many civil rights activist did not trust lyndon johnson. they saw him as a somewhat typical southern senator. that he would side with the south and johnson, it in 1957, had not lived up to the hopes of the civil rights activist. johnson felt it was the right thing to do, it also it would be in his political interest and if one looks at the history of the debate and the enactment, president and his death -- president kennedy's death is never present subtext there. it is crucial that we remember the violence of the early 1960's, before detroit, before newark. in the summer of 1963, talk of rioting was rampant, not just in the south, but other parts of the country. this is part of a fear that was very much in the minds of lawmakers in both parties in 1963 and 64. the assassination was part of that. >> mitt romney received about six percent of the african-american vote. in recent elections, the republican nominee getting 12-15% overall. what does the gop need to do? >> i think the divide between the gop and african-americans is fundamentally a d

many civil rights activist did not trust lyndon johnson. they saw him as a somewhat typical southern senator. that he would side with the johnson, it in 1957, had not lived up to the hopes of the civil rights activist. johnson felt it was the right thing to do, it also it would be in his political interest and if one looks at the history of the debate and the enactment, president and his death -- president kennedy's death is .ever present subtext there it is crucial that we remember the violence of the early 1960's, before detroit, before newark. in the summer of 1963, talk of rampant, not just in the south, but other parts of the country. this is part of a fear that was very much in the minds of lawmakers in both parties in 1963 and 64. the assassination was part of that. >> mitt romney received about six percent of the african-american vote. theecent elections, republican nominee getting 12-15% overall. what does the gop need to do? >> i think the divide between the gop and african-americans is fundamentally a disagreement over the role of

lyndon johnson realized he was no longer in charge of the war.d a 36 when we started. we got 21 killed. >> what were you thinking about? >> i was thinking of my wife and my baby that i haven't seen, i guess. i got a baby coming in june. that was on my mind. i knew we were going to get overrun. >> if you look at the history of vietnam, it was a tragic comedy of errors from beginning to end. and the tragedy of johnson is that he achieved remarkable things, particularly in terms of civil rights, but will be remembered for vietnam. >> it's the full shakespearean wheel of fortune, the man who has nothing who rises to everything and then loses it all. >> in a moment of tragedy and trauma, the duties of this office fell upon me with american sons in the field far away, and america's future under challenge right here at home, i have concluded that i should not permit the presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year. accordingly, i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for ano

do you think lyndon johnson lied about vietnam? >> yes. i do. you know, i've -- i tried very hard. you know, in the case of bush, i actually was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. because if someone believes it, if it's a matter of conviction and they've persuaded themselves of something that's untrue, is that a lie? or do they just have misguided beliefs that, you know. and i tried to give bush e benefit of the doubt there. but over time, each passing year, i've decided that i was way too generous. and the -- i look at flatly -- did they make statements that weren't true? the answer is yes. did they decide they were going to willfully do that over a period of two years? and was it an orchestrated campaign? and it was false statements. those were not coincidental. if you look who said what, when. and the when, especially, is quite relevant. this was an orchestrated campaign. which, of course, scott mcclellan, the press secretary to bush, publicly essentially said in his memoir after our report, "iraq: the war card" came out, by the way, a -- and so i believe in both cases

famous black entertainment, challenges lyndon johnson and lady bird johnson about the war in vietnam.r a black woman to be invited to the white house for a ladies tee, you know, the perception enemy he was and the spin on the story was that she was so disrespectful, she stepped out of her lane. she had violated the sanctity of "an invitation to the white house" when she got in the first lady's face, and the presidents of face, to talk about this excursion that was killing our boys in vietnam. so the media just rip her to shreds after her appearance, after statement at the white house. so dr. king reached out comfortable he sent her a personal telegram and then he reached out to talk to her to tell her how courageous he thought she was for standing up to the president, respectfully, standing up to the presiden thed the first lady and telling them that this vietnam war was wrong, needlessly and unnecessarily killing american boys. .. but his words, his spirit, the loven his heart, the hope in his soul i was introduced to at age 12. and though he h(q long since been dead, i was facing a

was it lyndon johnson, jimmy carter, or richard nixon? we're going to give you those answers when we get back.

who knows if the next shot would have been for lyndon johnson. at parkland hospital. four agents reach in and grab johnson and pull him out and start to run him down one corridor. looking for a safe place. >> mr. johnson, his whereabouts are being kept secret for security reasons. if anyone knows where mr. johnson is, it is not us at this moment. >> it was a signal moment in our cultural history. suddenly it occurred to us the right thing to do is turn on the television. >> reports continue to come in but in a confused and fragmentary fashion. >> president kennedy has been given a blood transfusion at parkland hospital here in dallas in an attempt to save his life. it was odd because there were no commercials. it was just a continuous experience. >> two priests have entered the emergency room at parkland hospital where he rests after the assassination attempt which now was about a half hour ago. >> what are your feelings right now, ma'am? >> i'm absolutely shocked. stunned. we have the same birthday. i am just crazy about him. >> who would want t

