. >> lbj knew there was collusion. it's definitely a smoking gun as regards richard nixon's direct involvement and actions. >> they're contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. and they ought to be doing this. this is treason. >> it's november 3rd, just two days before the 1968 presidential election. >> mr. president, i'm getting right on. >> mr. president? >> yes. >> dick nixon. >> yes, dick. >> in a call secretly recorded by the white house, president lyndon johnson draws a line in the sand for his old adversary, richard nixon, the republican candidate for president. >> lyndon johnson is desperate to get the north vietnamese and south vietnamese at the peace table. >> we all want them to come, and hope they'll come and really believe they'll come. >> is it a question of when -- >> nixon was trying to sabotage those peace talks if peace talks were announced before election day, that would help his opponent. and it would destroy nixon's very last chance to become president. >> u.s. troops were mired in a bruta

lbj made horrible decisions in vietnam, every week telling lbj you are doing it the wrong way. the founders wanted criticism, they did not benefit because there were no critics, they were not allowed. founders felt criticism brings the best policies, benjamin franklin once said your critic is your friend. i am not sure lbj thought his critics were his friends but i do and it is essential to democracy. [applause] >> i have a longer question about the war on terrorism. >> apologize for asking but can we make it brief? >> the war on terrorism involved -- [inaudible conversations] >> the war on terrorism was launched after 9/11 and the president took the money that was to be used for fema like disaster relief from fema and put it into homeland security. my name is christina easley and i'm an author. my book is about how disaster survivors survive various fema disasters. do you think the president should have taken money from the disaster relief people and given it to homeland security? >> i am from washington dc though i really from illinois. no one wants to be from washington dc.

namely richard nixon. >> america's ally drops his own bombshell on lbj. quote, the government of shoutd vietnam regrets not to be able to participate in the present exploratory talks. south vietnam's president sends a signal to washington loud and clear three days before the american election. there will be no peace talks while lyndon johnson is in office. with the clock ticking down, richard nixon has sabotaged lbj's quest to end the war. but one last twist remained to play ultimate. let me customize my insurance, and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything. like my bike and my calves.o.. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ this holiday season, families near you need your help. visit redcross.org now to donate. (boy) got it. nooooooo... (dad) nooooooo... (vo) quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and is two times more absorbent. bounty, the quicker picker upper. so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added s

she made it possible for lbj to get through that war. i'm not psychiatrically qualified but a lot of these things on lbj takes you and i talk about that are paranoid and angry and prone to severe depression, she pulled him up, called him down when he got too excited, johnson at war, i put these in the book, johnson is seeing bobby kennedy and martin luther king are trying to embarrass me. the reason students are protesting the vietnam war is soviet and chinese communists are telling them to and the reasons senators like william fulbright are against my war is the soviet ambassador is dumping cash into his pocket, that is what he said in private and that was not a president who was operating with a full deck. she made it possible for him to get through that war in a way that was relatively stable. eleanor roosevelt, fdr was talking about sending japanese americans to internment camps and she said this isn't necessary for national security, total violation, he did it anyway. her friends that that was the moment in a marriage that never rec

he was the one that told lbj if president kennedy were alive he would escalate the war, big deal. and number two, if you do it you will be subject to criticism for that and not fulfilling our treaty obligations. bad news for him, , he did not know that lbj had made a lot of tapes of their private conversations which mcnamara had not heard all of before he published this book in the 1990s, and bad luck for him because you listen to the states and the show that some of what in the book did not turn out to be true and lbj was, had sort of the last word. >> host: second follow-up. robert suggested presidents use war as a political tool. was this a common thing among you coveredts that in presidential war? >> guest: presidents are tempted. james polk used or not to run for reelection basically because he had pledged to serve only one term, but this was one way that he could get something he felt he couldn't get any other way which was actually trying to get more land for the united states to make up a nation that span the continent. the problem is in modern times i'm worried a modern p

the first one of the lbj. they were my guys. >> if you look at history, other countries had leaders too. some of them very destructive leaders. you might say it is easier to destroy a legacy than build one. your idea of leadership seems to be on the premise of creating. how do you take account of leaders who want to turn the clock back, destroy legacies, put people against each other. if you were going to write about destructive u.s. presidents, who would you write about? doris: i will take the definition. it is very complicated thing what leadership is defined as. a great political scientist wrote a book about leadership. he would argue that destructive leaders were power holders. they held power but he would argue there was an ethical bias to the word leadership. this is an interesting way of thinking about it. david: they did not earn power, they took it. doris: even if they earned it and used in a way that was going to be destructive, they were simply holding the power rather than a leader. jay: do you hav

