king said to lyndon johnson, and read the telegrams he sent to lyndon johnson, and the press conferences he held about lyndon johnson, i have said nothing about barack obama. not a word, compared to what king said about lyndon johnson. always in love, but you have to hold people accountable. presidents, great presidents-aren't born, they're made, and left to their own devices they become politicians and not statesmen you. want a president who is not just going to be transactional but transformational. you have to push them. ... what he was struggling toward, you talked about this a little bit more,, but what he was wrestling towards in terms of the truth, he may not have been there yet. looking at our economics as sort of a failed system, poverty is definitely on his radar, and i think he was struggling to understand why it was so pervasive and the factors that were causing this problem that was threatening our democracy. do you see that as someone who was struggling toward this larger critique? >> for the record, the book begins april 467. now, i think the best part of the book might be

, and read what he said to lyndon johnson and read the telegram said he sent to lyndon johnson in the press conference that he held about lyndon johnson, i have said nothing about barack obama, not a word compared to what he said about johnson. always in love, but you have to hold people accountable. they're not born, they are made. and to do that you have to push him, there is no abraham lincoln about frederick douglass pushing him. there is no fdr pushing him. and there is no lbj without mlk pushing him. so you do it out of love. but you have to push to help lift them up to the greatness. and again, this is a cautionary tale to the cost that we pay better willing to service the truth and we have to be willing at some point and time to deal with the truth. thank you for listening and thank you for coming because i appreciate it. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you, thank you. okay, we have it few minutes there for questions and answers. we will sign your books and then we can eat some bbq or whatever. >> thank you for coming to memphis. >> thank you. >> you know that yo

said about lyndon johnson. always in love but you have to hold people accountable. great presidents aren't born, they are made and left to their own devices they end up being body politicians and not statesmen. if you want a president who's going to be transformational and to do that you've got to push them. there is no abraham lincoln without frederick douglass pushing him. there is no fdr without a philip randolph pushing him. there is no lbj without mlk pushing him. so you do it out of love but you have got to push to help the president lived up to their greatness. this is a cautionary tale. the price we pay when we ignore the people who love us enough and are willing to service enough and tell us the truth. we have to be ready at some point in time to deal with the truth. thank you for coming and thank you for listening and i appreciate it. [applause] >> thank you. >> we have a few minutes for some q&a and let's jump right into it. questions and comments and then we'll find some books. >> thanks for coming

lyndon johnson is a common murderer. >> johnson did things that no other president did. rights, great society. he should have been somebody that every young person and every liberal would have celebrated, but they didn't. he became the vietnam war president. >> we'd been told repeatedly that we're succeeding, we're defeating them. they can't hold out. johnson kept saying, there's light at the end of the tunnel. >> this is a cbs news special report. saigon under fire. >> the enemy in vietnam has demolished the myth that a live military strength controls that country. >> the american embassy is under siege. inside are the vietcong terror squads that charged in during the night. >> the tet offensive was an enormous game changer. they were shooting up the american embassy. they had hit dozens of cities all over vietnam. it was a tremendous shock. >> we have known for several months now that the communist planned a massive, winter-spring offensive. we do not think that our military operations are going to be at all materially affected. >> he was unable to be honest with the a

this is a lyndon johnson campaign commercial from that same year. [explosion] >> on october 20 4 1963, barry goldwater said of the nuclear bomb, merely another weapon. merely another weapon? vote for president johnson. the stakes are too high for you to stay home. >> and the next 1 -- yeah -- the next one is a little more fancy. -- more famous. you may remember this. this is the infamous "daisy" commercial of 1964. if we could run that, as well. it's a little bit longer. >> one, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 6, 8 9 -- >> 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [explosion] >> these are the stakes. to make a world in which all of god's children can live, or to go into the darkness. we must either love each other or we must die. >> vote for president johnson on november 3. the stakes are too high for you to stay at home. >> maybe the most famous political cartoon in all of american history. you'll notice goldwater is not mentioned by name. it is sort of understood you are supposed to know who was being referred to. barry goldwater scared many democrats, and he scared many r

