1 00:00:04,091 --> 00:00:06,030 [reporter] Let's give a mighty welcome 2 00:00:06,051 --> 00:00:09,130 to the First Lady of our land, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. 3 00:00:09,220 --> 00:00:11,040 [Lynda] Well, I don't think mother 4 00:00:11,060 --> 00:00:15,081 ever would have chosen politics for her career. 5 00:00:15,151 --> 00:00:17,191 [Lady Bird] Here am I with Luci, 6 00:00:18,031 --> 00:00:18,251 and there is Lyndon. 7 00:00:19,031 --> 00:00:20,121 [Lynda] But she married him 8 00:00:20,141 --> 00:00:21,170 for better or for worse. 9 00:00:21,191 --> 00:00:23,181 My parents, they were a team. 10 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,031 [reporter] It appears as though 11 00:00:25,051 --> 00:00:26,130 something has happened in the motorcade route. 12 00:00:26,150 --> 00:00:28,141 [Brower] They were thrust into this position 13 00:00:28,161 --> 00:00:30,060 -in a very violent way. -[camera shutter] 14 00:00:30,130 --> 00:00:32,231 She assures him that he is the right man 15 00:00:32,250 --> 00:00:34,210 to push America forward. 16 00:00:34,231 --> 00:00:36,070 [Califano] Lyndon Johnson had great highs, 17 00:00:36,130 --> 00:00:38,130 and great lows. 18 00:00:39,140 --> 00:00:41,200 [Marton] Lady Bird couldn't escape... 19 00:00:41,221 --> 00:00:44,070 -[crowd shouting] -...the tentacle of that war. 20 00:00:44,091 --> 00:00:45,091 [troops shout] 21 00:00:45,221 --> 00:00:47,100 She was the only person who would always tell him the truth. 22 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,221 Lyndon Johnson's mood shifts were gargantuan. 23 00:00:51,091 --> 00:00:54,161 [Marton] Lady Bird knew how to stabilize him. 24 00:00:54,180 --> 00:00:57,130 [Sweig] Who privately ran the psychological show? 25 00:00:57,151 --> 00:00:58,161 Clearly, Lady Bird. 26 00:00:59,041 --> 00:01:01,140 [Brower] Without her, he would never have been President. 27 00:01:12,210 --> 00:01:14,040 [applause] 28 00:01:15,141 --> 00:01:16,161 [camera shutters] 29 00:01:17,111 --> 00:01:19,251 [camera shutters] 30 00:01:30,090 --> 00:01:32,041 [narrator] Throughout her time in the White House, 31 00:01:32,060 --> 00:01:34,191 Lady Bird Johnson recorded an audio diary. 32 00:01:35,051 --> 00:01:38,120 It's a unique insight into her life as First Lady. 33 00:01:39,161 --> 00:01:42,060 [Lady Bird] Friday, November 22nd: 34 00:01:43,221 --> 00:01:45,120 It all began so beautifully. 35 00:01:45,141 --> 00:01:46,180 [crowd cheering] 36 00:01:46,201 --> 00:01:49,180 The sun came out bright and beautiful. 37 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:51,191 [crowd cheering] 38 00:01:52,021 --> 00:01:53,070 We were going into Dallas. 39 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:56,231 [reporter] And here they come, right down towards us... 40 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:58,210 -[crowd cheering] -...I can, uh, see Mrs. Kennedy. 41 00:01:58,231 --> 00:02:02,111 Then comes the Vice President, and Mrs. Johnson, smiling. 42 00:02:02,251 --> 00:02:04,221 -Boy, this is something. -[crowd chattering] 43 00:02:05,061 --> 00:02:07,240 [Updegrove] The Johnsons were products of Texas 44 00:02:08,021 --> 00:02:10,171 with outsized pride in their state. 45 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:12,220 [Johnson] It is my high honor 46 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,090 to present to the good people of Fort Worth, 47 00:02:15,111 --> 00:02:18,120 our beloved President of the United States. 48 00:02:18,141 --> 00:02:20,220 [crowd cheering] 49 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:21,250 [narrator] Over the past year, 50 00:02:22,090 --> 00:02:24,041 Lady Bird has watched her husband 51 00:02:24,060 --> 00:02:25,220 fall into a deep depression. 52 00:02:26,171 --> 00:02:27,220 [Marton] Lyndon Johnson was 53 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,090 possibly the most miserable 54 00:02:29,111 --> 00:02:31,111 vice president in American history. 