 Good evening. I'm Larry Temple and as chairman of the OBJ Foundation It's my privilege to welcome all of you here tonight and introduce this program Well, this is a friends of the OBJ library program. We also Are joined this night by some very special guests the presidential leadership scholar class of 2018 You don't have to work because I'm gonna introduce you to stand up in a minute The Presidential Leadership scholars program was launched by George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in 2015 And it's a joint venture initiative of the George HW Bush Library and Foundation the Bill Clinton George W. Bush and LBJ libraries and foundations each year 60 outstanding individuals from the public and private sectors Who are working either full-time or part-time on philanthropies are chosen to study lessons in leadership From the four presidents our institutions represent These folks are doing truly remarkable things to enhance their communities our Nation and the world and our hope is that the presidential leadership Scholars program better positions them to advance their noble efforts now these scholars Spend several days at each of the presidential libraries They've already been to the Clinton and the two Bush libraries and now they're here for three days with us And we're honored to have them. They're really truly outstanding people and I last all of the 2018 Presidential leadership scholars to stand up and be recognized Now later this month we have a special program for the friends of the LBJ library on Friday June 29 the LBJ foundation will give our highest honor The LBJ Liberty and Justice for all award to Senator John McCain the liberty That award was created by the foundation to recognize individuals who in their own way in their own time Carry on the legacy of Lyndon Johnson to open the doors of opportunity for all of our citizens And certainly senator McCain is worthy of that award that's been previously given to several people Including presidents George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter The award will be accepted on that evening by senator McCain's daughter Megan McCain Who will talk about the remarkable life and legacy of her father in a conversation with Mark up to Grove? All of you may know Megan as a media personality who appears regularly on ABC on The view this week with George Stephanopoulos and good morning America I think you all on the miss of a very great program on that evening Now on to this evening's program a half a century ago. Our nation was rocked to its core by the momentous events that played out throughout one of the most transformative and consequential years in the history of this country in 1968 our nation was at war against an intractable enemy and It was also divided at home LBJ in his last full year in office Called it simply the nightmare year time magazine Viewed it this way 1968 had the vibrations of an earthquake about it deaths of heroes Uprisings suppressions the end of dreams Blood in the streets in Chicago and Paris and Saigon and at last at Christmas time Man for the first time Floating around the moon Tonight we will hear from two people who were at the White House by President Johnson's side in 1968 Linda Johnson Robb is the older daughter of Lyndon and Ladyberg Johnson and Lived in the White House with her parents in 1968 newly wedded and expecting her first child while her husband Marine Captain Chuck Robb was in Vietnam and Tom Johnson no relation to President Johnson, although I think he sometimes claims it Who first went to the White House as a member of the inaugural class of White House fellows in 1965 Before transitioning to a full-time aide of president Johnson remained with the president Through the balance of his term We will also hear from Bill Moyers Bill was editor in Newsday in 1968, but it previously served in the Johnson White House first as an aide to president Johnson from 1963 to 1965 and then his press secretary from 1967 tonight 1966 to 1967 and Finally Kyle Longley will provide a historian's perspective of the year Kyle is a professor of history at Arizona State University His well-received book LBJ's 1968 now think about that night LBJ's 1968 was published in March and Chronicles that year that was among the most trying any president ever faced that group will Engage in the conversation with Mark up to Grove who formerly was director of the LBJ library and is now the wonderful president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Linda Johnson Robb Tom Johnson Bill Moyers Kyle Longley and Mark up to Grove Well, welcome ladies and gentlemen and Welcome panelists. I believe that you all saw a montage of Photographs accompanied by music from 1968 and it showed all the momentous Events that played out during that extraordinarily tempestuous year Kyle Longley whose book LBJ's 1968. I certainly commend to you wrote in the introduction to his book Time magazine like we heard Larry Temple just quote Time magazine Kyle does the same thing He writes time proclaimed 1968 as one damn thing after another Indeed one tragic surprising and perplexing thing after another Events that moved at a pace of an avant-garde movie edited by a mad clutter and then he writes They were correct and Linda Johnson had a front-row seat to the entire drama that he desperately Tried to manage under pressures endured by few American presidents. So Kyle, let's start with you Welcome to the LBJ library. Thank you. It's always good to be back in Austin. Good. It's good to have you back So take us briefly as as the historian on the panel take us very briefly Through all the events that played out during 1968. Well, it's a long litany I start the book with the State of the Union address just to sort of set the context for what is coming for the year But again right after that it all the crap hits the fan The president is going to characterize it as a year of a continuous nightmare And I think that's a very appropriate characterization. So you start with the Pueblo Straight after that eight days later is Ted offensive. US is talking about so the USS Pueblo is a US ship off the Korean shore talk Just talking about briefly what happened with the USS Pueblo US Intelligencehip is taken by the North Koreans And it just sort of makes the point that North Koreans have been trying to tweak us for a lot of years So it resonates with today and we did not understand it It was difficult to ascertain why they did it, but they were whole hostages until December of 1968 President at one time grow so frustrated. He comments to a 80 says I meet with the North Koreans naked in the middle of the street If that meant getting them back So we have the Pueblo then you have the Ted offensive and many people here in the audience I'm sure remember the Ted offensive the pictures of the Saigon police chief Executing the Vietcong right there on the camera You know the argument is we've been winning the war suddenly They're attacking everywhere across the country So this calls into question our policy in Vietnam and by March 31st 1968 the president has reached the point after being advised by a number of people including the wise men that it's time to Dedicate himself to extricating the United States from Vietnam Hopefully the wise men being the elders that he convened to talk about the war Dean Atchison's and others But also within his own cabinet Robert McNamara Clark Clifford Rostow, you see numerous bureaucratic battles going on So Ted leads to March 31st where I think the two major points one he is determined to try to secure peace in Vietnam I also think that his health issues are playing a role in his decision not to seek re-election You know, he's riding a high wave after that March 31st speech his pole numbers flip From negatives to a significant like 60% positive