said about lyndon johnson. always in love but you have to hold people accountable. great presidents aren't born, they are made and left to their own devices they end up being body politicians and not statesmen. if you want a president who's going to be transformational and to do that you've got to push them. there is no abraham lincoln without frederick douglass pushing him. there is no fdr without a philip randolph pushing him. there is no lbj without mlk pushing him. so you do it out of love but you have got to push to help the president lived up to their greatness. this is a cautionary tale. the price we pay when we ignore the people who love us enough and are willing to service enough and tell us the truth. we have to be ready at some point in time to deal with the truth. thank you for coming and thank you for listening and i appreciate it. [applause] >> thank you. >> we have a few minutes for some q&a and let's jump right into it. questions and comments and then we'll find some books. >> thanks for coming

lyndon johnson talked at the time about why he did not ask for a declaration of war. it is very interesting. he said during world war ii, the when there was a declaration of war, the entire nation was asked to contribute to a victory and in that case, an unconditional surrender of the enemy. it was a national commitment and johnson and nixon and ford, did not matter whether democratic or republican, the president does not want to be in a position of asking the country for a total engagement. you always want to way out and be a limited war. what is happening now in the ukraine, for example, could very well be only a limited war. but it does have the capacity to avo. sarah we do not know because we cannot read the future. for example, article five of the north atlantic treaty organization says an attack on one is an attack on all. if putin decided tomorrow morning to move a small regiment of the army up to the border of estonia, where 23% of the people are ethnic russian and so ethnic russians hounded to death by people who do not like us or the russian language or reli

bush, and lyndon johnson. joshua bolten moderated the discussion. it is about 40 minutes. [applause] >> gentlemen, before i have a chance to ask you some questions, i have a letter from kennebunkport maine. 2014. i am delighted about the launch of the innovative partnership with the participating foundations in this new presidential leadership scholars program. every former president is different, and that is as it should be. for example, not all of us skydive. [laughter] is not a judgmental comment, just a fact. [laughter] every so often, however, there that itea so compelling brings together former chief executives and their foundations to push it forward. so it is with this presidential leadership scholars program, which will give leaders the chance to study decisions and learn from key practitioners and leading academics. we face a lot of big challenges. the idea of developing more leaders from all walks of life and help lead our nation forward is a vitally important, in my view. here today,r being and please ask the two distinguished gentleman following me to keep it

and some of those focused on lyndon johnson as a potential suspect in the murder of his predecessor. and johnson said, essentially, these conspiracy theories are spinning so wildly, have i to bring an end to it and i have to bring an end to it by the creation of an independent commission in washington to investigate all that could be learned about the assassination and lee harvey oswald who was apparently the president's assassin. johnson settled on chief justice earl warren who can run this. warren was a very controversial figure in america in 1963. but he was also much admired for his independence and his personal integrity. and he was a republican. and johnson wanted a republican to run this investigation to show that it was truly bipartisan and truly an effort to get at the facts, whatever they might be. johnson also decides he wants representatives from the house and senate to serve on the commission and he wants his own representative on the commission, one of his best friends in the world, senator richard russell. probably the most powerful man in the senate in 1963. chairman o

qualities you want taught is in program. > i met lyndon johnson twice.ce when i was visiting my grandfather who was a colleague of his in the senate, and once later on when he had retired back to texas. he was a big guy. i was struck by how imposing his whole kind of physical being was, and i would suspect amongst the four, his strongest quality was his persuasiveness. particularly to get the civil rights bill passed. i mean, it's one of the greatest legislative feats in our nation's history. and lyndon johnson powered it through, and i don't think we will be able to teach size. but i will think we can -- people will be able to be inspired by his lesson, and -- yeah. >> president clinton, let me ask ou, you two to talk about each other for a minute. > beautiful man. beautiful. >> what in president bush's leadership style stands out for you that you want taught in this cholars program? >> when he decided what he thought was right, he went for t. and sometimes i didn't agree with what he thought was right. but i recognized that he was doing what he thought