lbj drops out on march 31st and dr. king assassinated all within a four-week period. >> it is hard to comprehend. to be able to see what was is come -- compacted in a month's time. my dad, who is a lifelong democrat, said, i'm really fearful for country now. i'm fearful for what's happening in the streets and voted for nixon in 1968 because he thought he was the law and order man. he was the man who would bring law and order back to our streets and bring our country together, interestingly enough. the other thing about vietnam, we talked about the tet offensive, the united states won the tet offense siff, bive of t and the vietcong and the south, and to see that movement into the south of the vietnamese regulars and the vietcong was so fearful for the american people, and to see that in their living rooms. we want to talk about the role of the media, because pat is telling us these great stories about how the nixon administration prior to going into office, how the nixon campaign knew how to use media by 1968. people we

lbj with very poor prosthetics. bryan cranston took the play all the way to the small screen for hbo. and did a marvelous job. and ava do run a did a story of soma that included lbj. first two were pretty good. and they helped us to your point about hamilton shedding new light on the constitution, bringing new interest and those productions did that for lbj. to have what he and brian come to library to study the role, i was really impressed with how much they immersed themselves into trying to understand lbj and i marveled at how curious they were. they wanted to know every factor of this complicated personality. i will tell you, i have a problem personally with soma because it told the story but lbj's involvement in solar rights in the wrong way. it showed him as an obstructionist and politico defended this version. it is funny, the new cycle today, 24 hours on a good day. that story seemed to continue on and on and on as a run-up to the oscars. we had entertainment tonight calling this the library i said don't you

i knew lbj. i decided i wanted to look at them through the lens of leadership asking a question , that i have not fully asked myself. where does ambition come from? does the man make the times or the times make the man? are leadership qualities born or -- inborn or not? i spent so much time with them that i felt it was weird to spend days and nights with them and think about them so much. my only fear was in the afterlife there will be a panel of the presidents i ever studied and everyone will tell me everything i missed. the first person to screen would be lbj. the books on the roosevelts were twice as long as mine. [laughter] they were my guys. david: second row. >> thank you. if you look at history, other countries had leaders too. some have been very destructive leaders. you might say it is easier to destroy a legacy than build one. your definition of leadership seems to be on the premise of creating. how do you take account of leaders who want to turn the clock back, destroy legacies, put pe

a film by rob reiner called " "lbj "lbj." they did a marvelous job. ava did this story of selma which included lbj. the first two were pretty good. they help us. we had woody and bryan come to the library and study the role. i was really impressed with how much they immerse themselves into trying to understand lbj. i marvel at how curious they were. they want to know every facet. it showed him as an obstructionist. >> which was not true. that story seem to continue on and on as a run up to the oscars. we had entertainment tonight calling the library. like don't you have a kardashian to chase. it became a big story. that launched a debate about the responsibility the film maker has in capturing the reality of the subject in telling it accurate story. lbj is to my kids what calvin coolidge would have been to me. that's a long time to go back. >> a modern president has been treated more frequently in movies than john k. kennedy. with the volume of material does the library and foundation respond or does it have any extra traction for you when he's a subj

people forget he was ruthless on lbj in the two weeks before he resigned. he accused johnson of appealing to the darker impulses of the american spirit. i think mr. nixon believed more than i did that we might wind up with robert kennedy as the candidate. again, as i said, i always thought he was a candidate with great depth in that convention. he was mr. civil rights. he had put it on the floor of the u.s. senate. she could bring together the antiwar groups, as eventually he did, along with the democratic party and groups in the deep south. host: robert from maryland, go ahead. caller: i am a vietnam veteran and i don't think mr. nixon gets the credit he deserves. i think nixon was a very good president. but what overshadowed his goodness as a president was the vietnam war and watergate, and his personality complexes, but some of the decisions he made with civil rights and other issues, epa, made him a very good president. just those three things overshadowed his presidency. host: thank you. barbara perry? guest: we now look back at nixon and he thought of