But a few days later Martin Luther King's assassinated and everything just the race riots break out throughout the country And it just appears the country is coming apart at the seams And what I cover in the book, there's many other things that I don't cover in the book like the poor people's marks But we do see, you know, then June just recently there's so the Acknowledgement of Bobby Kennedy's assassination So again the country just appears to be coming apart at the seams And it doesn't seem to get any better through the summer of 1968 He does appear to be making some progress over Vietnam But then it meets a reality of debating what the table is going to look like who's going to participate And then you lead into August of 1968, which is a terrible year or terrible month with the Democratic National Convention as well as the invasion of Czechoslovakia The Prague Spring is destroyed in August of 1968 right about the same time the riots in the streets in Chicago And so you see and then not long after you see the failed nomination of a fortice where his nomination for the Chief Justice Supreme Court along with Homer Thornberry is defeated one of the first times in American history and Definitely starts the politicization of the Supreme Court the argument being in the Fortice case by Robert Griffith The president who is not running for reelection should not be able to name the next Supreme Court justice So another area we hear resonance right and then concluding with the fall the election Trying to support Humphrey, but also trying to appear above the fray Leading into the Chinalt affair and that's what sort of concludes in late October of 1968 with the Nixon administration or Nixon campaign Actively trying to undermine the peace process in Paris. I'll come back to you on the Chinalt affair But talk about how the year ends and we'll talk about that further as we get toward the end of the program But talk talk about how it ends well it ends with the Nixon election and then President Johnson is still trying to actively reach out to The Russians to negotiate over arms reductions that had been almost in place of summit had been In the process of being announced when the Russians invade Czechoslovakia in August Right and that was going to be sort of a cap to what he hoped was a good year Along with the breakthrough that he hoped in late October of 1968 In Paris that would bring the parties together and when he said in March 31st of 1968 He said I won't by the time I leave office for the last people to be planning to leave Vietnam Are the last Americans right and we know that it's not going to occur partly I think there's many levels to explain that right I think it plays out very much and so he leaves office on January 20th 1969 Ending the presidency and bringing Richard Nixon into the White House and we talked more about Some of the issues related to the Chinalt affair and how that played out great that we see in back of us is the as the backdrop here Perhaps one of the most raw images ever captured of any president it shows the agony That that president Johnson went through during the course of night. He said this was taken in the course of 1968 but And it seems to me bill that there are very few presidents who endured the kind of pressures that LBJ Did given the events of this presidency? Lady Burr Johnson said of her husband Lyndon is a good man to have around in a tight spot by By by way of meaning that he was a great crisis manager. So what made Lyndon Johnson a good man to have around in a crisis Well take the day of the assassination, right? This man had given up any real thought of ever being president Making his peace with being vice president may be leaving. Yeah, there was talk of him leaving and suddenly in a split second free gunshot Put him into the presidency and begin his presidency in the One of the rooms at the hospital in Dallas. He I wasn't there I joined him on Air Force One coming back to Washington I cannot as I said earlier this afternoon in our symposium never seen anyone calmer more Collected more focused on first of all the The Mrs. Kennedy was a board. He was very solicitous of her tried to he didn't know how do you deal with a? Presidential wife who's just been made a widow and you're on the plane with her right He handled that with protocol and sympathy and not excess. He went into what had been Kennedy's private room Study and I could see some of the Kennedy people just you know, that was they didn't resent it I don't think but it wasn't that was Kennedy's room and he went in there And I went in later to take him a message and the Secret Service had pulled all the Shades down in the portals of the plane and he had opened one was looking out. I said mr. What do you think I had a message that he didn't want it I said, what are you thinking? He didn't answer it. I said what do you I'd like to know What are you thinking? He said are the missiles flying and as I thought about that later, you know Here was the president suddenly made commander-in-chief never been in the chain of the black box and all of that Sitting there calmly trying to figure it out. We could only get so many messages from Pentagon and others because the Communication have been very tailored to limit the contacts we say wanted to try to intercept what else was happening in the world and And he didn't say that with alarm. He didn't say that with fear He just said is the is if what's going on what this could be a moment that will never survive But he sat down at the table and dictated to two or three of us But this is before the night when he did the same thing again exactly what his agenda was going to be doing Sick items on their civil rights tax cut Poverty and three others. I don't remember now but if from the moment that I picked this up from Kenny O'Donnell and others who were at the hospital he was restrained recollecting and Committing what he had to do in the next 24 hours for which he was not prepared There was something about him at the center in the middle of crisis. He could really pull himself together Linda How did the pressures of the office manifest themselves? When he was out of the office when he was in the residence when he was when he was a family man My husband was in Vietnam and I told him You took the easy way out You went to Vietnam You should have you know if you think you had it tough you should have had to be there in the White House living through all of this and I really didn't even mean it Laughingly because it really was true You know he didn't have to worry about anything other than to try to keep his men safe and keep himself safe and things like that but every day there was a new crisis with with what was going on where where we were and and It was You woke up every day and just hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as the one you just The day before well, we'll talk about it because for you it's got to be very strange. You're you're sending your husband off to war You are expecting your first child And that same war these let me go back to the war the same war that you're sending him Out to there are people protesting against outside of the White House gates Chanting hey, hey LBJ How many kids did you kill today and your husband's going to that very war and your father's the committee talk about What that's like for you? Well, I would have to say that I was very me focused particularly looking at it with 50 years plus behind me and First I we got married in December. He left in March. I spent a good part of March going out to with him to the West Coast for he got his training there and I put him on the airplane with a box of cookies and You know, they say that in life you'll see everybody twice. Well The some of the people at Pendleton Camp Pendleton, which is the big marine