he said, lyndon johnson. i said, lyndon johnson. i've known him since he arrived in washington. so he came and worked the rest of the station on the door with me. and i took him in and and introduced him to congressmen on the floor and went up and down each aisle and told him who they were, introduced them to the reporters. and a lot of things like that. >> his experience really is typical of a lot of the pages that it exposed them to a living civics lesson that you would never learn from the pages of a book. and so there's a real continuity in the stories he would tell and the stories that later pages would tell us in oral histories. >> it's certainly true that when we look at artifacts, these are the ones that people saved. it was such an important and life changing period in their lives. as adolescence is always, but certainly for them. it absolutely was. and so we end up with a lot of things people saved like cards and pins and photos of themselves in their yearbooks. one of my favorite is this great early image that somebody had. it was matted and they saved it forever of p

in 1964, lyndon b. johnson had in his pocket for the better part of the year a resolution by haveess authorizing him to absolute authority over sending american forces abroad. 2, and incident took place. at that time, six or seven north vietnamese took votes, attacked an american destroyer. it was late at night and stormy and comments are hearing -- ick was a commander and sent to mcnamara that they were being attacked. torpedoes were being launched and he wanted help. aircraftss, the carrier was nearby area planes went to the defense. , a manof those planes named james stockdale who became a vice presidential candidate later on, he was a pilot at that time. he went over the area is down and he fired away at folks and he thought he may have hit but he knew that 4 others were badly hit. he went back thinking he had done a good job. the american ship was being attacked by the north vietnamese a tent in their defense and shot it up and went home and had a good night sleep. lyndon johnson at that time was ready to

in from lyndon johnson's tapes he called hubert humphrey and said the you see what he said about us? d then johnson went out to lambaste nixon as badly as any president has ever attacked a leader to the opposition party. and mike wallace and i was on the play and listening on the radio and i said you're not going to believe with the president is saying about us. so we caught nixon he was gracious in city is our hard-working man he was tired from his trip by a understand this. and though whole country said richard nixon is saying the right thing soapy is bolted up into contention for the republican nomination. however the 66 election will not be one. so we get to the weekend after that the celebration at the drake hotel we had a great time but time and "newsweek", now after the election. six republicans reagan, rockefeller, romney, senator percy and senator brock and though richard dixon. it was a downer for us because he was left after all the work he had done but they did us a favor to fall to everybody else up. just before that election that he told the press after this election is

this man from texas, president lyndon johnson, made one of the most powerful statements any american president has ever made, but in modern times especially, about the quest for freedom and the issue of equal justice in the united states. since one of his daughters is here, i think it is very fitting we take a moment to listen to his words. lynda, to paraphrase what you already said, but i want to state it again. he said on the night of march 15, 1965, eight days after bloody sunday in selma, he said i speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. at times, history and fate meet in a single place at a single time. our mission is that once the oldest and most basic of this country to right wrong, to do , justice, to serve man. in our time, we have come to live with moments of great crisis. our lives have been marked with issues of war and peace, prosperity and depression. but rarely in our time doesn't -- does an issue lay bare the secret heart of the nation itself. the issue of equal rights for every human being is such an issue. should we defeat every enemy and

lyndon johnson says what should i do about cuba? we have been trying to blow them cheap we have this invasion. what do you think i got to do? senator fulbright began to reply and say let's not get into anything really dramatic. he didn't even get that sentence out of the end of his mouth when lyndon johnson interrupted him to agree with him. he said i'm not getting into any bay of pigs deal. we shouldsking what do to pinch their nuts more than we are doing and that has been u.s. policy ever since. that was the first week of december, 1963 stop it's what we do with insignificant aggravations like cuba. for three decades, the fight to contain communism is what justified this policy. but the cold war ended in the justification for our hostility was really difficult to continue. it was very hard to say we're going to keep being angry at you because of what? anger was with the alliance with the soviet union and it looks bad for a country that claims global leadership to be seen as strangling the economy of a small neighbor. and for no go

passage of the civil rights act was one of the highest priorities of her father, president lyndon johnson. we are pleased you could be with us tonight, linda, and invite you to come up and say a few words about your good friend, john lewis. [applause] >> i am here really to be part of this cheering squad for john lewis. whenever daddy needed him, he was there. daddy would not have been in tose hallowed grounds here make is important "we shall overcome speech'if john lewis had not had the courage to go out and cross the bridge, to go out and remind this country what they were doing, bringing it to the forefront. our family will always treasure the friendship we have. was thears ago, john first recipient of the l.b.j. liberty and justice award. he richly deserved it. life, his public service service life, he has continued to be an advocate for peace, justice, and freedom. with the way things are going now, i salute him for trying to faith-- from living his and starting the faith and politics coalition because we all need to be brought together. he has done that across political lines. somet