the first one of the lbj. they were my guys. >> if you look at history, other countries had leaders too. some of them very destructive leaders. say it is easier to destroy a legacy than build one. your idea of leadership seems to be on the premise of creating. of do you take account leaders who want to turn the clock back, destroy legacies, put people against each other. if you were going to write about destructive u.s. presidents, who would you write about? doris: i will take the definition. it is very complicated thing what leadership is defined as. a great political scientist wrote a book about leadership. he would argue that destructive leaders were power holders. wouldeld power but he argue there was an ethical bias to the word leadership. this is an interesting way of thinking about it. david: they did not earn power, they took it. doris: even if they earned it and used in a way that was going to be destructive, they were simply holding the power rather than a leader. jay: do you have anyone in mind? i k

and i think for lbj it was something to prove something. sometimes i think it's as simple as you are so confident you love being the center of attention you want to replicate that. they said about teddy that he wanted to be the baby of the baptism and the baby at the baptism and the corpse at the funeral. so did fdr have the center of his family's life. you are so used to that sense of being at the center that it's better to be at the center. >> and in fdr's case why not be president for third term? he was overturning something of the story of george washington himself. and when you think about that, george washington after his second term he decided he would step down it was going be something quite unique in the annals of history, transferring party peaceably from one person to another person. and when he did that, the king of britain, the british king george said if you do that, sir you will be the greatest man of the world. and that is exactly what he did. but of course with fdr without he will be the greatest man for fourth term presid

republican houses in virginia expanding medicaid last year what you see is what happened in the sixties lbj said we should do this it's the right thing in the country but we should still do it. the democrats paid a price but now you have republican states by referendum to embrace medicare expansion that was the right thing to do so talking about the harmonica

defeated but one of the thing he did was campaign against the '64 civil rights act, which of course lbj signed into law. and demonized his opponent for having supported the civil rights act. flash forward four years later, george h.w. bush is a congressman from texas. didn't get elected to the senate but became congressman good in of 66. martin luther king is assassinate inside he 36th 36th president, lyndon johnson, wants to sign their fair housing act into law, the third in his trio of civil rights laws. the voting righting a, civil rights act and the housing act. george h.w. bush is under thunderous pressure to oppose the fair housing ability but has just been to vietnam and sees african-american soldiers fighting aside white and hispanic soldiers and makes a deep impression. is these can go overseas and put their lives on the line, suretily they should be able to come back home and live where the want. so he supports it. votes for it. also you said, john, the letters opposed to it were 500 to 2. people opposing george h.w. geo. bush's stance on the fair housing a. he goes back to hi

with the civil rights act in the 60s lbj said we should do this, it is the right thing for the country, it may cost us politically but we should still do it, democrats paid a price in 2010 for the affordable care act but now you have the publican state by referendum deciding to embrace medicare. it was the right thing to do. you can it and cut it to death, we need to take new steps forward. >> host: we say goodbye to chairman alexander, with his harmonica expertise, what is your next instrument? >> getting better on the harmonica is a lifelong project. i played a lot of music on the campaign trail, beginning to teach myself to play the autoharp. got a lot of free time. >> host: merry christmas, thank you very much. >> congresswoman seth moulton talks about his personal expe

. >> one of the smartest things that kennedy did was to make lbj his running mate. he had the wisdom to know that he needed texas and he needed southern votes. and lbj was able to deliver texas. >> let me say first that i accept the nomination of the democratic party. [ cheers and applause ] the republican nominee, of course, is a young man. but his party is the party of the past. >> nixon was watching kennedy's acceptance speech and he thought it was weak. he thought kennedy came across as being privileged and efiminite, not that good on tv. and he thought, i can beat him. >> 12 days later an unopposed richard nixon secures the republican nomination. >> thank you. >> all: we want nixon. we want nixon. >> when mr. kruschev says our children will live under communism, let us say his children will live in freedom. >> nixon's speech fires the opening shot of the election. the race for the white house is on. ♪ kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, kennedy for me ♪ >> the kennedys do what kennedys do best, spend money. >> it was called the jingle ad. every pro

republican houses in virginia expanding medicaid last year what you see is what happened in the sixties lbj said we should do this it's the right thing in the country but we should still do it. the democrats paid a price but now you have republican states by referendum to embrace medicare expansion that was the right thing to do so talking about the harmonica. >> getting better on harmonica i am beginning to teach myself how to play the autoharp. [laughter] >> thank you very much. [applause] >> our next guest joined the marines in 2001 right before 911 that infantry platoon in 2003 as a disruptor the only democrat from 2004 the democrat of massachusetts we are pleased welcome to the axios stage congressman. [applause] >> congratulations. so talk to us. >> to be incredibly well behaved it means different things to different people i cannot believe how much i miss her and we barely met i just cannot stand being away from her it is an interesting experience being a first time dad so you said something to me very sobering in conversation while we were waiting to come out you said hot. people do