base Some of the people were kind of curious about me Chuck was a captain in the Marine Corps and here I was the commander-in-chief's daughter and so with marine protocol you can imagine the The commander-in-chief's wife couldn't have a tea party for me. I mean that was too much But his aid could his aides wife could so they ask his wife to have a tea party and then you could invite all of you know that you could invite the the wife of the of the commander Pentagon all I mean a Pendleton all of those people to come so I came and and the wonderful wonderful Woman who was a Husband was the aid. She let me use her her kitchen to make cookies for Chuck for him to take to Vietnam and It turned out that Bill Bill's husband Bill Griffith's husband was the son of one of daddy's District chiefs political person And how did God plan that I mean he planned it, but how did it happen? I mean it was just amazing and the end of that story is that Bill went over for a second tour and While Sally was bringing her Their daughter to Lucinda Robbs first birthday. She was expecting her second child and he was killed in Vietnam It could have been my husband it could have been any of them and so I think I focused daddy I Represented all of the wives and the mothers Who were like me? they're waiting and praying and hoping and and just desperate to get their loved ones home and Lucy has said that she thought that that was one of the motivations just seeing me all the time there and hearing some of Chuck's letters and March and tapes and tapes. Oh, yes. Yes Chuck sent me a few tapes and You see you hear daddy listening to one of these tapes now Chuck tried not to To tell me too many horrible things because he wanted me, you know, he worried didn't want me to worry I mean, he told me when he left from Pendleton. He said don't worry if anything happens to me the Marine Corps will take care of everything And I want to be buried in Arlington Which has been a fight with us since then because I want LBJ cemetery, but Anyway It was I was very me focus as I said I was concerned about getting chucked back safely and delivering a healthy baby That was my agenda daddy had many other things, but that was what I was focused with now I would not take a little bit of issue with you on the March Decision because daddy and mother daddy had talked about not running before and mother being the history student had looked up to see what Truman did and March gave he thought enough time Before the camp before the election to give the party a chance to find somebody else But not so much that he wouldn't have any political clout because once he left once he said that in March 31st No matter what happened in the polls a lot of those members of Congress knew that he couldn't do anything that he was a dead duck and so therefore There wasn't the motivation to keep supporting him and all the things now daddy used every opportunity to to try to get the Congress to as y'all will talk about with with the gun bill after Bobby Kennedy was shot with With the half fair housing after Martin Luther King was was shot, but What I brought to him was the stories or Chuck would write me and say Today I just missed being killed I heard an incoming and I jumped into a two-person foxhole. I didn't even know there was such a thing two-person foxhole and Five people jumped in with me and the The shot went right over us and Landed fortunately on the within six inches of the hole, but fortunately the The firepower went The opposite direction he said if it had gone the other way those six inches all of us would have been killed Now that makes you focus on life When he would write and tell me a letter about how he was Guiding Taking some some provisions to another unit. He was a company commander and they would go as guard when they took trucks out to to supply other places and He talked about coming on the on the way back from from one of these and He because it was hot and he was just like Texas hot and sweaty and so forth so he was on the second Amtrak and They were coming back and all the men were riding on the Amtrak's by now because they had gone along this same path a few hours earlier and checking to look for for North Vietnamese and Vietcong and so Coming back the first Amtrak hit What you would now call an IUD And it blew the Amtrak up and there were men who were Melted on the Amtrak It was so much and trying to at that point trying to save anybody you could save and Get them call in Helicopters to try to to get them out and he could have just as well been on the first Amtrak writing and So When daddy listened to some of those tapes you can see just how it just cut his heart out and Those were the things only two good things happened from my standpoint in 68 one Lucinda to Shea Rob 50 years ago in October was born and I Could tell you all about that Focused me and and then wonderful on Christmas Eve of Frank Borman reading from Genesis Then we'll get to that which we'll get to in one second that that is the way that the year ends Hopefully after what was almost an apocalyptic journey. Let me talk we March 31st 1968 is an important date in in the Johnson canon It is when as Kyle mentioned LBJ gives a speech to the American people in which he talks about a Bombing pause in Vietnam and the fact that he will not Seek his party's nomination for another term as president This is Lyndon Johnson who spent practically his whole adult life toward the acquisition and execution of power Tom Why did there's a there are a lot of misconceptions about why LBJ opted not to run in 1968 What what do you feel? Why did LBJ decide to step down? I think yet the advice of Lady Bird Johnson Yeah, second Who said that before yet Lady Bird Johnson said I saluted him for being clear-headed enough to know he wasn't the man who could unite the country second He absolutely wanted to use the time he had left in office To try to bring about a peace agreement in Vietnam Absolutely wanted to spend every moment that he could trying to bring about a piece in Vietnam and third his health As he said to Larry temple and to others The Johnson boys die young meaning his family and Also, we knew that it suffered a really severe heart attack earlier and He was he was not a candidate for You know heart surgery at that point most dr. Dubakey dr. Cooley and his Emory University doctor who's been with was not and So he listened to many people not too many John Connolly certainly Among them, but it was no more powerful voice in all of that than that Mrs. Johnson You were so John was an indispensable aid to President Johnson and one of the things he did is take copious notes Around the meetings that that LBJ had Including weekly lunches around the war Tom talk about the commander-in-chief that you saw throughout the course of 1968 68 Was by far the most traumatic year For him. He wanted to continue to do everything that he could do About bringing the war to a successful conclusion he also wanted to continue to Push forward on those domestic Agenda items that he felt still needed to be Took to be addressed It was a really it was a serious time in that White House Through throughout the year He found refuge at the ranch And the ranch just brought him safe harbor and even though there were all of the You know communications technology there of that of that time Nothing pleased him more than to be able to get out in his car and drive around the ranch with guests a Chance to be with family with friends Play dominoes with a W. Morrison But mostly it was it was about the only getaway That was available because we couldn't travel During that year except primarily to military bases, right? I mean the protestors were were everywhere But I just want to emphasize Something that I think was true all the way through He was a very Steady hand in a