and lyndon johnson says marshall i do about cuba? we have tried to blow them up. we have tried this cheap invasion and so forth. what do you think i ought to do? senator fulbright began to reply to say let's not get into anything really dramatic. and he didn't even get the sentence out of the end of his mouth when lyndon johnson interrupted to agree with him. he said i'm not getting into any bay of pigs deal. i am just asking what we should do to pinch their knots more -- nuts more than we are doing and that's been the u.s. policy ever since. that was the first week of december, 1963. it's what we do with insignificant aggravations like cuba. ok, for three decades the fight to contain communism is would -- what justified this policy. but then the cold war ended and the justification for the -- our hostility was really difficult to continue. it was hard to say we are going to keep being angry at you because of what? our anger was with the alliance with the soviet union, security interest. and it looks bad for a country that claims global leadership to be seen as st

and lyndon johnson says, what should i do about cuba? we have tried to blow them up. we have tried this cheap invasion and so forth. what do you think i ought to do? senator fulbright began to reply to say let's not get into anything really dramatic. and he didn't even get the sentence out of the end of his mouth when lyndon johnson interrupted to agree with him. he said i'm not getting into any bay of pigs deal. i am just asking what we should do to pinch their nuts more than we are doing and that's been the u.s. policy ever since. that was the first week of december, 1963. it's what we do with insignificant aggravations like cuba. ok, for three decades the fight to contain communism is what justified this policy. but then the cold war ended, and the justification for our hostility was really difficult to continue. it was hard to say we are going to keep being angry at you because of what? our anger was with the alliance with the soviet union, security interest. and it looks bad for a country that claims global leadership to be seen as strangling the economy of a sma

vice president lyndon johnson. he was from texas and democrats held all 30 statewide elected positions. the texas state legislature had 181 democrats and no republica republicans. and now everyone calls texas the red state. the book is really so interesting. i read it this weekend. i was on the road traveling and i have had the book explain that for many years beginning in 1940 texas election were between 10 conservatives and liberals and to gain the party the liberals needed to drive the conservatives are the democratic primaries primaries. the texas liberals succeeded in gaining control of the democratic party so it was the liberals in the texas democratic party who actually helps the strengthening of the republican party by deliberately driving the conservatives from their own party. as wayne says be careful what you wish for, liberals. let's hope wayne also talks about the texas governor's race just last month when texas attorney general greg abbott beta democrat liberal feminist wendy davis by 20 plus% of the

at the end of his life, lyndon johnson believed that fidel castro had killed president kennedy and that the warren commission had somehow been misled. you know, it's a remarkable thing to discover that the president of the united states who commissioned the warren commission did not believe the commission's findings. >> president johnson obviously is thrust into power by the assassination. his initial instinct is not to have a federal investigation of the assassination. as it turns out presidential assassination in 1963 was not a federal crime. if there was going to be a trial of anyone, it would have to be arranged by the local and state officials in texas johnson also said he didn't want a bunch of, as he put it, carpetbaggers going into his home state of texas to run this investigation. he wanted it handled by the state, the county and officials in dallas. but within days of the assassination, conspiracy theories started to spin some of those focused on lyndon johnson as a suspect in the murder of his predecessor. the conspiracy theories are spinning so wildly, i have to bring an end

lyndon johnson. i have known him since he arrived in washington. so, became and worked the rest of the session on the door. and i took him in and introduced him to congressmen on the floor and went up and down each aisle. told them who he was. introduced him to the reporters and a lot of things like that. >> his experience was typical of a lot of the pages. it expose them to a living civics lesson. that you never would learn from the pages of a book. there is a real continuity and the stories he would tell and the stories that later pages would tell us. >> it is certainly true that when we look at artifacts, these are the ones that people saved. it was such an important and life-changing period. as adolescence is always, but for them it absolutely was. we end up with thing lots of people safe like cards and pins and photos. yearbooks. one of my favorite objects is this great image that somebody had. they saved it forever of pages at the beginning of the 20th century lined up in front of the rostrum in the house chamber with their supervisors in the

