Lyndon johnson developed a reputation as a dmen straightive public speaker with a pension for telling tall tales. His six consecutive terms in the house of representatives and two term as a senator from texas could not erase his down home image. Many democrats in 1960 frowned upon kennedys choice for a man they believed belched allowed, cussed, violated personal space, and never apologized. Once president , he claimed that he did not, want to be the president who built empires or sought grandeur. But johnson liked to be in charge. In private his wife said he was a warm and mellow man. In general, however, his voicterous and complex personality can fused many. Including johnson himself. Sometimes i dont even know whats going on up there, he once said. Tapping his head. Johnson was raised some smam town, america. At birth, he weighed 10 pounds and for the first three months of his life was simply called baby. A childhood friend once remarked if johnson conned lead, then he didnt care much about playing. Later in life, he bought a ranch near his hometown in texas where he spent his vacations, his retirement, and where he died of a heart attack in 1973. His biggest supporter throughout his wife was his wife. They got married on november 17, 1934 with 1934 with a 2. Auto ri sears roebuck. From birth, she was called lady bird, when a nurse observed she was pretty as a lady bird. Johnson proposed on their first date and even though she had a flame feeling about him, his forward behavior stunned her and she initially refused. He was center stage of friend once said of the relationship. But she was in charge of the crops and always a part of the performance. Mrs. Johnson was known for her campaign to improve the american landscape. The world took notice when their two daughters were married. Johnsons plan for a Great Society helped his reelection bid in 1964. But the vietnam war troubled him. Despite statements to the contrary, he kaes lated the United States role in the conflict and as a result lost in his words all of his hopes and dreams. With americas sons in the fields far away, with americas future under challenge right here at home with our hopes and the worlds hopes for peace in the balance every day i do not believe i should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan costs or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office. Accordingly, i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. Welcome to the lbj rank. Were here this morning to learn about the life and times of our 36th president lyndon b. John n johnson. Joy served as the president s righthand man on domestic policy issues throughout most of his presidency. Lets start at the beginning of the white house term for Lyndon Johnson. What approach did he take when he learned he was going to be president of the United States. He immediately felt and i talked to everybody that he intended to use these years to do all the things he had always wanted to do. And that he was going to change the world in effect for education, for health care, for the environment. He was totally focused on the dmes domestic changes in the country. You have to remember at that point in time the kun stri going through massive changes. How did he establish his legitimacy . When he was elected the greatest landslide of any president what he ran against Barry Goldwater. He brought in every leader, every business leader, every labor leader, every he knew the power structure of america as no president before him had ever known it. He also made it clear to the disenfranchised, particular lit blacks, that he intended to do something for them. . Were going to open the phone lines for your calls and questions about lyndon b. Johnson, our 36th president. Here are the phone numbers. Well spend the first two hours here ranch of lyndon b. Johnson and then up at capitol hill. A very complex and turbulent period in American History. Describe the man for us. Well, the man was, you know, he could be he was brave. He could be brutal and tough. He was cunning. He was caring. He was altruistic. All in the same few minutes. He also but he was a true believer. He believed in what he was doing. And he was willing to fall on his sword. I always thought the one attribute that people that struck me about him more than any over time and on reflection was courage. When he moved with all the civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights act, Civil Rights Act of 64, the Fair Housing Act of 68, he knew he was turning the south over to the Republican Party. He knew he was going to clobber the american party. When he took office, the theaters were segregated and washington, d. C. Hotels, restaurants were segregated. Blacks were truly second class citizens and he was going to change that. His aggressive attitude towards making it fair, we got more adverse mail, more criticism on the racial programs of the Great Society than we did on the vietnam war. Then encapsulate the philosophy of the federal government and the role of a person. He said he had been a teacher of mexicanamerican kids in texas in 1928. He said when i was a teacher in texas, i never thought id be standing here to be president but i am president now. I have the power and i intend to use it. What did he intend to use it . He viewed the federal government as the instrument to help the most vulnerable among us. That will take care of 75 of the people. There are a quarter of the people out there that need help. They need housing, they need a fair shake when they get into the workplace. They wont be discriminated against. He was determined to change that. The other thing he felt, the world the u. S. Was changing. We were moving from the corner grosser and corner pharmacist and small bank to these enormous