crisis and no matter what you may read in other publications or whatever He was a very good Person in a crisis Just wanted so much some way somehow to maybe get Ho Chi men in a room and And be able to negotiate with him as he had successfully would So many others along the way Senator Dirks and others But peace eluded him and And that was really I think the the toughest part of that year Yeah, there are many tough parts of that year, but for him not being able to bring that to a successful resolution There are many who are close to the Johnson family who will say that LBJ had really three surrogate sons Tom Johnson bill Moyers and Walter Jenkins. We have Walter Jenkins daughter in the audience tonight bill you knew him so well Did it surprise you when you heard that speech on March 31st and and heard he was stepping down? Yes, as you said, he was a man who's been his whole life seeking power. I saw I'm really bitterly disappointed but treating it privately when he didn't get the When not only did he not get the Democratic nomination, but he didn't run a very good campaign We didn't get many delegates. He's got outsmarted and outmaneuvered by John Kennedy He was very disappointed then And then I saw him in the first months of the vice president when he just seemed to have given up Ever any further ambition, although his ambition rarely rested It was at least in neutral in those first two or three months of of the new administration That I left in January of 67 I stayed about three and a half years and went on to become publisher of newspaper in New York And we were watching the screen that night because we'd heard the president going to make a speech And I was dumbstruck because as I said to my oldest son. It was 14 at the time I think this is not a man. I would ever thought would have put the crown down once it had been Placed on his head right not voluntarily I Feared you mentioned his health. I I grew very worried about his his heart He used to talk to me a lot in the campaign of 64 You know, he went to he almost backed out and talked about backing out to Mrs. Johnson and me Three months before the Democratic convention at Atlantic City in 1964. It was all about his heart, right? You know my he told me the same story my Father and others died young so I did not think that he would give up power Voluntarily, but I never doubted that he meant it when he did that night. I never thought this was a ruse I mean he was careful. He was he he was the most competent man I ever know it at at at stage craft on his terms It was not a great person got a great performer, but he knew how to craft the play So that he would know the scenes that were coming right and he was not going to make a theater out of his decision To retire and then come back and I never believed the art. I'd like to hear what you think about it the articles of the speculation that he was really doing this in effort to create sympathy and and And that after Kennedy had died had been assassinated. He really regretted that he Had stayed in and begin to try to manipulate things I couldn't find that believable given the conviction and of the character that I knew on the 31st of March So I tried to convince him not to make the speech I wasn't persuasive But I felt I was concerned about how those people how my husband and all those people who were over there Would feel that he Was deserting him was leaving him and I was I was angry is not the right word because I knew That he was really doing the right thing. You know sometimes when An issue is focused on a person. It becomes Obama's war it becomes Johnson's war. It's what had happened to Carter. They wouldn't release Those Iranian hostages. I mean our hostages they wouldn't release them It was just sticking the finger in his eye and that was the kind and I think that he felt honestly that If people thought he was doing this for a political reason if he was staying in that They they the Vietnamese would not come Because they didn't want to make peace with somebody that they were going to help get reelected that was going to be a reelection issue and And it works by the the overture Yes Of stepping down in order to get Ho Chi Minh to the peace table works and so far as Ho Chi Minh Reaches out to lbj after that and ultimately we don't get peace for for reasons. We'll talk about in a moment I want to go back Kyle mentioned the fact that There's a surge In lbj's approval ratings after the march 31st speech And then just several days later we get the assassination of martin luther king tom johnson is the aid that lets president johnson know That martin luther king has been assassinated lbj is in an oval office meeting tom Talk about that moment. Well again I was a young press aide And I just happened to be standing by the tickers the ap and upi tickers Adjacent to the white house press office The Bells on the tickers went into a prolonged unending scream Of of of of just continuing ringing That is called a flash It's the highest form of a bulletin wave of a bulletin And I just happened to be just looking at it and and it the ap ticker began to line that dr Martin Luther king has been shot in Memphis And I let about three sentences get off of it before I ripped it off And which is really really unusual I went in and I told the president's two secretaries that I had to go only into the oval office Don't stop me because normally you must stop and get their permission to go in it is a It's a criminal offense almost and I said that this is so important that I need to to get in so I walked in And handed it to the president. I didn't say anything Sitting with him. This is always to be a great irony sitting with him was the then chairman of coca-cola Mr. Robert Woodruff and the outside general counsel of coca-cola Who became the governor of georgia governor carl sanders? And the president looked at it and you could almost just see him slump And and he handed it to mr. Woodruff Who read it and then as he was doing that The president was beginning his calls to Uh, I think the first call was was to jade gohoover But he started down the attorney general went down the list the secretary defense. I mean on it and probably With within no more than 10 minutes probably less Coming into the oval office were first the highest ranking people in the white house though Walt Rostow's and others at the time But then mobilizing in the white house where there's but I'll also never forget mr. Woodruff Chairman of coca-cola Asked to use a phone as all of this is going on and over the phone He calls the then Atlanta mayor Ivan allen and he says a mayor. I'm here with president johnson As you know, dr. King has been shot I The fbi and others said that america could burn tonight And I want you to do whatever you need to do in Atlanta. Doesn't matter what kind of police force Additional fire whatever you need to do do it and don't worry about who pays for it Mr. Woodruff was notorious for his his anonymous philanthropy in it and of all the cities Atlanta Didn't burn that night. There were some serious protests But but in any case president johnson's one of his very next calls was to mrs. King On it now again at the immediately we just knew that he had been shot It was later that we got the word that he had actually he had actually died But again to watch president johnson beginning to take control And so many of his calls were to the african-american leaders Not just to law enforcement and and and and and getting every piece of knowledge he could But what can we do now? And I should just one thing I'll never forget is thank goodness americas african-americans Were led by dr. Martin Luther king and john lewis and andrew young And people who believe so much in nonviolence Apostles of peace thank goodness that america's african-american many was not led