the truth stirs the leadership of president kennedy and the legislative virtuosity of resident lyndon johnson mourn james chaney, andrew goodman. they and so many others made this possible. at the time, the civil rights act was incomplete without the voting rights act. president johnson and dr. king would get the passage in the next congress. today those stand among the greatest legislative of our country. as we bestowed the congressional gold medal on dr. martin luther king and coretta scott king, we must insist on the truth. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act, we must pass the bipartisan voting rights act in this congress. thank you all. >> ladies and gentlemen, the republican leader of the united states senate, mitch mcconnell. >> america is a land of promise and opportunity. it is conviction that unites all of us americans, and one we'd repeat quite often. for too long in this country, that wasn't the case for a large segment of our population. for nearly a century after the civil war, african americans were denied the most basic of american freedoms. a cancer of in

we're going to lose to lyndon johnson. >> and lose is exactly what russell did.n june 10th, 1964, the senate voted to end the filibuster and soon after pass the bill. on july 2nd, lyndon johnson, the unlike unlikely shepherd spoke to the nation before signing the bill and ended with a powerful message. >> let us close the springs of racial poison. let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole. >> he does recognize and says, i have handed the south over to the republican party. >> he knew he was paying a terrible political price for doing what he thought was the right thing. >> yes, a terrible political price. >> thanks to the great robert caro. for more on this fascinating portion of american history, don't miss cnn's series "the sixties" a great episode on the civil rights act airs this thursday at 9:00 p.m. eastern for viewers in north america. 'rf business. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custo

>> next, a panel from the lyndon b. johnson residential library civil rights summit reflecting on the compensated relationship president johnson and martin luther king jr.. [applause] >> good afternoon. i had the honor of chairing the lyndon b. johnson foundation for 30 years. among the finest achievements that the current chairman and i claim is that we recruited the director of this lbj library and this three-day program is a terrific tribute to mark and his wonderful staff. [applause] from 1965 until the end of his term, i served as an aide to president johnson. on april 4, 1968, i had the sad duty of taking a flash associated press message into the oval office and handing it to president johnson that read, dr. martin luther king has been shot in memphis. our world changed that tragic day. president johnson had enormous respect for dr. king. they worked together to pass the civil rights act, the voting rights act. what we are celebrating this week, 50 years later. our panel is about as good as it gets. first, doris kearns go

he wanted to show that his predecessor's family bore him no ill will for the assassination. >> lyndon johnsonthe reins of government, at which time president johnson will have to take into his hands the reins of the most powerful nation in the world. >> we see november 22nd, 1963 as a date the president was killed. but it was also a date when the president was created. >> is there any doubt in your mind, chief, that this is the man who killed the president? >> i think this is the man who killed the president. >> is there any evidence that anybody else was linked to the shooting of the president? >> at this time we don't believe so. >> i don't know what this is all about. >> sir? >> i work in that building. >> were you in the building at that time. >> were you in the building at that time? >> naturally if i work in the building, yes, sir. the fact -- >> what time did you leave? >> i'm just a patsy. >> this is room 317, homicide bureau here at the dallas police station. as you see they are bringing the weapon, that was allegedly used in the assassination of president john f. kennedy this aftern

the white house man said, well, everybody knows lyndon johnson was the master of the senate and lyndon johnson knew how to pressure his former colleagues, how to -- he had the goods on them, he knew how to get their votes. the historian says, no, that's not really what happened. lyndon johnson could have cared less about the passage of the '64 civil rights act until the movement made him care. i think what he was saying is, to borrow a phrase from bob moses, the movement made a space. the move was -- movement was the earned insurgency. so where does that take us now? well, it takes us back to my complaint about anniversaries. because just as the johnson memorials of this week, all of this celebration of this week is talking about the wonders of the man, he didn't like me too much either, so we're even. [ laughter ] >> no, no, you can tell that story. there is a story. anyway, you know, unfortunately, anniversaries can become a part of reducing history to little more than just sound bites, and sent i mental its. why does it matter? you as historians know better than i do if we don't kno

on the presidency, a panel from the lyndon b. johnson presidential library civil rights summit reflecting on the relationship between president johnson and martin luther king jr.. this event is about an hour. [applause] >> good afternoon. i had the honor of chairing the lyndon b. johnson foundation for 30 years. among the finest achievements that the current chairman and i recruited thewe andctor of this lbj library this three-day program is a terrific tribute to mark and his wonderful staff. [applause]

the incumbent lyndon johnson was assured of nomination. the republicans battled over which candidate would face him in the november election. in hindsight, we know that candidate was barry goldwater, the senator from arizona. but as republicans headed to the california primary, no one knew the outcome. henry cabot lodge junior had grown strong in the early primaries winning the first five. by april, nelson rockefeller had emerged as a strong contender. not until mid-may did the tide finally turning goldwater's favor. the california primary made his nomination all but certain. the primary season highlighted deep divisions in the republican party and in dirksen's senate caucus. it also proved to be a major headache for civil rights proponents with senators dispersed around the country and republicans preoccupied with presidential politics, it was difficult to maintain an accurate vote count. even more troublesome was the fact that barry goldwater was among those who opposed cloture in all situations. in the wake of his primary win in califor