>> i would just add that we just saw lbj in that clip and i think mark was so right to point out that because of what happened in vietnam we tend to remember lbj in that way but here was a person who did so many other things as well, advanced civil rights in a way that no president had done since abraham lincoln, advanced nuclear nonproliferation treaty. those are major accomplishments that changed our world. >> charlie is joining us from new york. good morning. go ahead, please. >> caller: good morning. in the late 1970s i was assigned to the second army calvary regiment. our mission was we guarded the border between east/west germany and czechoslovakia. a couple of hundred feet into czechoslovakia there was an apple tree. i was there picking apples and walking back to our lines. i heard movement behind me. it was an eight-man czech army patrol and all they did was they smiled and they waved. in the morning we would give them hot coffee. they would give us hot soup. we got along very well with the soldiers of the czech army. >> one of the results of the invasion of czechoslovakia was

up next, we will take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj administration. >> we are at the dual institute of politics, which was founded life,3 to honor the service, and legacy of senator bob dole. in 2017, we got an exciting announcement that we will be housing senator elizabeth dole's papers and promote her legacy. in the early days of 2017, we began to receive shipments of and we arefrom d.c. going to begin processing those over the next few years. we are fortunate that she shares senator bob dole's sentiment that these papers should be available and open to the public for research. we are working hard to make sure that can happen as soon as possible. elizabeth dole is from north carolina. she graduated from duke university and to her law degree at harvard law. she tells a wonderful story about being a student at harvard law and one of few women in the lecture hall. she had a gentleman classmate come up to her and say elizabeth, you know you have taken the seeds from a man who would really use this degree. how does that make you feel? that moment to fin

we will take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj-- lbj administration. >> we are at the dole institute of politics founded in 2003 primarily to honor the life in service and legacy of senator. bob dole.

up next, we will take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj administration. audrey coleman: we are at the dole institute of politics, which was founded in 2003 to honor the life, service, and legacy of senator bob dole. in 2017, we got an exciting announcement that we would be housing senator elizabeth dole's papers and get to promote her legacy as well. in the early days of 2017, we began to receive shipments of her papers from d.c. and we are going to begin processing those over the next few years. we are fortunate that she shares senator bob dole's sentiment that these papers should be available and open to the public for research. we are working hard to make sure that can happen as soon as possible. elizabeth dole is from north carolina. she graduated from duke university and earned her law degree at harvard law. she tells a wonderful story about being a student at harvard law in those days and being one of few women in the lecture hall at that point. she had a gentleman classmate come up to her and say, "elizabeth, you know you have taken the seat from

and for over two decades has served as a trustee of the lbj foundation. and susan ford bales is the fourth child and only daughter of our 38th president, gerald ford. she lived in the white house during the -- a bulk of her father's presidency and since 1981 served as a trustee of the gerald ford presidential foundation. moderating our panel is david rubenstein, the co-founder and co-executive chairman of the carlyle group and our country's leading patriotic philanthropist. generously contributing to the preservation of our nation's history and culture. he is also the host of bloomberg the david rubenstein show. peer to peer conversations. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to this stage matthew mckinley, tweed roosevelt, linda johnson robb, susan ford bales and david rubenstein. [ applause ] >> thank you all for coming. i want to apologize as one of my roles of the chairman of the board and sorry the air conditioning hasn't worked. the president probably has descendants that didn't have air conditioning. who knows when air-conditioning was first instal

he was just as hard on lbj as he was on nixon and as much as a certain republican official. when i see how the left was acting and the ride was acting as if today we have a chance to witness them putting as much pressure on both sides of the aisle and it's hard to do that because it is different. >> to that point how do you think hunter s. thompson would fit into this media for twitter? >> it would have been terrible. that is another good question. i think that he would have pushed back against the cable news aspect of talking heads and celebrities and having a career through articulating the point and that celebrity culture of looking like a newscaster or an expert. i think that he would have pushed back against extremism that we are seeing now where we believe in america that rhetoric can be divorced from the islands and obviously we know that it's not true that we have seen it so much recently and it would push back against the way they try to manipulate the press that often gets stuck. they become complicit in the terrible aspects of the trump administration they don't m