corporations. With enormous potential to disadvantage consumers. The government is one way you reset the balance. He wanted to have truth in lending and packaging. A housewife walks into a Grocery Store and shes faced by the most clever packaging, wording and everything and the best accountants and designers can do. We have to level that playing field. Lets take our first call of the morning and then learn how texas shaped his view of america. Albuquerque, new mexico. As a teacher, i would like to know what do you think prepared johnson. Also, viewers did not know which part of texas he was from. Hill station or big city. And suggestion, i know it would help teachers and students of this country if cspan would identify congressmen as a democrat and not just from texas but from a district in texas or a city or whatever. Just like they do in britain. This may help geography students like their students learn more about the country rather than just having a congressman listed from a big state of texas. Well, they really had teaching had an enormous impact on him. He was a great teacher. And, two, i think it prompted a lot of his interest in education. He saw education as a very important thing. Thats yes pushed the federal government. He drove through congress that law. He had to deal, we forget today, the catholics who wanted some help and there were per oakaroc schools. He saw education as very important. He used to say anybody ought to go to college if they have the brains and the talent. It should be brains, not bucks that determine that. That led to all grant and loan programs we have today. Teaching is a very important thing to him. And the teachers philosophy where he said teachers should go out there and teach. That had an enormous i pact. Lets bring in leslie starheart the superintendent of the lbj ranch here. She is standing down by the river. Im going to ask you to address the whole question of geography and its influence on Lyndon Johnson. Welcome to the heart of lbj country. The geography of this place did influence him. This is very beautiful country and tough. But i would want to add a word about johnsons teaching skills. You know, of course, his mother was one of the few women in this part of texas who had a college education. She was an educator and teach eastern greatly influenced him. The hill country of texas also informed him it was tough men in the land and he was very much proud of that country. Can you tell us a bit about what this was like in 1908 when he was born . How tough was it living here . The thing about the hill country is that when the southerners first came here, it was, as i said, deceptively lush country. A lot of grasses. But it is a land that gets very little rainfall. And so it had been grazed down and people were forced to go to other types of crops, very much dependent upon a boom and bust economy. Its the basis of the pop lift movement in the country, the small farmer. When the president was born here, not very far from this place right down the road, it was his parents were living in a very small, fairly primitive home, a farmhouse that had been built by his grandfather, actually by his great uncle. And they lived a very tough life. His father was a tenant farther farmer but he was also a member of the state legislature. He had the competing embassies occurring on him. Will you tell us exactly where we are. Give us some relation where we are in the stast texas. Youre in the hill country of texas. Were approximately 75 miles from austin, texas. This is an area called the Edwards Plateau and some refer to it as the devils backbone. It is in central texas. We are north of san antonio, west of austin. Were northwest of houston. We have a question from our next caller from new york city. Yes, hello. Ive watched your program with great interest. When i was ayears old and johnson and kennedy were running for president , i remember there was this program on channel 2 that talked about who would take over the oval office. My entire family watched it. We are africanamericans. And we were so democratic, you know, and it was like this is the party of rez volt aoosevelt new deal. At 10 years old, i was active in the Johnson Campaign with johnson and humphrey. I want to know when africanamericans become so unilater unilaterally involved with the Democratic Party since we know that before in early periods and even on the cspan program, Democratic Party is very, very segregationalist. And i was wondering dshgs this happen with joon sons landslide in 64 or is some something that happened as far back as Franklin Roosevelt . I have a crystal ball question. Do you think that the Democratic Party has moved away from johnsons ideals and the ideals of the new deal and is moving away from that . Do you think that africanamericans will seek another party or will they remain within the Democratic Party or what do you think is the future Political Landscape . I think that the africanamericans began moving into the Democratic Party are Franklin Roosevelt. I think the enormous rush came with johnson. He passed the licivil rights ac. Johnson won by enormous landslide over goldwater did because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the southern states. I think the Democratic Party today is not as aggressive in terms of saying the federal government is here to help poor people, small people. I mean just to give you one example, poverty was reduced from about 22 down to 13 in the johnson years. Its been level since then. We backed away a more aggressive effort to bring in the least of us whether africanamerican or hispanic or just basically poor people. Lastly, i think its important to note that johnson saw the Voting Rights act which really brought black americans into the mainstream of american