within a week after the time i arrived at the naval academy lyndon johnson signed the civil rights act of 1964 and within six weeks we have the gulf of time to incident in vietnam which began the escalation of the war in vietnam. the four years that i was at the naval academy in addition to learning how to live what is called the marble monastery, the world of restrictions as a service academy we also watched our country go through an enormous amount of turmoil from that. a 1964 to 1968. the civil rights movement became more violent and reached its apex a couple of months before we graduated when martin luther king was assassinated in april, two months almost to the day before we graduated. the vietnam war became more heated. it reached its apex with the tet offensive in the end of january and beginning of january 1968. lyndon johnson decided not to run for re-election as president drawing our political process into turmoil. that night we graduated robert kennedy was assassinated. this was just an incredible four years and yet the focus that we had with the people in my class and i thi

the pettus bridge incident is one of those seminole events that helped create a groundswell for lyndon johnsongh the voting rights act of 1965. >> the president of the united states. >> johnson feels that he needs to go before the country in a joint session of congress about why this should be done. >> i was in the home of a local family in selma with dr. king, and we watched and listened to president johnson. >> at times history and fate meet at a single time to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. so it was at lexington and concord. so it was a century ago at appomattox. so it was last week in selma, alabama. there long suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as americans. their cause must be our cause too. because it's not just negroes but really, it's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. and we shall overcome. [ applause ] >> so hear lyndon johnson, the president of the united states use the theme song of the movement, "we shall overcome," i looked at dr. king. tears came down his face. he started

or lyndon johnson and self. one reason there is so much .oubts is why we do not know why he did it. is one of the failures. to this day we do not know why he assassinated john f. kennedy. if you want to impress the russians because they thought he was nothing? no. he turned his back he thought it was corrupt. ad he want to truth himself revolutionary? i don't think so. did he want and to connect himself to history? was he one of our first real killers that wanted to possess the iridescent grammar? how about this? years, is this the x one nation? questionat explanation ricky did it because he was an evil man. it is human nature to believe in conspiracy theories. conspiracy placed theories behind misfortunes. we do not want to believe that one man can do something that will change our destiny in such a way. if john kennedy can be struck down, what chance to people like us have to conduct their own lives? plans do not work. james did not happen. we do not want to believe that is what happened to john kennedy. we need to see a larger plan behind our misfortunes. we see the great humanit

yeah, and it's one of the most incredible pieces of the film and we were shocked to find that lyndon johnson recorded all his phone calls and there's audio of him wheeling and dealing to stop this alternate delegation to the convention and it's amazing. >> ifill: bob moses, as you look back 50 years later, do you think you awakened a sleeping giant? the voting rights act came to be the very next year, you got certainly a level of attention paid to something that people had ignored so long. >> to sell you the truth -- to tell you the truth, i think what we did as capping a constitutional era in which white supremacy and black subordination ruled not just in mississippi but across the country. and we were part of the events that actually brought that constitutional era to an end. i'm not going to say what era we're in, now, right, but that constitutional era is over. >> ifill: well, let me ask rita bender, what era are we in now? >> i'm not sure of the title, but i'd say it's very troubling that, after all the years of struggle, after the significant changes that occurred, the right to vote we

you mess with mandel ,,,,,,,,,,,, schieffer: wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of day that lyndon johnsonsigned the civil rights act. a turning point in the struggle for equal rightsp a struggle that americans followed on the evening news broadcasts of the new media television. this is our "face the nation" flashback. in 1954, the supreme court ordered schools desegregated and three years later president eisenhower sent federal troops to enforeintegration of the schools. but it wasn't until a year after that, that the first african-american, the head of the n.a.a.c.p. appeared on "face the nation". >> the questions reflected the at constitute of many white americans at the time. blacks felt wanted too much too soon. >> why this haste on your part? because it's too long there are two million negro children at the end of each segregated school year is being denied an opportunity to prepare properly for life. >> the movement gathered momentum in the 60s and we saw the horror of the police dogs in birmingham as a young reporter i saw the violence at ol' miss when james meredith became the fir

lyndon johnson, expressing rage at his detractors, when off prompter. this isn't anything new.hat are you discerning from what he says when he is just winging it? >> well, his truth feelings about fox come out and true feelings -- >> i thought he was just talking about o'reilly. >> he wasn't talking about you. and people are human. when you go off script you can make some mistakes and wish you hadn't said certain things but this does reveal what he truly thinks about different things, and -- >> what does that mean? if this how he truly feels he is more or less saying we're truly not going to make much progress on these issues because we're miles apart. >> that's what he really thinks, but actions speak louder than words and what strikes me about the obama's relationship with congress is that you don't see any or hear any behind the scenes, they're making phone calls or having john boehner over for dinner -- >> the ronald reagan, tip o'neill stuff. >> ronald reagan was able to get 63 democrats to vote for his economic package because hoe got on the phone and called them and enga