55 00:02:31,191 --> 00:02:35,090 He did not like being second fiddle to anybody, 56 00:02:35,111 --> 00:02:37,201 not even the President of the United States. 57 00:02:37,220 --> 00:02:39,100 -[slide clicks] -[Updegrove] As always, 58 00:02:39,201 --> 00:02:41,220 Lady Bird was there to lift him up, 59 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,100 but LBJ had episodes of depression throughout his life, 60 00:02:45,171 --> 00:02:47,090 in times of great uncertainty. 61 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,210 And the one thing that LBJ was uncertain about, 62 00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:52,150 when he was vice president to John F. Kennedy, 63 00:02:52,171 --> 00:02:54,041 was his own political future. 64 00:02:54,060 --> 00:02:58,210 [crowds cheering] 65 00:03:00,030 --> 00:03:01,180 -[melancholic music] -[Lady Bird] Suddenly... 66 00:03:02,030 --> 00:03:03,101 there was a sharp... 67 00:03:03,201 --> 00:03:05,060 loud report... 68 00:03:05,150 --> 00:03:06,120 [gunshot] 69 00:03:06,180 --> 00:03:08,131 ...and then two more. 70 00:03:08,150 --> 00:03:09,131 -[gunshot] -[eerie music] 71 00:03:09,150 --> 00:03:10,231 [gunshot] 72 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:13,060 [reporter] It appears as though 73 00:03:13,081 --> 00:03:15,160 something has happened in the motorcade route. 74 00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:17,030 Something, I repeat, has happened 75 00:03:17,051 --> 00:03:18,060 in the motorcade route. 76 00:03:18,171 --> 00:03:21,191 [Lady Bird] And our SS man vaulted over the seat... 77 00:03:22,051 --> 00:03:23,160 on top of Lyndon, 78 00:03:23,180 --> 00:03:25,041 threw him to the floor, 79 00:03:25,141 --> 00:03:27,041 and said, "Get down!” 80 00:03:27,060 --> 00:03:28,111 [car engine revving] 81 00:03:28,131 --> 00:03:30,081 -[Tires squeaking] -The cars accelerated 82 00:03:30,100 --> 00:03:32,051 faster and faster. 83 00:03:32,250 --> 00:03:34,051 I looked up... 84 00:03:34,201 --> 00:03:35,141 and saw... 85 00:03:36,021 --> 00:03:37,100 -hospital. -[Tires squeaking] 86 00:03:37,201 --> 00:03:40,060 Only then did I believe 87 00:03:40,191 --> 00:03:43,090 that this might be what it was. 88 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,041 As we ground to a halt, 89 00:03:46,210 --> 00:03:49,171 Secret Service men began to hustle us out. 90 00:03:50,111 --> 00:03:53,141 I cast one last look back over my shoulder... 91 00:03:54,111 --> 00:03:59,081 and saw a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms, 92 00:03:59,201 --> 00:04:01,081 lying in the back seat. 93 00:04:02,041 --> 00:04:05,180 I-- I think it was Mrs. Kennedy... 94 00:04:06,180 --> 00:04:08,101 lying over the President's body. 95 00:04:11,060 --> 00:04:13,060 [Luci] I was in Washington D.C.... 96 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,050 and a young girl in my class came in saying, 97 00:04:17,121 --> 00:04:18,241 "I just been listening to the radio, 98 00:04:19,021 --> 00:04:21,061 the President's been shot! The President's been shot!" 99 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,050 [Lynda] I knelt on the floor, 100 00:04:24,071 --> 00:04:26,191 and prayed that it wasn't going to be so because... 101 00:04:27,141 --> 00:04:29,110 um, I loved President Kennedy. 102 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,191 [reporter] President Kennedy has been assassinated, 103 00:04:32,210 --> 00:04:34,030 it's official now, 104 00:04:34,050 --> 00:04:35,141 -the President is dead. -[woman crying] 105 00:04:35,241 --> 00:04:37,170 [Luci] I saw a member of my father's 106 00:04:37,191 --> 00:04:39,230 Secret Service detail walking towards me... 107 00:04:40,180 --> 00:04:43,030 And he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." 