he wanted to show that his predecessor's family bore him no ill will for the assassination. >> lyndon johnsonton to take the 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. >> is there any doubt in your mind chief that oswald is the man that killed the president? >> i think this is the man that killed the president, yes, sir. >> is there any evidence any one else may have been linked with oswald in this shooting. >> at this time we don't believe so. >> i don't know what this is all about. >> did you kill the president? >> no, sir, i didn't. >> sir? >> did you shoot the president? >> i work in that building. >> were you in that building at the time? >> naturally if i work in that building, yes, sir. >> back up, man. >> taken in because of the fact that i lived in the -- >> did you shoot the president? >> i'm just a patsy. >> this is room 317, homicide burro here at the dallas police station. as you see, they are bringing the weapon allegedly used in the assassination of president john f. kennedy this afte

. >>> about 50 years ago on august 10th, 1964, president lyndon johnson signed the gulf of tonkin resolution, which in lieu of a declaration of war gave him broad powers to wage war in southeast asia. that resolution was passed by congress in response to an august 2nd attack, and an alleged august 4th incident in the golf of tonkin involving u.s. destroyers and vietnamese torpedo boats. american history visited the national security archive at george washington university to learn about numerous declassified documents that have shed more life on the gulf of tonkin incidents. >> i'm tom blanton, the director of the national security archive. we're here on the top floor of the main library at george washington university, which is where we live. and we're in a room full of boxes of declassified documents. it's really an artifact because most of the declassified documents we get today are actually digital. a lot of them born digital, scanned or made digital, and certainly the people that use our collections are using them online. in fact, in the courses we teach here at george washington, for m

george wallace, hubert humphrey, richard nixon, and lyndon johnson are talking about what? >> vietnam. >> if wallace and humphrey and nixon, it is 1968. what i suspect is the reason johnson would call them is peace negotiations were at a sensitive stage. he thought it was important that the candidates both know what is going on and that everyone stay on the reservation. he did not want anyone to undermine the negotiations. >> here is what it sounded like on tape. [audio tape] >> i know you do not want to play politics of your country. i am trying to tell you how not to pay politics with it. i know all of you want peace at the earliest possible moment. i would express the hope that you be awfully sure of what you are talking about before you get into the intricacies of these negotiations. over. i will be glad to add any comment. >> no comment, mr. president. thank you. >> this is consistent with my position all along. i will make no statement that would undercut negotiations. we hope this thing works out. >> yes, mr. president. that is my position all along, too. it is the po

vips come into this space just as they did in lyndon johnson's day. on a daily basis. and the remarkable thing about this space is it's really a living, breatheing artifact. it hasn't changed at all since president johnson died in '73. there's a document in the corner of this room signed among others the the then archivist of the united states and lady bird johnson telling my predecessors, myself and my successors that nothing in this room can change. >> so we're here at the 100 block of congress avenue in austin. to my left just down the block is the river the colorado river. and this is an important historic site in the city's history because this is where waterloo, austin's predecessor was. it consisted of a cluster of cabins occupieded by four or five fames, including the fame of jay carol. i'm standing about the same spot where the the cabin was, and this is where demar was staying when he and the rest of the men got wind of this big buffalo herd incentive. so he and the other men jumped congress avenue, it wasn't really the avenue but in those da

keep in mind now, martin has worked with lyndon johnson the pass the voting rights act and the civil rights act so they cool, until this speech. when martin gives this speech, now the white house is out to get him. the white house turns on him. lyndon johnson meets with other black leaders from that point order bus martin if disinvited to the white house. so the media turns on him. white house turns on him. and then white america turns on him. the last poll taken in his life found -- at the harris poll -- that 75% -- mary me -- three-quarters of the american people thought that dr. king in the last year of his life was irrelevant. 75%. black folk, put on pc again. in the last year of his life, almost 60% of black people thought dr. king war persona non grata. when i say black people turned on him, i mean, roy wilkins and the naacp -- what until you read what they said about kindergarten king -- ruffle bunch, was on the board of directors for the knapp at this time, and the naacp rote and passed a resolution to condemn dr. king, and when ralph bunch saw the language it wasn't tough en