by rap brown and by stokely car michael or maybe even malcolm hex because Even though we did have rights The the the the civil rights community Embraced nonviolence even after their leader had been killed as he did for for several days Not to say again that a lot of cities didn't burn But but president johnson set in motion then Things like open housing And and and and much much more He again was just a solid Solid leader wanting to do the right thing under the conditions terribly concerned about The loss of dr. King who had been such a strong supporter as they worked together over civil rights Even though because dr. King became an opponent of the war their relationship had changed Let me just say a little personal piece on that that of course we had the draft And they were a lot of people who Because they were in school because they could afford To the firmants they could work out these things they didn't go They were people the children of people in the government You know families were split greatly between the younger generation who Didn't weren't willing to to go by the draft and So Who got who filled up that were a lot of people of color And I understand perfectly what dr. King was talking about it was they were in many cases His people who were going now. There were plenty of people like my husband And now if you look in congress for instance You know you you're still talking about war and you don't have very many people there who have any experience in any of it Are certainly in in the government with exception, of course the professional military people Very scary, but even at that time daddy was thinking of me And my condition and I didn't know this story, but he had a young secretary who was a good friend of mine And Washington was burning 14th street was burning um I mean 14th street. We're at 16th street So very close you had parts of it that were burning And um, it was daddy did not he told a lot of the staff people the white house Particularly the women I have to tell you he was sexist in that part He did not want them going home at night because he was afraid that something might happen to him And so sometimes he got white house cars to take them to their doors Even though they were not high ranking people in In the government, but anyway this the secretary he um Mother This was all the time it was burning and I don't know what happened, but anyway he came He called Phyllis and he said Phyllis Um, Linda's here by herself and I know this must be Concerning to her and you know, she's pregnant and we're skate. We're concerned. Would you mind staying here tonight? um Sleeping in the room with her And then he calls me And he says Linda I'm really concerned about Phyllis getting home tonight safely Would you mind sharing a bed with Phyllis? Phyllis was Phyllis banana. Phyllis banana was assisted to to president Johnson He was one of the many in those days we call people secretaries and they it was not It was not a pejorative a pejorative I mean, they were the ones that were the closest because they were the ones who under the guidance of of the chief secretary Who who um Let people in and out of the office But I never knew that story until a few years ago When Phyllis did an oral history and told it but he was concerned about the people who worked for him Now there were men. I don't know did he tell you you had to stay? That night he did he did um He was very concerned about the people around him and particularly about me And so Phyllis spent the night and we went up on Went up on top of the white house up on the top And saw 14th street burning Excuse me for interrupting that. No, it's shocking. Please. I could add just I think you're talking about the theme of how the president managed the crisis that management Was very much on display after the assassination of king and I think you see it in several ways one you see Harry Byrd and Even Robert Byrd Robert Byrd's Mad because when he orders in federal troops They're really not given bullets and Robert Byrd's calling the president and saying well, let's shoot him Only shoot the adults and only shoot them in the knee But you know, you've got this Surge and his first question is one I want my generals to know these young men All right that are being sent in these troops many vietnam veterans. They are not to fire on americans I don't want to turn this into a bloodbath And I think the other part of it is he actually empathizes to a large degree with the african americans He has a great quote at one point saying I understand Why this young african american man would riot when he's seen his civil His leaders shot down and thinks he's next right that empathy is very much on display After the assassination of king and I think that sometimes in many of the biographies I read a lot of that is lost That he had this personal side this empathetic side That was very strong that unfortunately isn't oftentimes portrayed You know, you can always you can hear that in the telephone tapes You can hear him personalizing every issue when he's talking about a an education bill He talks about the guy at a gas station who's going to need to know how to work the cash register He does understand things. I want to uh There's so much to cover in this this this year But I want to talk about king for just one more moment before I forget there is a letter that lbj kandolans letter that lbj Wrote to coretta scott king that is on display In our great hall and it's certainly worth seeing it was given to us by somebody who bought it from harry bellifanti Who was given it by coretta scott king bill? I want to come back to you you Uh were there in the white house from the beginning You had helped lbj see through not only the 1964 civil rights act Which you talked to the presidential leadership scholars about today, but the voting rights act you and I and I've heard Conversations that you've had with president johnson in which you talk about Conversations you've had you've had with dr. King give me your perspective if you would on that very consequential relationship between these two men They realized they needed each other john I played the tape this afternoon of the president calling Martin Luther King three days after the assassination and um, there was nothing Profound in the conversation just one man reaching out to another now actually knowing what to say and the other one Didn't know quite how to respond, but you could tell there was a moment there in which they had a fused interest and it was to Get the country started again and the and lbj said the civil rights bill is i'm going to i'm going to make it happen So there was a moment of rapport Even though they had not seen each other. I don't I don't remember if king and johnson never met his vice president Later when I was talking to king and I used it this afternoon One of the things he said to me was that he had read the text Of a speech that lbj had made as vice president in This a memorial day of 1963 at gettysburg, right? I told the group this afternoon that johnson had been asked to speak and he did and he and harris busby from austin wrote a marvelous speech he was the first Descendant of a confederate Also to speak at gettysburg. I didn't realize that I think that's right and he He made a marvelous speech and just absolutely the right tone and projection and And it was very moving I don't have the last part of it that I quoted this afternoon But king mentioned that to me king said I finally I didn't know he'd spoken there And I finally read he said that was a dam to speech That I've heard in a long time from a white man like that in in in power So there was a natural bond there Johnson thought then that black lives matter 50 years before it became a mantra And king saw that but then you know King was very insecure in many