108 00:04:43,191 --> 00:04:45,111 [crying in crowd] 109 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:50,201 [Lady Bird] Suddenly, I found myself face to face with Jackie 110 00:04:50,220 --> 00:04:52,210 in a small hall... 111 00:04:53,241 --> 00:04:55,251 I don't think I ever saw anybody... 112 00:04:57,021 --> 00:04:59,111 so much alone in my life. 113 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:01,181 I went up to her... 114 00:05:02,050 --> 00:05:05,110 put my arms around her, and said something like... 115 00:05:06,121 --> 00:05:08,071 "God help us all," 116 00:05:10,030 --> 00:05:12,100 because my feelings for her were 117 00:05:13,050 --> 00:05:15,210 too tumultuous to put into words. 118 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,220 [plane engine starting] 119 00:05:18,241 --> 00:05:20,061 [Updegrove] Lyndon Johnson, 120 00:05:20,081 --> 00:05:21,220 of course he wanted the presidency. 121 00:05:22,090 --> 00:05:24,210 He didn't want the presidency in the manner in which he got it. 122 00:05:26,201 --> 00:05:29,021 [Lady Bird] I went in to see Mrs. Kennedy... 123 00:05:30,181 --> 00:05:32,251 I asked her if I couldn't get... 124 00:05:33,220 --> 00:05:36,170 somebody to help her change, 125 00:05:36,191 --> 00:05:37,230 and she said, "Oh, no, 126 00:05:38,061 --> 00:05:41,081 I want them to see what they have done to Jack." 127 00:05:42,241 --> 00:05:46,050 -[judge] I do solemnly swear... -[Johnson] I do solemnly swear. 128 00:05:46,141 --> 00:05:50,030 [Lady Bird] I tried to express something of how we felt. 129 00:05:50,050 --> 00:05:51,251 [judge] ...as the president of the United States... 130 00:05:52,030 --> 00:05:53,141 [Lady Bird] I said, "Oh, Mrs. Kennedy, 131 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,090 you know, we never even wanted to be Vice President, 132 00:05:57,191 --> 00:06:00,110 and now, dear God, it's come to this." 133 00:06:00,210 --> 00:06:03,021 [Updegrove] Lady Bird was keenly aware 134 00:06:03,090 --> 00:06:04,210 that she, like her husband, 135 00:06:04,230 --> 00:06:06,220 was so dramatically different 136 00:06:06,241 --> 00:06:09,071 than her predecessor. 137 00:06:09,090 --> 00:06:10,141 [slide clicks] 138 00:06:10,241 --> 00:06:12,170 She had an East Texas accent that was that was as thick as 139 00:06:12,191 --> 00:06:14,061 gravy on a chicken fried steak. 140 00:06:15,081 --> 00:06:17,251 And in the Kennedy White House they were mocked... 141 00:06:18,150 --> 00:06:21,201 as Uncle corn pone and his little mutton chop. 142 00:06:21,220 --> 00:06:22,210 [celluloid flickering] 143 00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:25,220 [reporter] The privacy of life draws to a close 144 00:06:25,241 --> 00:06:27,090 as the new first family prepares 145 00:06:27,110 --> 00:06:29,061 for the ceaseless spotlights of the White House. 146 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:32,141 [Luci] When we moved into the White House, 147 00:06:32,220 --> 00:06:34,210 it was all draped in black. 148 00:06:35,081 --> 00:06:38,251 There were a lot of mixed emotions, but... 149 00:06:39,191 --> 00:06:42,111 it was the beginning of letting go of limbo. 150 00:06:43,111 --> 00:06:46,081 [Lady Bird] I feel as though I'm suddenly on stage 151 00:06:46,180 --> 00:06:48,121 for a part I never rehearsed. 152 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:50,220 [Updegrove] Lady Bird Johnson said, 153 00:06:51,071 --> 00:06:52,251 people were looking at the living 154 00:06:53,030 --> 00:06:54,061 and wishing for the dead. 155 00:06:54,180 --> 00:06:57,021 They were looking at the new president and first lady, 156 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:02,090 but their hearts were aching for President and Mrs. Kennedy. 157 00:07:02,110 --> 00:07:03,181 [somber music] 158 00:07:03,201 --> 00:07:05,170 In that moment of crisis 159 00:07:05,191 --> 00:07:07,040 after he takes the presidency, 160 00:07:07,110 --> 00:07:09,030 while she might have felt insecure, 161 00:07:09,100 --> 00:07:12,081 I think Lady Bird Johnson put that on the backburner. 