>> bobby was on a collision course with lyndon johnson. he was a senator by this time, from new york. and he broke with him on the vietnam war, came out with a call for a coalition government. we were very hawkish on vietnam. i said to rowlie, we've got to take a hard line on this position. it was a pretty tough column, on bobby. before it even ran, he told me seemed to have had second thoughts about the column for some reason, and suggested that we had to have single bylines in the future. i said that was impossible. and so, he said, well, maybe that's the end of the column. what i didn't know is that all this time he was in communication with bobby, and talking to him, and upset about it. because the thing blew over, and i didn't know that bobby had told him, after the thing ran, that i think his friendship with rowlie was more important than recriminations. >> you also tell us a lot about the people that you were working with on "capital gang," and with "crossfire," and with john mclaughlin. how would you like to express your feelings a

vip's come into this space as they did in lyndon johnson's day but it is not open to visitors on a daily basis. it is really a living, breathing artifact. it has not changed at all since president johnson died in january of 1973. there is a document. in the corner of this room signed, among others, archivists of the united states, and lady bird johnson telling her predecessors and successors that nothing in this room can change. >> we are here on the 100 block in austin. this is the colorado river. this is a historic site because this is where waterloo was. it consisted of a cluster of cabins occupied by four or five families, including the family of j carroll. this is the spot where the carroll family was. this is where he was staying when the rest of the men got word of the big buffalo herd. so the men jumped on their horses. in those days the avenue was a muddy ravine that led north to the hill where the capital was and the men galloped on their horses. they rode into the midst of the buffalo, firing and shouting and lamarr shot this enormous buffalo. from there he went to the topical

>> when lyndon johnson is pushing through the great society, he's riding the wave of the civil rightsthe reform movement, but there are a lot of americans who are not at all happy about this. >> johnson is a man whom i've known for a long time and i like him personally, but i've watched him change from a conservative democrat to an extreme liberal democrat. >> too often, the '60s is simply seen from a liberal perspective, but the conservative movement had its fans. >> i told my wife, i said honey, what do you think about my running for the presidency? >> i would not say he was politically ambitious. what made my father run started several years before that. it really started with my father's book, "the conscience of a conservative" in 1960, which became kind of the bible of the conservative movement. >> goldwater brought together a kind of muscular americanism, anti-communism, and this growing political opposition to the expansion of the federal government. >> at the time, the republican party was dominated by the eastern liberal establishment. >> conservatives saw the more moderate,

texas, all the way east to the carolinas completing a political transformation from the era of lyndon johnson. >>> still ahead on a monday evening, dire warnings trying to shock the public about what some fear could be the biggest looming disaster in u.s. history. experts on the west coast say it's coming and we're not ready for it. >>> also, the british invasion, william and kate drawing crowds from new york to washington. and speculation about a big evening ahead. >>> a disaster is waiting to happen in los angeles, and that's not hype. that's according to the city's own assessment. officials there released a report today with a warning that an earthquake could devastate the second largest city in our country. and as an nbc news investigation reveals, right now the west coast is woefully unprepared for the big one. our report tonight from nbc's jacob rascon. >> reporter: imagine america without los angeles. in a report released today addresses the very real possibility that a long overdue massive earthquake would collapse the economy in the country's second largest city. >> those responsibil

it was the cost files city dixon had come into and had just broken in the presidency of of lyndon baines johnsonfter significantly in 64 stood down in 1968. the america that we saw take a look at what happened in those years before i got to meet richard nixon. 1960 kennedy was assassinated this 64 the first uprising of the campus disorders this was the beginning of the revolution in 65 cloaks' year would remember the watts riots the worst since the civil war. at the beginning of the revolution i was a young man a editorial writer and drove back to washington to hear and though kay deliver his speech up in the memorial hall was up there with him. glenn year later 50 years ago this month i was in mississippi before they found the bodies of the three civil-rights workers and the revelation of those days that started off so well is disintegrating into disorder and riots and all the rest. take a look at what nixon was in that period. talk about 62 and 64. but callback survey team 50 he one of a landslide the biggest victory california had ever seen. the eisenhower could have been elected but 54 nixon

