstairs and there's a bunch of northern leaders and they're congratulating him, he says in effect "i think he'll take it." three times after that that day robert kennedy comes down those back stairs, three times he tries to get johnson to withdraw from the ticket. the first time he sees sam rayburn and john connolly. rayburn is the mighty... the great speaker of the house and john connolly is lyndon johnson's top aide and you know why johnson picked connolly to run his campaign? he says "he's the only man tough enough to handle bobby kennedy." so bobby kennedy there's with rayburn and connolly and he says "there's going to be a terrible fight, the liberals don't want johnson, labor doesn't want him. how about if he accepts instead the chairmanship of the democratic national committee?" and rayburn replies in a four letter expletive. bobby kennedy leaves and goes back upstairs. someti

she came to work with lyndon johnson in 1962 when i believe she was a secretary who was very close to johnson. because she was a good observer. to me, i do not care -- all ishe was in dallas after the assassination. she is on the plane. sometimes she said things enough really to make you cry. she describes, if i misquote, i do not have the book, she has to get the oath. was when he first learned about his brother being shot. the swimming pool at hickory hill, his estate. attorney. they see a workman, this is a big house been repainted, they transistor radio. lawn where they are sitting. at that very moment before theit is j. edgar hoover saying that his brother has been shot, perhaps fatally. emotion at all. after he was shot? in taxes or wait until i get willhe's not really asking. taxes and for robert kennedy to agree it is the best course. when will will after he learned his brother's death, the man he hates is now lure the oath. i said, how was his voice? she said, like steel, controlled. that. she said i was sorry to be doing it but it had to be done. she was a great admirer of l

i want you to answer my question about lyndon johnson. >> lyndon johnson, when he signed the first civil rights johnson was wonderful. he deserves the most total respect for the achievement of piloting it through. kennedy was scared and south boston's reaction to segregation was not quite as violent as birmingham but it was shocking and they liked lincoln about emancipation proclamation. i think it's not fair to the responsiveness of the kennedys. johnson was wonderful, but he coasted on the tragedy of kennedys with all of his skill, he deserves the most respectful achievement for piloting it through but it was all those events that happened before including the kennedy's commitment. >> roger if you would answer it and then i want kenneth to answer that. we are at the end, so i'll ask you to be brief and pithy. >> recap your question. >> is it fair and accurate, or accurate or both, that lyndon johnson pretty much gets the credit for being the civil rights president on legislation, or that was teed up by the kennedys, some would say? >> when lyndon johnson became president, it happened t

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 that inspired partnership, the tw

president lyndon b. johnson. >>> 35 years. pulitzer prize winning author robert carol has spent researching, thinking about, and writing about the life of president lyndon baines johnson. the result of that 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

he whirls around, grabs lyndon johnson's shoulder, throws him to the floor of the back seat, jumps overront seat and lies on top of him as the cars start to speed off to the hospital. johnson was later to say, "i'll never forget his knees in my back" and elbows in my back. and the agent, rufus, says to johnson, when we get to that hospital, don't stop and look at anything. we're going to get you to a safe place. so, as the car stopped, johnson doesn't even have a chance to look in kennedy's car, where, in fact, the president is lying in a pool of blood on the back seat. hands lift him out of the car, four agents rush him through the corridors. another agent is running behind him with an assault rifle. found one after another until they find the cubicle you were talking about. they put johnson in there. the agent is standing in front of him. in the room between that and the corridor are two other agents and in front of that, a secret service agent who says don't let anybody pass you unless you know theirs face. and that's where johnson is standing for 40 minutes. >> it's really extraordi

lyndon johnson, jack kennedy and bobby kennedy. lyndon johnson despises jack kennedy. but he's the senate majority leader, kennedy is a young senator. johnson said of him "he's pathetic. he was pathetic as a senator, he didn't even know how to address the chair." he used to mock him, he used to literally call him not a man's man. he said he used to say to people "you know how skinny his ankles are?" and he'd hold up his fingers like this. he doesn't realize... he thinks he's going to have the democratic nomination in 1960. he doesn't realize that this young senator for whom he has no respect really is a great politician and is racing around the country corraling delegates and pressing people and taking the nomination away from him. by the time johnson wakes up it's too late. >> ifill: and his little brother who was considered the real number two when president kennedy was president, attorney general, he would be undercutting him at every turn, at least that's the way johnson saw it. >> bobby kennedy, you hate to use words as a historian like hatred, but hatred isn't to

lyndon johnson says to him, you save my face today, i'll save your face tomorrow. ad man to cross, but a good man to have on your side. one of the other senators wants something, has to do with a mineral bill. johnson says he will give it to him. in 14 minutes if i have that right, the exact time is in my book, he has turned these three senators around. if you want to know a contrast in style, i mean, lyndon johnson was a contrast with everyone else. he was the greatest legislator certainly since roosevelt and perhaps even including roosevelt. he was a legislative genius. it seems impossible to pass a voting rights act in 1965. he does it vote by vote. it's almost -- you know, if you care about my books. my books are really about political power. if you care about political power, you say there never was a man with a talent -- a talent that is beyond a talent a gift that's beyond a gift. there never was anyone who could do this like johnson. >> robert carol, fascinating as always. up next, why a nation is taking out its anger on a dummy? i'll explain. there've been