railamerica, a 45 minute documentary about lbj's activities that month, created by the white house naval photographic unit. the film includes the lighting of the national christmas tree, and holiday scenes with the johnson family. a meeting with president elect next incoming cabinet meetings about the economy and vietnam, and scenes of apollo eight. the first nasa mission to orbit the moon. ♪ [holiday music playing]

with the civil rights act in the 60s lbj said we should do this, it is the right thing for the country, it may cost us politically but we should still do it, democrats paid a price in 2010 for the affordable care act but now you have the publican state by referendum deciding to embrace medicare. it was the right thing to do. you can it and cut it to death, we need to take new steps forward. >> host: we say goodbye to chairman alexander, with his harmonica expertise, what is your next instrument? >> getting better on the harmonica is a lifelong project. i played a lot of music on the campaign trail, beginning to teach myself to play the autoharp. got a lot of free time. >> host: merry christmas, thank you very much. >> congresswoman seth moulton talks about his personal experience with the veterans administration healthcare system and changes he would like to see in the us healthcare system. this is 15 minutes. >> our next guest joined the marines in 2001, led an infantry platoon, was among the first americans to reach baghdad in 2003, is a disruptor, the only democrat to unseat an incu

it was a way of some people essentially going sort of like this to lbj. and i assume to some extent that's gog on wiing on with don trump. >> very interesting. oprah winfrey is number two on the list of women, and president obama, that's got to be unprecedented too. >> fascinating and assuring. >> michael beschloss, always a treat and honor to talk with you. >> same with me. thank you, joy. happy holidays. >> that does it for us tonight and we will see you again tomorrow. and now it is time for the "last word." ari melber is in for lawrence tonight. good evening, ari. >> good evening, joy. thank you very much. as mentioned i am ari melber in for lawrence o'donnell. we begin tonight with a basic truth. this is not normal. the federal government entering its sixth day of a shutdown that the president said would be his fault. the stock market continuing wild swings down and back up today which is at least partly linked to the chaos in washington and as democrats ready to take over the house next week polling shows opposition to trump and a widespread view he

enjoy. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, please woken mark updegrove president and ceo of the lbj foundation. [ applause ] >> good evening and welcome to our lineage and legacy, the stories of the presidential descendents panel. in january 2017, before their father left the white house, sasha and melia obama received a letter from barbara and jenna bush, the first daughters who proceeded them in the white house. take all that you have seen, they advised the obama girls. the people you have met, the lessons you have learned and let that help guide you in making positive change. being the descendent of a president, while a great honor comes with challenges and responsibilities. participants in our panel this evening had gracefully embraced the legacies of their presidential descendents and used them to make their own positive contributions to the world. matthew mckinley is descended from two residents. he is the great grand nephew of great william mckinley, our 25th president and the great great grandson of our 22nd and 24th president, grover cleveland. tweed well wrestle bit is the

lbj used to say that an army was two divisions. and probably walter cronkite was an entire army. >> our conversation with david marinis and jim webb the author of nearly a dozen books, former u.s. senator, former navy secretary, and let's get to your phone calls. james here in washington, d.c., a veteran of the vietnam war. go on, please. >> caller: thank you. half of my class in south carolina, 21 boys, 12 were vietnam veterans. i was at placu. there was over 8,000 americans, nurses, soldiers, marines would volunteer for vietnam almost every year of the war, and you could not get none of the president to get v.a. to move on the backlog of people waiting two and three years, entry people like myself cannot get our claims moved at the v.a. hospital for claims, year after year, they can't make our claims. >> thank you for the call. >> thank you, and you dealt with that in the senate. >> i dealt with it first of all as a vietnam veteran serving as the counsel on the congress. back in 1977 i worked on the veterans committee. i've been