>> lyndon b. johnson, no doubt about it. kennedy was an idea person who inspire people and aroused their best passion, their best instincts, and appealed to the greater good of each individual. lyndon johnson knew how to get it done. he spent a lot of time on the phone. depending on the nature of the problem, if it was a big problem, i need your help. he worked every issue personally in addition to having a very able staff that worked the hill on both sides of the house and the senate. i have never seen someone so effective as johnson. in one instance, i had worked with my predecessor on the public works economic development act. i did a great deal of the staff work, writing the language, the committee report, conference report. i was invited to the white house along with other authors for the signing. lyndon johnson grabbed me by the lapel and said "i want you to tell john that i want that." i went right across the room to john and said, -- he looked at me laughing and said, "i know what you are here for and i will do it."

. >> in the judgment of many african-americans i know, a good option of them, lyndon johnson played a positive role. he was in the power of the presidency. some of the people around king have said that. at the end of the day, you cannot get away from the fact that he passed the civil rights act and the voting rights act. his legacy was dented by the vietnam war and everything that came after that. what sometimes people forget is -- this was a time in history when the power of the people was indisputable. to have a leader who could articulate what the needs are that is invaluable. that is something as we watch what is going on in the nation post ferguson, that is something i feel is missing. being able to articulate what we need and having the pressure of the people to force the agenda into actual change. this is a good time in your life. >> look at me, i am here with you. >> i saw movie over the weekend in which you play a cop. you were in interstellar. what am i missing? >> if we say anymore, people will start to dislike me. >> do you feel -- chris rock said, if you are an african-am

texas all the way east to the carolinas completing a political transformation from the era of lyndon johnson. >>> still ahead on a monday evening, dire warnings trying to shock the public about what some fear could be the biggest looming disaster in u.s. history. experts on the west coast say it's coming and we're not ready for it. >>> also, the british invasion, william and kate drawing crowds from new york to washington. and speculation about a big evening ahead. take a closer look at your fidelity green line and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity rollover ira. alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours... and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thi

these points that i just mentioned grew in the mid-1960s congressional hearings, the signing by lyndon johnson of the various motor vehicle and pollution control laws. >> hinojosa: so you know that a lot of people... there are people who know you as the tireless consumer advocate... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: ..and then there are people who didn't know anything about you... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: ...until you decided to run for president in the year 2000. and then they say, "oh, yeah; he's the guy who ran for president in the year 2000. isn't he the one who made bush win?" and you say... >> well, listen. first of all, it's factually wrong. i've talked to gore about this, and gore has talked to other people. first of all, we all have an equal right to run for election, and why do they put the wrap on the green party candidate for? i mean, do these two parties own all the voters? don't we want the voters to have more choice, the way they did, say, in the 19th century and the antislavery party, and the women's right to vote party, labor, farmer, progressive parties? it's harder and harder now for s

. >> washington and lyndon johnson's view and mcnamara's view, could -- wanted to shoot. they wanted to be tough. they are in an election season. they have to be seen to be tough. false reports gave them an excuse to do something they wanted to do. you see, some of the back and forth, and i give mcnamara some credit on this, because mcnamara actually paid attention when the ship captain harrick sends him the 1:00 message. mcnamara already advises the president we're under attack, we're going to shoot back. we're going to do that. mcnamara gets the follow-up where the ship commander says, don't think so. mcnamara goes ballistic. he is a pretty powerful, forceful follow, robert mcnamara. among other things, he calls up the admiral in charge of pacific command and says, what is this? they don't think -- you don't understand that we're already in motion here. we've already had the meetings with the principals. president's already signed up. we're gearing up. we are ready to fly those b-52's. those hanoi commies better watch out, we're coming after them. what's up with these m

when president lyndon johnson signed the civil rights act even though he knew it would cost their holdold confederacy. he predicted that in 1964 and he was correct. nate cowen charted this the other day. the senate seats plus the state houses, democrats had them all right up until the 1960s. and then in the mid 1960s, democrats started losing ground. little at first and then a little more and then a lot more. somewhere right around here. this november, last month, democrat cay hagan last her senate seat in north carolina. mark pryor lost his in arkansas. that left one southern democrat. one democratic holder of a statewide office in the u.s. south. that one last southern democrat was mary landrieu. the year she got that seet in the first place, southern kem e democrats could still win elections. his vice president had followed his dad from the southern state of ten tn. she held on through agt years of george w. bush and republican waves and democratic waves. louisiana still picked mary landriue even as barack obama lost her state by 19 points that year. if you look back at exit polling

