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Program Summary
Lyndon Baines Johnson was one of the most astute, effective, and perplexing politicians in modern American history. An "accidental" president but a master legislator, he was determined to "out-Kennedy the Kennedys" by pushing through historic social legislation on a scale that rivaled FDR's New Deal. A Southerner who championed civil rights, LBJ put into motion many of the programs that would continue to shape American life throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This package of reforms was known as the "Great Society." But as his authority was undermined by an increasingly unpopular commitment of U.S. forces to Vietnam, his presidency began to unravel. Opposition to the war spurred protest movements and a youthful counterculture. In 1968 he stunned the nation by announcing he would not seek reelection. A larger-than-life figure in his day, LBJ is appreciated for his vast domestic accomplishments, but his presidency continues to be overshadowed by his failure to end the war in Vietnam.
Program Segments: The program has been produced for home video use on video cassette and DVD. The total viewing time is 4 hours. For your convenience, we have described the program in segments. You may want to use specific segments to focus classroom discussion and activities.
Tape One (Hour One)
Segment 1 (begins at: David McCullough appears on screen)
Length: approximately 5 minutes
Starting image: David McCullough
David McCullough introduces the program; provides an overview of LBJ's ambitions, strengths, and weaknesses
Part One: Beautiful Texas
Segment 2 (begins at: 5 minutes, 12 seconds)
Length: approximately 19 minutes
Starting image: film of LBJ accepting the Democratic nomination for president
LBJ's childhood overshadowed by a domineering mother; father was in the Texas legislature; LBJ marries Lady Bird; elected to Congress in 1937; LBJ brings electricity, roads, and public libraries to rural Texas with FDR's help; LBJ begins relationship with the Brown brothers, who finance LBJ's campaigns throughout his career; LBJ loses bid for Senate in 1941 to Pappy Lee O'Daniel
Segment 3 (begins at: 24 minutes, 10 seconds)
Length: approximately 12 minutes, 25 seconds
Starting image: black-and-white photo of LBJ with his head leaning on his hand
LBJ votes against civil rights; buys ranch in Texas; two daughters born in 1944 and 1947; LBJ runs for Senate against Democrat Coke Stevenson; LBJ now supports big business; wins Senate seat by 87 votes; Stevenson claims the ballots had been stuffed, casting a "shadow of illegitimacy over LBJ's political career from then on"
Segment 4 (begins at: 36 minutes, 35 seconds)
Length: approximately 9 minutes
Starting image: black-and-white film of the Capitol
LBJ begins association with Bobby Baker and conservative Senator Richard Brevard Russell of Georgia; LBJ becomes Party Whip, later Democratic Leader; LBJ is persuasive, manipulative deal-maker; becomes Majority Leader in 1954; LBJ suffers a heart attack in 1955
Segment 5 (begins at: 45 minutes, 31 seconds)
Length: approximately 5 minutes
Starting image: black-and-white film of LBJ ringing a bell hanging from a tree
LBJ criticized by liberal Democrats for cooperating with Eisenhower; Civil Rights Bill of 1957 passes, but due to LBJ's deal-making does not contain any enforceable laws to protect black voting rights; bill affords LBJ national exposure
Segment 6 (begins at: 50 minutes, 48 seconds)
Length: approximately 10 minutes
Starting image: black-and-white film of a political rally for LBJ
LBJ loses the Democratic nomination for President in 1960; JFK picks LBJ as his vice-presidential running mate for the southern vote; liberal and conservative Democrats unhappy with LBJ as vice president; Robert Kennedy and LBJ do not get along; LBJ does not enjoy being vice president; Kennedy is shot on November 22, 1963; LBJ becomes the 36th President of the United States
Tape One (Hour Two)
Part Two: My Fellow Americans
Segment 1 (begins at: 0:00)
Length: approximately 15 minutes
Starting image: photograph of LBJ taking the oath of office
LBJ retains JFK's cabinet; continues fighting for JFK's causes; 1964 Civil Rights Bill costs LBJ the support of his mentor, Senator Russell
Segment 2 (begins at: 15 minutes, 28 seconds)
Length: approximately 7 minutes
Starting image: black-and-white photograph of LBJ leaning back in a chair
LBJ decides to continue to fight in Vietnam and honor America's pledge to stop the spread of communism
Segment 3 (begins at: 22 minutes, 37 seconds)
Length: approximately 8 minutes
Starting image: filmed shot of the Capitol at night
"War on Poverty" begins; LBJ calls for the "Great Society" -- sweeping reforms designed to end poverty and inequality; campaigns across the country to raise consciousness about the poor; names Sargent Shriver director of the Peace Corps
Segment 4 (begins at: 30 minutes, 54 seconds)
Length: approximately 20 minutes
Starting image: photograph of LBJ pointing
LBJ runs against Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964; LBJ escalates conflict in Vietnam in an effort to contain communism; LBJ exploits North Vietnamese attack against U.S. Destroyer Maddox; promises not to send U.S. troops to Vietnam but pushes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution through Congress; wins the election by more votes than any president before him
Tape Two (Hour One)
Segment 1 (begins at: 0:00)
Length: approximately 4 minutes
Starting image: David McCullough
David McCullough introduces the second part of the program; depicts LBJ as a man of contradictions: egotistical, generous, kind, vindictive, etc.