. >>> also want to talk about king james, lbj. they're taking on the wizards. last night lebron james and lonzo ball had a triple double. that's ra. they're the first time to do that since magic johnson and kareem abdulabbar did it. today's game tips off at 6:00 tonight. >> that was early '90s or late '80s? >> definitely '80s, magic johnson andeem abdul-jabbar. >>re pre team. >> totally. >>> let's look outside right now. it's not improving much today. we'll check in with lauryn for her full forecas t >>> it's not uncommon for ementary schools to invite parents and grandparents into the cafeteria for lunch. >> but in fairfax county, we have kids in a couple schools finding a different kindf lunchbuddy. police officers. julie carey looks at thism prograhat is aimed at trust growing. >> reporter: it's eas for captain matt owens to strike up a conversation with kids. he has two of his own and their hementary school a program that invited dads in to serve as why models so he thought not try in the his police district with officers. >> i thought it was a great unity

of course without the civil rights movement lbj couldn't have gotten the civil rights bill. it's up to the people right now. >> brennan: jill, you write about this sense of ruthlessne ruthlessness, of disorientation, of trying to define who we are right now as an american people. why did you dig into that this. >> a sense of political di disequilibrium since 9/11 that is coin sighted with the technological disruption with that skew, forms of political communication that we have grown to rely on. we need to pay a lot o can speak politically by >> brenn u he wed en bit quietern but we quite loud at the time, particularly women. >> sometimes people say, you are inserting this new attention to women and people of color, but of course american history is driven by everybody. and when you think about political history if you confine your attention to the disenfranchised you'll have narrow, all white male history, which is a distortion. it's important to understand that the past is made up of many actors who have powers that are different from the franchisee rectory. the crusade th

trump spends less money than any candidate since lbj. >>. >> i kept saying he's too old. >> even i would say this, every republican candidate. says at the beginning of every speech, >> and at the end of the speech, then he had the speech in the media and if you want to answer me, i challenge you to ask him. >> and if you don't ask him, he's the one who really knows. >> used to be almost. i keep hearing. [inaudible] >> that's so exciting that he's here. >>. [inaudible] he's like a rock star right now. i like it. >> that's a good sign. >> can you tell when the coffee kicks in, when he goes crazy on the campaign controls? i mentioned debris because everyone kept showing yesterday and i loved jackie barnes, [inaudible] [inaudible] >> so campaign consultants are going to be the undercard ofthe republican party . >>. >> right back on the same. nothing happened. >> republicans can't learn. >>. [inaudible] they don't need them. >> many new ideas. >> i love you. >> why not. >>. >> the professional dive and take photos. >> very nice. >> i'm from pittsburgh. >> is getting more and more popular. >>

up next, we will take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj administration. audrey coleman: we are at the dole institute of politics, which was founded in 2003 to honor the life, service, and legacy of senator bob dole. in 2017, we got an exciting announcement that we would be housing senator elizabeth dole's

nixon beats hubert humphrey and the november election, next on "reel america," a documentary about lbj activities that month, created by the white house naval photographic unit. the film includes the liking of the national christmas tree and holiday scenes with the johnson family, a meeting with president-elect nixon, cabinet meetings and scenes of apollo 8, the first nasa mission to orbit the moon. ♪ -- ♪ [holiday music playing] ♪ president johnson: for the sixth and last time, i have come to like this christmas tree in the nation's capital. my prayer now, as it has been in each of these other decembers, is for peace and reconciliation abroad, justice and tranquility at home. . -- ["the wizard of oz" being sung] ♪ >> for this time will be the last time that i have had the privilege of inviting the youngsters of washington for christmas. it is a special joy to have one of my own children to celebrate the great coming of santa along with you. ♪ december 1968, the final full month of the presidency of lyndon johnson. great a time when achievements were harvested by americans, i

here's what lbj said march 31, 1968. [video clip] johnson: their attack during the tet holidays failed to achieve its printable objective. it did not collapse the elected government of south vietnam or shatter its army as the communists had hoped. it did not produce a general uprising among the people of the es as they had predicted. the communists were unable to maintain control of any of the more than 30 cities that they attacked. they took very heavy casualties. but they did compel the south vietnamese and their allies to move certain forces from the countryside into the cities. they caused widespread disruption and suffering. their attacks and the battles that followed made refugees of half a million human beings. the communist may renew their attack any day. they are, it appears, trying to make 1968 the year of decision in south vietnam. the year that brings if not final victory or defeat at least a turning point in the struggle. steve: again march 31, 1968. and jim webb, you were wrapping up your tenure at the u.s.