162 00:07:12,181 --> 00:07:15,241 [Marton] Lyndon Johnson called the people around Kennedy, 163 00:07:16,021 --> 00:07:17,030 "the Harvards," 164 00:07:17,150 --> 00:07:21,110 and they brought out all his innate insecurities 165 00:07:21,131 --> 00:07:23,230 that he hadn't gone to an Ivy League school. 166 00:07:24,081 --> 00:07:28,081 They made him feel every inch a country bumpkin. 167 00:07:28,170 --> 00:07:31,121 [Updegrove] Lady Bird Johnson has to reassure him 168 00:07:31,141 --> 00:07:32,241 that he is made for this moment, 169 00:07:33,071 --> 00:07:36,191 that if anyone can carry on in the wake of John F. Kennedy, 170 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,170 it's Lyndon Baines Johnson. 171 00:07:39,050 --> 00:07:40,160 [Johnson] An assassin's bullet... 172 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,201 has thrust upon me the awesome burden... 173 00:07:45,121 --> 00:07:46,141 of the Presidency. 174 00:07:46,241 --> 00:07:48,251 [Updegrove] He realizes he has this moment 175 00:07:49,111 --> 00:07:51,100 to push through the first meaningful 176 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:52,180 civil rights legislation. 177 00:07:52,201 --> 00:07:54,030 [applause] 178 00:07:54,121 --> 00:07:56,141 [narrator] In his first address to Congress as President, 179 00:07:56,201 --> 00:07:58,040 Johnson announces he will enact 180 00:07:58,121 --> 00:08:01,021 Kennedy's stalled Civil Rights Bill. 181 00:08:01,110 --> 00:08:02,150 [Johnson] Let us resolve 182 00:08:02,210 --> 00:08:07,150 that John Fitzgerald Kennedy did not live or die... 183 00:08:09,081 --> 00:08:10,061 in vain. 184 00:08:10,081 --> 00:08:11,030 [applause] 185 00:08:12,050 --> 00:08:13,131 [Califano] It was very shrewd. 186 00:08:13,150 --> 00:08:17,071 He brilliantly used the death of John Kennedy. 187 00:08:17,201 --> 00:08:18,230 [Updegrove] He tells them, 188 00:08:19,081 --> 00:08:21,181 this is what your slain president would have wanted. 189 00:08:21,201 --> 00:08:25,170 It is time now to write the next chapter. 190 00:08:26,141 --> 00:08:30,100 [APPLAUSE] 191 00:08:37,050 --> 00:08:38,070 [Dickerson] She may well be 192 00:08:38,150 --> 00:08:40,231 the hardest working first lady in history. 193 00:08:40,251 --> 00:08:44,040 None before has ever been so closely identified 194 00:08:44,060 --> 00:08:45,190 with her husband's career. 195 00:08:45,211 --> 00:08:47,251 [Brower] Lady Bird would tell the White House Chief Usher, 196 00:08:48,030 --> 00:08:49,131 "Whatever he needs comes first, 197 00:08:49,150 --> 00:08:52,030 my daughters second, and I'll take what's left over." 198 00:08:52,050 --> 00:08:55,170 [Sweig] They were, in fact, much more equals in terms of 199 00:08:56,021 --> 00:08:58,160 building that political career, 200 00:08:58,180 --> 00:09:00,070 and it became hers, as well. 201 00:09:00,091 --> 00:09:01,251 She called it, "our presidency." 202 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,021 I envision my job 203 00:09:04,141 --> 00:09:08,231 to be balm, sustainer, and sometimes critic 204 00:09:09,101 --> 00:09:10,060 to my husband. 205 00:09:10,251 --> 00:09:13,030 [reporter] You mentioned basic misunderstandings... 206 00:09:13,050 --> 00:09:15,141 [Updegrove] There's a very revealing phone conversation 207 00:09:15,221 --> 00:09:17,080 that happens after a press conference. 208 00:09:17,101 --> 00:09:20,141 Lady Bird Johnson gives him a very specific critique... 209 00:09:21,030 --> 00:09:22,021 on how he performs. 210 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:24,021 [Lady Bird] You want to listen for about one minute... 211 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:25,241 -[Johnson] Yes, Ma'am. -...to, uh, my critique. 212 00:09:26,021 --> 00:09:27,060 Or would you rather wait 'til tonight? 