respects. He was only 28 when he emerged as the leader of the Montgomery boycott And then he didn't meant he he once said I'm gonna have a great life I'm the son of a distinguished black pastor in Montgomery. I've got a degree from boston university. I've got a happy Be happily married. I wanted a ordinary life And suddenly he was cast into this and you could see this indecision and private conversations and phone conversations over that period of time then He grew furious with johnson over a couple of things and then johnson grew furious with him It was a it was a it was an immature Relationship in which feelings were not suppressed over resentment of what the other person might be doing that you didn't approve of and then of course after I was gone but after Kennedy after King made that speech at riverside church in New york april, I think the fourth 1967 exactly exactly the year before I'm told by journalists and others that johnson was furious and that he didn't really He really didn't want to deal with king anymore. And then of course I think that influenced the grief. He obviously felt on the night the king was was killed. So it was a rewarding tortuous flowering and then Inhibited relationship One of the few cities that does not burn After dr. King is assassinated as indianapolis indiana Robert kennedy is there that night campaigning for The nomination of the democratic party the presidential nomination of the democratic party and he gives a a beautiful extemporaneous speech To the largely african-american crowd that he has gathered that night. He's become a force in american life And kyle you write of the relationship between The kennedy camp and lbj. You quote journalist william white who wrote in december of 1966 President johnson had to bear a frightful burden in the unremitting hostility of the kennedy cult And its common attitude that the man in the white house is simply a constitutional successor to another man slain In memorable tragedy, but only a crude usurper talk about the relationship between Lyndon johnson and and robert kennedy right well, let's start with the picture I think the irony of john kennedy's bust in the background is significant And a lot of people will just see the picture of him But again, if you juxtapose it against the kennedy bust, I think it's extremely important to sort of contextualize that So I think with robert kennedy one of the best books i think i've seen on this is jeff she solves book called mutual contempt About the animosity between the two which i think if you look at it you can take it back to the 1960 convention When robert kennedy went out of his way to try to torpedo the vice presidential nomination of Lyndon johnson and it didn't improve i mean on that november 22nd You probably saw this happen when robert kennedy just walked by the president Goed straight to the back of the plane and just does not even acknowledge him and this kind of relationship Was extremely tense I argue that it's one of the most Volatile in american history it's right up there with hamilton and burr and you know you look at There's some others along the way, but you'd be hard-pressed to find some that are just contentious as this relationship I was i've learned a lot from bob karo's book and one thing i learned is i too thought this began Uh at the convention in in in 60 I thought that johnson felt bobby was undercutting not only him but the his own brother right and um But it turns out as karo reports it began before that it began in an incident in the basement of the Senate office building in their In there are the capital in their restaurant And there's a group meeting their senators who are talking to johnson and bobby comes in and And and and sort of ignores him and and they exchange some hostile words. I never heard that I never heard the president Talk about it, but go back and look at the cable. Oh, yeah, I think there's Things i mean bobby was always insulted because i think he called him boy or something like this that Added to this but you know i think robert kennedy you hear joe kennedy talk about bobby says, you know jack was just sort of this Easygoing guy. He was not really my son in some ways bobby would cut your throat. That's my boy You know he said he'd take you down. He said he was the tough one and so I think this is a clash of Two major political figures and again I talk about this in the book of that funeral for robert kennedy And how he walks in and I think it's joe califano. It talks about the idea He could fill the tension in the room And that there were people there that did think johnson was just still an usurper That they were going to ride in with bobby kennedy in 1968 and become and go into the presidency And somehow they're blaming it on johnson for creating all the turmoil that brought about the death of robert kennedy so two months And two days after martin luther king is assassinated on the balcony of the lorraine motel in memphis Tennessee bobby kennedy dies after having been shot at the ambassador hotel in los angeles tom back to you What was that moment like? for president johnson at least two of us who were present Jim jones Who was another presidential assistant and I were there and what I will remember Was president johnson telling us that we should do everything that the kennedy family asked of us and That was basically those were hinders instructions and that For the next 24 to 48 hours. There was no request that wasn't answered And answered immediately use of of the presidential planes use of a presidential helicopters Whatever it was that was needed by the by the kennedy family, I mean he he just Of course, he he reached out to to to talk with With rose kennedy And you know, there was a great sense of What does this now mean, you know with What does this really mean? My memory mostly And I maybe because I was so involved with it at least one part of it was just to make certain That every single request that was made of the white house of the presidency that it was done Not only has kyle written a marvelous book on lbj throughout the course of this year But but he also wrote a piece in the washington post about Lyndon johnson's response to robert kennedy's assassination and the lessons that Donald trump might draw from it when we see the the almost I think inevitable death of Of senator mccain another political his own political rival talk about that piece a little bit Yeah, well living in arizona you live in the shadow of john mccain And as someone that's been there for many years And so it just made a lot of sense to me that you know, here's linden johnson his greatest political rival a bitter rivalry He's able to set it aside and I mean to me one of the most poignant parts of his Is when he's in the motorcade, they're going to arlington And they're on the way back and he is he shed tears because he's like how does this woman rose kennedy? Who has suffered so much? You know and again when you read the johnson buyer You don't get very much of this of the personal side that he had this sense of empathy that he had his sense of caring And the point I was trying to make to the president The current president was you've got to put aside this because this is the presidential thing to do And if you don't then you will be judged for that. You can follow linden johnson's Model of doing whatever the family. He flew the kids out. He did everything that they asked Showed remorse show concern And you put that aside for that moment because that's the presidential thing to do And the same needs to be replicated when senator mccain passes and that was my argument very strongly and linden johnson provided the model To mention that the relationship between president kennedy jack woman kennedy Ladybird johnson President johnson was a good relationship I mean a