railamerica, a 45 minute documentary about lbj's activities that month, created by the white house naval photographic unit. the film includes the lighting of the national christmas tree, and holiday scenes with the johnson family. a meeting with president elect next incoming cabinet meetings about the economy and vietnam, and scenes of apollo eight. the first nasa mission to orbit the moon. ♪ [holiday music playing] ♪ president johnson: for the sixth and last time, i have come to light this christmas tree in the nation's capital. my prayer now, as it has been in each of these other decembers, is for peace and reconciliation abroad, justice and tranquility at home. ♪ ["the wizard of oz" being sung] ♪ >> for this time will be the last time that i have had the privilege of inviting the youngsters of washington for christmas. it is a special joy to have one of my own children to celebrate the great coming of santa along with you. ♪ narrator: december 1968, the final full month of the presidency of lyndon johnson. it was a time when great achievements were harvested by americans, in

nixon beats hubert humphrey and the november election, next on "reel america," a documentary about lbj activities that month, created by the white house naval photographic unit. the film includes the liking of the national christmas tree and holiday scenes with the johnson family, a meeting with president-elect nixon, cabinet meetings and scenes of apollo 8, the first nasa mission to orbit the moon. ♪ :

we take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj administration. >> we are at the dole institute of politics, which was founded in 2003 to honor the life, service, and legacy of sor

. >> lbj said sometimes you just have to hunker down like a jack ass in a hail storm and take it. >> democrats say nancy pelosi is dictating the democrats's strategy in her quest to win house speaker. if he cooperates with the president, she risking alienating votes. >> which is a pelosi problem. her speakership is against border security. some say it will get easy we're that is -- easier when that is resolved on january 3rd. >> some members are asking that their pay be with held. and another congressman introduced legislation to close the house sauna when the shutdown is underway. >> thank you very much. the president responded very tweet form to criticism over the resignation of jim mattis and the coalition to defeat isis. >> days after president trump praised his outgoing defensive secretary, monday the president turned on him in a tweet. we are subsidizing the militaries of many rich countries all over the world. these countries take total advantage of the u.s. and our taxpayer on trade. general mattis did not see this as a problem. i do. it's being fixed. officials say the chang

lbj's great society and emboldened liberal activists redefine the role of the federal government and challenge traditional values. but the assassinations of martin luther king jr. and robert f. kennedy dealt shattering blows. our guests are kathleen kennedy townsend, rfk's daughter, and former lieutenant governor of maryland, and michael cohen, author of "american maelstrom, the 1968 election and the politics of division." first, we hear from senator robert f. kennedy during his march 16th, 1968, presidential campaign announcement. >> i have traveled and listened to the young people of our nation and felt their anger about the war that they are sent to fight and about the world that they are about to inherit. in private talks and in public, i have tried in vain to alter our course in vietnam before it further saps our spirit and our manpower. further raises the risks of wider war and further destroys the country and the people it was meant to save. i cannot not stand aside from the contest that will decide our nation's future and our children's future. the remarkable new hampshire ca

this king, number 23, lebron james, lbj, boom, playing the .ards at 6:00 >> by virtually every the 2002 winter olympics were the best olympics in history of t the olympic movement. the only way they could be better is if utah does it again. >> well, they may. se winter olympics could be back in the unittes in 2030. yesterday the u.s. olympic committee picked the salt lake city area to bid on behalffof the countrthe future winter olympic games. salt lake city hosted the games 16 years ago, they beat out denver, colorado, reno, tahoe dropped out of tnt running re. so we'll seef salt lake city gets it again. >> other countries are still in the running. japan, kazakhstan -- >> you said it right. i know, >> yes, okay. that's all i think about.ti >> the interal olympic committee will choose the 2030 host city, but not until 2023. >> interesting. >>> we want to give you an update on the redskins. redskins'qu terback alex smith's season-ending injury. multiple reports saying that smith has been releaseom the hospital and this comes about a weas after reports said he w dealing with a serious inf

kathleen cleaver, former black panther communications secretary, and historian peniel joseph of the lbj school of public affairs. first, here's cbs anchor walter cronkite on april 4th, 1968, announcing that martin lute every king jr. has been shot and killed. >> good evening. dr. martin luther king, the apostle of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, has been shot to death in memphis, tennessee. police have issued an all-points bulletin for a well-dressed young white man seen running from the scene. officers also reportedly chased and fired on a radio equipped car containing two white men. dr. king was standing on the balcony of a second-floor hotel room tonight when, according to a companion, a shot was fired from across the street. in the friend's words, the bullet exploded in his face. police, who have been keeping a close watch over the nobel peace prize winner because of memphis turbulent racial situation, were on the scene almost immediately. they rushed the 39-year-old negro leader to a hospital where he died of a bullet wound in the neck. police said they found a high-power