when i was in college, president lyndon johnson declared all-out war on human poverty.e said for the first time in our history, it's possible to conquer poverty. i believe him then but i watched his poverty programs create more poverty. governments spent trillions of dollars and people are still poor. people on the left say the money was still worth it. look at this chart. he chose that the poverty rate fell sharply after the war on poverty began. that's great, but wait, he extends the chart back a few years to when data was kept on the poverty rate. you notice it was already falling. just as fast. but then it stopped falling about seven years after the war on poverty began. history professor david bado says that's because government encouraged poor americans to be dependent on government and stay poor. but my counsel at the roosevelt institute says no, we need more government aid. more? you almost want more, you guys. trillions isn't enough? >> let's talk about the balance between charity and government. there's never been a period where it was just private charity. th

when i was in college, president lyndon johnson declared all-out war on human poverty.e said for the first time in our history, it's possible to conquer poverty. i believe him then but i watched his poverty programs create more poverty. governments spent trillions of dollars and people are still people are still poor. people on the left say money was still worth it. look at this chart. the poverty rate fell charply after the war began. that's great, but the extended chart back two years when they were still kept at the poverty rate, they noticed it was already falling. just as fast. then it stopped falling about seven years after the war on poverty began. history professor said that's because government encouraged poor americans because they depended on government. the institute named after the president that helped begin the welfare state said they began more. trillions and that's the balance between charity. it has never been a situation where it's just private charity. the civil war pension and the background of a poor house and bankruptcy law. it never has been a pr

. >> in the judgment of many african-american leaders i know a good portion of them, lyndon johnson wasplayed such a positive role. he was there, he was in the power of the presidency having been nudged to do it which made him and i think some of the people around king said it. >> you cannot get around from the fact that he passed the civil rights act and the voting rights act. his legacy was dented by the vietnam war. and every thing that came after that. it is indisputable. but sometimes people forget, this was also a time in history where the power of the people was indisputable. whereby citizens made their voices known and even in that clip we just saw them to have a leader who can articulate what the needs are, that is invaluable and that is something as we watch what is going on in the nation right now post-ferguson and the eric turner situation, that is something i feel is missing. being able to articulate what we need and having the pressure of the people force that agenda into actual change. >> this is a good time in your life. >> it is a very good time. i am having a good time

he was not a lyndon johnson, i want my place in history. he thought all of that was kind of funny. >> do we have another question? anybody else? we will do one more. >> al millikin again. what is your understanding of his connection with astrology? obviously nancy seemed very involved in influence on that regard but how do you see him in connection with that? >> the question is reagan's connection with astrology. i think it was essentially zero. nancy was his lover and wife but she became the protector. therefore all the things that she talked about he was very thoughtful but when it became involved with her involvement of affairs in state he absolute to drought. example, stu spencer tells me of having dinner upstairs in the white house after he had just given the evil empire speech and nancy was on his case. you can't say that, that's terrible. we have to have detente and get along with the soviets. ron was eating dinner and stu spencer was there and he turned to stu and said what you think of the info -- evil empire speech? spencer said a

but eugene mccarthy against lyndon johnson and his johnson's name was not even on the ballot so i was astonished. people who wanted johnson to be tougher. and then robert kennedy jumped into the race against johnson to say he is appealing to the darker impulses of the american spirit than was just brutal. and then called him a complete opportunists. it was a brutal attack. so then we expected rockefeller to go after us because romney was gone. so he holds of press conference and did not watch television in then to tell me about our impressions. it was a smart thing to do because those viewpoints he knows what he thinks. so rockefeller announced he would not run. so we went in and told nixon i didn't tell him that nixon said its the girl. at that time there were reports that rockefeller had a girlfriend. after his initial marriage broke up this would have just killed him so that rumor was floating all over the place. it did not turn out to be true that the last day of march we had to cancel it because johnson announced he would speak on the 31st so he said go to the airport and get in