good relationship and and Later I should emphasize that relationship was senator edward kennedy And and the johnson's was a wonderful relationship. So so many people do put this in one bucket like The kennedy family really disliked president johnson. That is not true And let me just say that when lucinda robb was born I got a beautiful note from ethyl kennedy and And when daddy died mrs. kennedy brought A little thing of flowers to To blare house where we were where we were staying So and I don't think it's I don't think I I usually try to keep all secrets But I don't think this is one that mrs. johnson would mind my saying But virtually every summer At martha's vineyard where mrs. johnson would go for a few a couple two or three weeks mrs. Johnson and jack one kennedy had a completely private Evening afternoon and evening together As far as I know for every summer that we were there I went I got invited to go I guess the point is Yes, there was hostility Both ways between robert kennedy And prosa johnson But but don't just think about his kennedy family johnson family at all. It's not monolithic. No No, it's it's as different as each individual in the family. Yeah Kyle you mentioned Anna shinalt and this is a chapter that many of you may not know about in 1968 Um Tell the audience about anna shinalt's significance in the 1968 election, right? Well, anna shinalt's Wife of claire shinalt the famous flying tiger They'd married and she'd come to the united states and become a prominent Republican fundraiser. So she's very actively involved She also keeps a lot of contacts in southeast asia and asia as a whole And so what happens is as early as july of 1967 You have people from the nixon campaign meeting with her also with the uh south vietnamese ambassador to the united states bosem and There is this argument that has been made and will be followed up on is that shinalt went out of her way to Try to convince the two government not to negotiate in late october Of 1968 when there appeared there was going to be a major breakthrough Which they feared was going to be the ultimate october surprise And throw the election to hubert humphrey So this had been ongoing and they really ratcheted up and what happens is the president gets wind of this through Eugene rostow who overheard a conversation in new york city passes it along to walt rostow who passes along to the president And so this plays out the president then goes and wiretaps the shinalt's phone at the water gate ironically Can't make this stuff up The jake tapper was here a couple weeks ago and he said uh That the history the history doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it rhymes Very very much so and so he also taps the south vietnamese uh embassy We also had a tap through the Yeah, it it and so had the uh Are the presidential palace in south vietnam by the nsa So this intelligence by the fbi starts coming in of these conversations going on between Zem also to the two government and the argument is made that this was an effort To undermine the peace process Now the question becomes how effective was it some in the south vietnamese government said well, we weren't going to do it Anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference But the fact that this was actively going on and you have shinalt talking to someone in albert curkey at one time That's one of the great wiretaps Right of he's in albert curkey, and they think it's spiro agne Which would fit within john michael was actively involved And so this is all playing out and the president and i had a piece in the san antonio paper A few months ago talking about how i thought there was a comparison of why obama didn't pull the trigger As well as the president won the president johnson would have to given up that he was Where his information was coming from which would have been some would say embarrassed But he also loved the office of the president And he thought if i start a constitutional crisis as soon as because he looked period richard nixon was going to win I opened up a constitutional crisis immediately and that undermines the presidency itself So he ultimately did not make this public He also gave the information to hubert humphrey who also chose not to make it public Tell them though about the haulderman note of last year. Yeah, we're finally the smoking gun Finally, this was a speculation for years, but there was no smoking gun that led back to richard nixon I think we have to stop go back one more step because daddy talked to To dirksen again, right and told irksen that he had this information ever dirksen the minority The republican minority leader of the senate who he was very close to and um He told him and there was a discussion about Whether this was a treasonous whether this was treason To be dealing with a foreign government and here And dirksen presumably talked to nixon he did and said and nixon said i know nothing about it No, no nothing at all and i'll do everything I can to to get you know to get peace and so forth and so forth now Well, and so yeah, I appreciate the context. I hopefully my chapter covers it in great detail, but uh, It is that is a wonderful point. He dirksen does call Hardesty I think is the one that answers and delivers the message He goes through halted him and because halted him a nixon sleeping and halted him and says he's asleep Artistry says you're gonna get him up for this And then there's the great tapes that you can hear nixon and johnson going back where he is denying it But your father did not truly believe that that was case because he had the tapes or he had the What annish and alt had been doing and again, you know, you think of henry the second, you know did Uh did somebody in an attempt to help nixon, right? But here you have It wasn't a surprise Yeah, the hold them in though That is basically is the smoking a smoking gun now. There are still people that are not convinced Uh, and their argument, uh, there was a good piece in the wall street journal by luke nickter, uh, Our professor very close to here arguing that it just since it didn't make a difference They were already going to go the route they were It doesn't matter. I I personally Disagree with that assumption, but the hold them in note is saying, you know, we we know And you know, it is a tie Again, not everybody buys that it's a smoking gun, but to me it is a very strong Some people have asked me in the process of my interviews on the book They say did nixon? No, and I say well, here's what I would argue I'm not a lawyer, but if I were I'd say in a criminal case I'd have a very difficult time convincing the whole jury If it was important for everybody here to understand though that we have a very good relationship with so many Of the nixon staff the nixon friends and nixon family I don't want anybody to leave this segment of the program Thinking other than we're just trying to convey facts here And and and I will just from my point in with one opinion I do believe that if I had been authorized to leak that information about an issue and all And the south vietnamese government Being convinced to pull back from the paris peace talks I believe that that information had been made public That there would have been a difference in the election of 1968 And that hubert humphrey would have been president not not president nixon, and that's not I mean it it it And that whole of a note actually showed at the nixon library last year the specific Instructions to tell hannah schnaught to continue her efforts to get president to of south vietnam to pull back I also think about how many people died both on the united states side in vietnam And on the north vietnamese side Between then could we have brought off a piece the russians really wanted us to bring about a piece It came out of glass