political life as the most important piece of legislation. He used to say this will change america. And it has changed america. It was signed into law what dates . August 1965. And johnson was so happy we were driving up to sign. He wanted a big ceremony. I said i want rosa parks there. He wanted all the people around him. As we were driving up, he said this law will change america if, if, if, if many ifs, he said, the negroes which is what blacks were called then, will get out and vote, if theyll get registered and theyll vote. And theyre getting out and voting indeed is beginning to change the south. Youll notice that even the Republican Party now has to attend to the needs of this constituency in the south. How long after the signing of the Civil Rights Act did the rioting break out . There were disturbances in selma before we had it. There were the first disturbances were in watts in august of 1965. And it was johnson signed the Voting Rights act. He just signed medicare before that. He had gone to missouri to be with harry truman. And he put it into law. He went from there to the lbj ranch where were sitting right now. There had been the incident if watts two days before. The riots broke out the night before he signed that medicare law. The first riots were in watts. He was very concerned. He was, in fact i think he was very depressed at that point in time. I was in the white house in washington its the only time in all the years i worked for him that he didnt want to take calls from me. He was trying to pass the civil rights laws and poverty laws. Springfield, missouri. Hi. Im calling from springfield, new jersey. I was wondering what you thought a southern born politician like Lyndon Johnson who is from a segregated state of texas to become such an effective proponent and civil rights legislation. Well, i think i think it is very personal in many respects. He had a cook and he had a driver. And they were both africanamericans. And they would drive from washington down to texas. And they couldnt stay at any decent hotel or motel. Often when they couldnt even stop to go to the bathroom because there is no place that would allow blacks to go to the bathroom. He used to talk about that. And that had an enormous impact on him. And secondly, i think his teaching to go back to that and his experience with mexicanamericans in texas had an enormous impact on him. He used to say if you dont if we dont give them a fair shake, we will have riots. We will have people on the street forever in this country. And secondly, it just wasnt right. To him it was a moral issue. It was a meeting in the white house in the spring of 1963 when kennedy was president and kennedy and some of his aides were talking about the politics, the difficult politics of civil rights and Lyndon Johnson said, whoa, this is a moral issue, not a political issue. He saw it as that. He paid an enormous price. He viewed the tremendous landslide and the popularity that he had going into 1965 as something to spend to get this done for this country even though he knew it would clobber the Democratic Party. Olympia, washington, good morning. Are you there . Yes. Go ahead, sir. Okay. The undersecretary of the United Nations may well have been the most prestigious black man in america. Did Lyndon Johnson rely or use him as a resource in any way in approaching domestic or Foreign Policy issues . Thank you. I think London Johnson reached out and helped everybody. I think on the domestic side, people he talked to more were Whitney Young and roy wilkins. He was then the head of the naacp and Whitney Young is head of the National Urban league. And i think those were the ones who relied on terms and domestic policy, he really reached out to everybody. Every year we get the best people we could on every subject whether it is child health and bring them in. Dont worry about the politics. Get me the best ideas. Ill deal with the politics. Ill decide how much we can get done and where we can get it done. Lets return to leslie heart for more of the understanding of the role of this facility in the Johnson Administration. How did he first of all, how did he come to acquire this space . Well, the Texas White House, what we know is the Texas White House was actually the home of his great aunt and uncle. And he grew up he was born about a quarter of a mile down the road from this house, from the Texas White House. And he visited his grandfather who lived a little ways up the road. And then i would come up the road all the way to this place to visit his great aunt and uncle and great ufrpg who will is also the First Political mentor. One of the things i wanted to tell people that is so fascinating about the ranch and about johnsons city is that what we have is an entire circle of life we call it of place thats are associated with johnson, with his family, with his ancestors. And there are place thats greatly influenced him. If you look at his legislative record on domestic policy, little speeches that he would give as he was introducing a bill. He always would w leave in something about home and the home place. This was really a very important part of him, of who the man was. And it helps us to understand him and to get our park visitors to understand more about the man who became president. And thats what i think is so unique about this place. We are, i guess, going to be showing some footage. Are you showing it now . Im trying to watch of the ranch and resources out here. But we have within a very short distance the one room school where he first went to school when he was 4 years old. We have the reconstructive birthplace house where it is built on the site of his birthplace. And that was built in 1965 as a guest house. And was actually run of the first units of the