there's a wonderful picture reaching across the crowd to lbj. you would never see a scene like that nowadays, it breaks your hard. >> he said should i run for the senate? and he said, young man, the different between the house of representatives and senate is the difference between checking s-blank, and chicken salad. that was johnson's way of talking. >>> we've got to leave it there. thank you both, chris matthew will be part of the special coverage this afternoon at 3:00 eastern, noon pacific. the casket will arrive at joint base andrews, and then heading over to the u.s. capitol. please stay with us here for that. we have more on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. we saved hundreds on our car insurance when we switched to geico. this is how it made me feel. it was like that feeling when you're mowing the lawn on a sunny day... ...and without even trying, you end up with one last strip that's exactly the width of your mower. when you're done, it looks so good you post a picture on social media. and it gets 127 likes. geico. fifteen minut

love him or hate him, lbj lied to a whole generation of people and richard nixon. riots on the streets, tanks in the treats over a war that was a lie. here we have a president who is transparent. he opens up the files on the kennedy assassination. everything is on the table. i think it's very healthy. trish: let me share with you what nancy pelosi said about this as she walked out of the meeting. this is after the transparent openness of those discussions. here she is. >> i hear some of the reporters saying well, fox reporters saying why did we not want transparency in this discussion. we didn't want to contradict the president when he was putting forth figures that had no basis in fact. if we are going to proceed in this we need evidence based factual truthful information about what works and what doesn't. i didn't want to in front of those people say you don't know what you are talking about. trish: come on. but she is happy to say it when she is not going to be challenged. you heard the dig at fox. somehow it's fox's faulty as far as nancy pelosi is concerned. b

. >> there was a brief session in the senate today presided over by pat roberts who said, lbj said sometimes you just have to hunker down like a jack ass in a hail storm and just take it. we heard from outgoing senator bob corker, foreign relations committee chairman, who says for the president this is just a made-up issue. >> not long ago, just a few moments ago, the president could have received $25 billion in border security just by dealing with the dreamers, which by the way, most republicans want to deal with the dreamers issue. so we had $25 billion that could have been spent on border security. now the government is shut down over what ultimately is going to be $2 billion. this is a made-up fight so the president can look like he's fighting. but even if he wins, our borders are going to be insecure. >> we'll talk about this feud between president trump and bob corker later in the show. but "the wall street journal" made the same point today, saying, most americans don't care. there's a wisdom in that response because this showdown over spending, the third this year, is mostly a symbol

rob, lbj's speech when at the end of the speech, right after selma and he said, and we shall overcome. i was privileged to interview john lewis here in washington and we talked about that moment because he was with dr. king in alabama when they watched that and they had no idea that the president was going to say that. if i was going to boil it down to one minute segment, i would say that. >> okay, so before i got into private equity, i thought i should be an actor and thought it was an easy thing to do but there were no takers. so i had to do something else, go to law school and business, but being an actor, is that a profession that you train for or go to acting school? how do you get into that? i didn't get into the right school but how do you get into that profession? being tall helps, i assume. >> i wish it was a bit more exciting, but before i was an actor, first of all, i had no idea that this was possible. you know, my hometown or towns, in south texas, del rio, texas and mexico. very small towns, very, very small towns. and anyway. >> like 100 people. >> something like that.

up next, we will take you inside to learn about her career that dates back all the way to the lbj administration.

when lbj had a massive heart attack, he said to himself, what if i died now, what would i be remembered for? he went for a civil rights bill in the senate, the first civil rights bill since reconstruction. the interesting thing about teddy roosevelt, he said i don't want to know what people will think about me for 20 years, and the thing that is important is that people think i lived an honorable life and played decently, and that's what george h.w. bush's legacy came down to, 100 years from now we will evaluate his strengths. >> so that front pew, the president's club, the living presidents, a lot of people have dissected every secretaond of i from the time president trump and the first lady, obama walked in. they took the obama's hands. what did you see there? >> what i saw before looking at that awkward moment, president bush in death casts a good meaning upon president trump, who handled it pretty gracefully. the statement he put out was graceful, and they had a national day of mourning and they went to the blair house, and you hope when they get there they will all shake hands and