borough and I always just think maybe of everything that happened in 68 If we could have in that final Months done up Some type of ceasefire brought about a resolution Maybe even the type of resolution that existed it between north and south korea How many lives would have been saved on both sides? And it's the only time that I guess I look back and I knew just enough I'm sorry. I didn't even ask for approval to leak it or get it because I think it would have changed the course of history I was at glass borough with daddy glass glass borough the summit with koseigan and I understand that that's where where daddy Talked to koseigan about getting the the the russians to get the north North vietnamese to come to the table because my real question always was why were they there not not why would south vietnam Pull back because you know, they thought about the The shape of the table and where everybody sat and you know these things But why were the north vietnamese willing to come to the table? Unfortunately, we are this is a We could talk about 1968 For four or five more programs and still not scratch the surface of us, but we are unfortunately we're timing out. Let me quote Kyle quotes Atlantic monthly in his in his book Talking about that year never in our history They wrote at the time Has the individual seemed as wretched and despairing as he is today? And seldom have free men Anywhere felt so thwarted and powerless in their relations to government democratically chosen He also mentions that by 1968 um A study found that one out of every Or the 28 percent of americans were quote Substantially alienated from the mainstream Such numbers led pollster george gallup to conclude All the time we've been operating 32 years now I've never known any time like this when people are so disillusioned And cynical and bill moyer's that sounds awfully familiar How does um this Tempestuous Year half a century ago Compared to the year that we're living in right now Many of the forces stresses issues are the same distrust of government continuing Division and the races. I mean that we didn't talk about it, but to me the most meaningful Subplot in this 1968 was the kerner commission a great document Which lbj commission and then Grew very wary of but it Came out with a report that america is now two societies one black one white separate and unequal It was a unanimous decision. It was a powerful testament And it's the same today in many respects. We are still economically and inequality We are divided this I think that i'm not a historian, but i think 1968 had more impact on american history than any other year I live through Even though i live through the first world war. I mean the second world war and oh But he looks fabulous. Yeah You should see me in uniform But you know, I I was in France a good bit in 68 and I And in britain in london and this feeling of politics alive politics Powerful politics going to change things which dominated which governed the 300 000 revolutionaries who walked who marched through the streets of paris Calling for de gall to quit and in poland when the A movement of ordinary every day young citizens grew up and all europe was caught up in this more so than america america was against the The vietnam war american protests and black people were protesting against police brutality by the way the The kerner commission concluded Their sociologist very good sociologists on that commission concluded that white racism was not the trigger that brought about the protest it was police brutality which was incredible at that period of time didn't get a lot of press as it is today but uh There were such expectations in the beginning of the 60s and such disillusionment at the end that 1968 became the kind of of landfill For so many hopes that wound up Pessimistically and there's one image in my mind that has epitomized that year for me I I had gone to new york to publish a newspaper one of my constituents was robert kennedy and i saw more and knew him better in new york than i did in Washington because then i was johnson's representative and our relationships were formal and And all of that but he called and asked me to fly to kennedy's to a martin luther king's funeral with him And i did he was a completely different man From the man i had seen in lbj suite in the ambassador hotel in los angeles in 1960 1960 Uh, we we hope everyone matures in power and i think kennedy was maturing in powers much different man But what i remember of the scene That stands in my mind as the is as as reflective of that whole Half of that that decade All the people gathered there Most many blacks many whites They tried to sing they started out singing we shall overcome Trying to and it died in their throats It choked They couldn't sing it This was their anthem. This was their hymn And it had become when lindon johnson the made that great speech that dick goodwin wrote dick goodwin's Memorial service is tomorrow in concord massachusetts He gave lindon johnson the eloquence that every president walks and that fortunately dick gave lbj, but But when lindon johnson stood before the congress and the country and appropriated The black freedom that we shall overcome Which is the thread that runs through the history of of these people since slavery The country changed at that moment when we had a real chance and when they couldn't sing it After a white president had made it ours and his And theirs when they couldn't sing it. It was a moment to me in which lights were going out All over the country And of course what happened is all those hopes and expectations of the protesters the counter-revolution the war went over seven years In france. Papadou was elected in england heath And Of conservative nixon in the united states. There was a backlash just there was a historic backlash against Demantipation of Of slaves the reconstruction the failure of the reconstruction. There's a backlash against obama today 1969 Saw the beginning of the backlash That and and the rise of the right wing Who had been marginalized? they brought the delusional into the oval office and gave it the crown but but they There was a backlash and where this election of 2016 was the culmination Of the backlash that began With the resentment of blacks, you know people were saying Oh, they won't they want more than they deserve in all there's a real backlash, but that scene to me remains The painting in my head That captures the disillusionment and sadness and and hopelessness of 1968. We've talked about some very dark chapters that we saw throughout 1968 As I mentioned earlier, uh the year ended on a very hopeful note the the image That you see now projecting in back to us came from the apollo eight mission apollo eight was the first Uh space mission to go beyond earth's gravitational force And it circumnavigated the moon men did not land on the moon But we had a crew circumnavigating the moon actually journeying 60 miles from the moon's surface And that picture was taken by bill anders One of the astronauts on that mission and it spawned The modern environmental movement as we saw the fragility of the earth on which we all live This image was sent by lbj to all world leaders At the end of that year and he got a response from one of them unlikely An unlikely response from ho chi men who thanked him for sending in this image I will say before I thank our panelists tonight that uh there are At least 60 members of this audience who give us great hope and those are the presidential leadership scholars as larry temple mentioned They are doing some absolutely remarkable things and uh during this dark time what a time that can be dark You are giving us extraordinary hope. So thank you all for being here tonight. Thank you to my panel for being here as well We'll see you in a couple weeks