Part Three: We Shall Overcome
Segment 2 (begins at: 4 minutes, 10 seconds)
Length: approximately 6 minutes
Starting image: LBJ giving a televised address
LBJ orders the bombing of North Vietnam in 1965; listens to the his Harvard-educated advisors that include Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara
Segment 3 (begins at: 10 minutes, 45 seconds)
Length: approximately 6 minutes
Starting image: newsreel showing newspaper headline: "The Great Society"
LBJ proposes legislation to establish Head Start, National Endowment for Humanities and Arts, funds for conservation, a National Parks system, a program of highway beautification, consumer protection programs (such as truth in labeling and packaging, auto safety), urban renewal and housing programs, public television, and legislation to promote education at all levels, clean air and rivers, and more; LBJ's skill as a political manipulator and deal- maker gets his "Great Society" legislation passed in Congress
Segment 4 (begins at: 16 minutes, 50 seconds)
Length: approximately 14 minutes
Starting image: color film of Vietnamese people marching past a wall
Vietnamese government will not negotiate with LBJ; civil rights unrest grows even as LBJ supports Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts against racism; National Guard is called to protect civil rights protesters; Voting Rights Bill is presented to Congress
Segment 5 (begins at: 30 minutes, 41 seconds)
Length: approximately 13 minutes
Starting image: color film of a plane taking off
Conflict in Vietnam escalates; more U.S. troops sent overseas in 1965; LBJ thinks that the North Vietnamese will compromise, does not understand Ho Chi Minh's position as a revolutionary; avoids telling the truth about costs of Vietnam because it might undermine "Great Society" legislation
Segment 6 (begins at: 43 minutes, 00 seconds)
Length: approximately 10 minutes
Starting image: film of LBJ and Lady Bird arriving in Independence, Missouri
LBJ signs Medicare into law; creates Job Corps; signs 1965 Voting Rights Act into law; Watts riots occur five days later; LBJ baffled by growing black militancy
Segment 7 (begins at: 53 minutes, 10 seconds)
Length: approximately 7 minutes
Starting image: photograph of LBJ on a surgical table
LBJ has gallbladder and kidney stone removed; McNamara's doubts about the war damage his relationship with LBJ; TV coverage of Vietnam reveals a full-scale war; Senator Fulbright questions the war in Senate hearings; the tide turns against LBJ; antiwar protests begin to gain in frequency and number
Tape Two (Hour Two)
Part Four: The Last Believer
Segment 1 (begins at: 0 minutes, 0 seconds)
Length: approximately 8 minutes
Starting image: color film of church spire
Luci Baines Johnson marries in 1966; more urban riots; LBJ loses support for "War on Poverty"; law-and-order movement gains support
Segment 2 (begins at: 8 minutes, 4 seconds)
Length: approximately 15 minutes
Starting image: color film of bomb dropping on a city
LBJ tries to delude himself and the rest of the country that U.S. is winning the war, creating a "credibility gap"; financial drain of war becomes apparent to Congress; funding for "War on Poverty" discontinued; LBJ travels on a goodwill tour to Vietnam, Pakistan, and Rome
Segment 3 (begins at: 21 minutes, 18 seconds)
Length: approximately 10 minutes
Starting image: Mr. Clifford says, "And then, Tet came."
Tet Offensive; LBJ strains his credibility to the breaking point; McNamara and others on staff resign; Clark Clifford becomes secretary of defense, tries to persuade LBJ to change Vietnam policy; LBJ, agonizing over the war, begins to feel the presidency as a burden; some advisors perceive him as unstable
Segment 4 (begins at: 31 minutes, 30 seconds)
Length: approximately 4 minutes
Starting image: film of demonstrations being subdued by troopers
LBJ challenged by Robert Kennedy in 1968 presidential election; LBJ's paranoia grows, and he becomes even more adamant about winning the war; "Wise Men" tell LBJ to end the war
Segment 5 (begins at: 35 minutes, 51 seconds)
Length: approximately 14 minutes
Starting image: black-and-white film of the White House
LBJ announces his withdrawal from the presidential race in March, 1968; Ho Chi Minh agrees to begin peace talks; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated; Robert Kennedy is assassinated; Richard Nixon is elected president; LBJ, depressed, returns to Texas; begins drinking and smoking heavily; LBJ gives his last speech on civil rights in Texas in 1972; LBJ dies of heart failure on January 22, 1973.
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