one of the things she talks about as hard as it was to work for lyndon johnson, you had to lady bird johnson sort of as a buffer. one of the things she said, i always made sure i walked behind him and said thank you. [laughter] and i really do believe they came as a package deal. there was one aid in there, to the johnsons who says, you know, aids to presidents never have a meal with the president and first lady. it was hard to get out of a meal with lyndon and lazy bird johnson. they treated you as family when you were at the ranch and johnson spent a fifth after the presidency at the ranch where he could relax and conduct business. everybody ate with the johnsons. everybody ate around a large table. they were truly a package deal. it's easier to understand lbj when you understand lady bird. and i thought about this. it took me about two hours to instruct the sentence that i think sums up the relationship. and that is, one wonders whether johnson allowed his demons to graze knowing that she would ward them off by quietly summoning. i think she had that effect on her. the calm, she al

you started living with lyndon johnson in the 1970s. are you still learning things about this man today? >> yes. i was astonished for this book to learn the sheer legislative genius with which he got, for example, the civil rights bill started again. >> so what are your big questions that you hope to address in the next volume? >> in the next volume? >> yeah. >> well, the next volume will be very darker in tone. this is really about the finest moment in lyndon johnson's life. when he takes over the government and really asserts himself and starts these wonderful programs moving. the next volume is how vietnam comes to gradually overshadow these programs and how his presidency really ends, not in triumph, but you might say in tragedy. >> wow. so that is going to be a lot darker. >> yes. >> when will that be out? >> did my publisher ask you to tell that question? two or three years. >> what about publishing right now? are you seeing a lot of changes in publishing since you started? so much information flow happens all the time. we're in t

this is really about the finest moments in lyndon johnson's life.hen he takes over the government and really asserts himself and starts these wonderful prprograms moving. the next volume is how vietnam comes to gradually overshadow these programs and how his presidency really ends, not in triumph, but you might say in tragedy. >> that is going to be a lot darker. >> yes. >> when will that be out? >> my publisher tell you that? two or three yes. >> whaabout publishin right now. are you seeing a lot of changes in publishing since you started? so much information flow happens all the time. we're in this huge digital movement. what's the value of digging deep as you do today? >> well, you know, if you find out something, i'm trying to talk about political power in my book. if you find out something about how it works and you try to explain it to people, and you manage to explain it to people, i don't say i have but that's what i've tried to do. you don't want to explain to just one generation, you want the book to last. i've been frig books 40 years. "t

but hate isn't too strong to describe bobby kennedy and lyndon johnson. when johnson is vice president, robert kennedy seldom invites him, he had great parties at hickory hill. when johnson is invited he's put at what robert kennedy's wife ethyl calls the loser's table. and johnson know os it's the loser's table. >> jon: i've been at that table. and then afterwards he has a phone call with robert. >> yes. one of the most, you know, the man who told me about this call, nicholas-- died yesterday. he was robert kennedy's deputy attorney general. and i said what is the reason for the call, you know, johnson from air force one calls robert kennedy, a few minutes after he is learned that the brother he loved so much is dead. to ask him the formalities of how he takes over his brother's position. and catsenbach said you know, cohave told me, cohave called any one of a hundred government officials, forget the wording of the oath of office, we all knew it and i spoke to johnson's secretary who took down the oath of office. i said well what was it like. he said well

lyndon johnson could be quite a bully. it's true that he drank. he didn't have a big drinking problem. remember he came to the presidency after the assassination of president kennedy. the country wanted to like a president. it seems like a long time ago. it was right after the assassination. for whatever his flaws and failures were per seaved or otherwise weren't, lyndon johnson got things done. as far as the press corps was concerned, it was a different era in the same way that the president never reported things in president john kennedy's private life that now seem so appalling. yes, people knew johnson drank. yes, he could be a bully. yes, they knew that side. but like it or not, prison it or damn it, that was the ethos of the press corps. you don't talk about that stuff. you talk about what he gets accomplished and what he doesn't get accomplished. chris: the hard stuff. what do you think about that? people start to write about him years later. >> i think it's a better way of going about it for us. we've got to give these people some humanity

lyndon johnson was calling him all the time, asking for favors and airplanes. nixon just wanted to keep johnson mollified. >> how did you to work together? >> we have been doing this a long time. i do not know how many stories we have written. we had a working pattern of handing things off back and forth were one of us would do the initial excavation and turn over what we found. at this point, we're finishing each other's sentences. >> you live in different cities. >> that is probably the reason why it works. michael is reporting resources of the last five administrations, he focused more on the recent president. he was able to talk not just to their top adviser, but president bush and president carter were helpful to us. it is interesting listing to them talk about what they all meant to one another. >> by the way, george walker bush? i did not see an interview with him. >> he is in there by e-mail. >> how long did they spend with you? >> he does not do interviews anymore. that one was by e-mail. he is a great and funny writer. if you have an experience, and kn