213 00:09:27,131 --> 00:09:28,160 [Johnson] Yes, Ma'am, I'm-- I'm willing now. 214 00:09:29,221 --> 00:09:32,211 I thought that you looked strong, firm, 215 00:09:32,231 --> 00:09:34,080 and like a reliable guy.... 216 00:09:34,101 --> 00:09:37,101 All he wanted to hear was, "I was wonderful." [laughs] 217 00:09:37,121 --> 00:09:39,241 And all she was going to do was tell him the truth. 218 00:09:40,021 --> 00:09:41,070 [Lady Bird] ...During the statement, 219 00:09:41,091 --> 00:09:42,200 you were a little breathless, 220 00:09:42,221 --> 00:09:45,050 and there was too much looking down, 221 00:09:45,070 --> 00:09:47,030 and I think it was a little too fast. 222 00:09:47,050 --> 00:09:48,180 Not enough change of pace; 223 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,131 a drop in voice at the end of sentence. 224 00:09:50,150 --> 00:09:52,101 -[pen clatters] -[Brower] And he's accepting it. 225 00:09:52,121 --> 00:09:53,251 He wouldn't accept that from anybody else. 226 00:09:54,030 --> 00:09:55,070 ...I really didn't like 227 00:09:55,091 --> 00:09:56,200 the answer on De Gaulle because... 228 00:09:56,221 --> 00:09:58,021 [Brower] She was the only person 229 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,060 who could be really blunt with him. 230 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,131 [Updegrove] She's talking to him 231 00:10:01,150 --> 00:10:03,111 about how he's articulating policy. 232 00:10:03,131 --> 00:10:04,211 And you can see he's relying on her. 233 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:06,121 [Lady Bird] ...because you-- [Johnson] Well, the trouble is 234 00:10:06,141 --> 00:10:07,170 that they criticize you 235 00:10:07,190 --> 00:10:09,121 -for taking so much time. -[Lady Bird] Uh-huh 236 00:10:09,141 --> 00:10:13,200 In general, I'd say, uh, it was, uh, a good B plus. 237 00:10:14,121 --> 00:10:17,030 [Luci] She gave him an overall grade. 238 00:10:17,050 --> 00:10:18,050 But it was just a B plus. 239 00:10:18,231 --> 00:10:22,180 And my father was aiming for the As in life, 240 00:10:23,021 --> 00:10:24,070 all his life. 241 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,040 [narrator] It's the Spring of 1964, 242 00:10:29,251 --> 00:10:31,070 and Johnson is still pushing 243 00:10:31,091 --> 00:10:33,180 for Kennedy's proposed Civil Rights Bill 244 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,131 to end segregation. 245 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,211 [Rigueur] John F. Kennedy had been incredibly cautious 246 00:10:39,231 --> 00:10:41,021 on issues of civil rights. 247 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:42,080 [slide clicks] 248 00:10:42,101 --> 00:10:44,040 So, Johnson sees this as an opportunity 249 00:10:44,060 --> 00:10:45,221 to be on the right side of history, 250 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,040 and to make really significant change. 251 00:10:48,170 --> 00:10:50,180 [Updegrove] Despite growing up in Texas, 252 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:51,200 very prejudiced state, 253 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,040 Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson were 254 00:10:54,101 --> 00:10:56,150 very committed to racial equality. 255 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,211 [Lady Bird] The brick house, where I was born, 256 00:10:59,231 --> 00:11:03,050 built by slave labor in the 1850s. 257 00:11:03,070 --> 00:11:04,160 [sentimental music] 258 00:11:04,180 --> 00:11:07,060 [narrator] It was Lady Bird's nursemaid, Alice Tittle, 259 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,241 who declared that baby Claudia Alta Taylor 260 00:11:10,021 --> 00:11:12,141 -[slide clicks] -was as pretty as a ladybird... 261 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:13,121 [slide clicks] 262 00:11:13,141 --> 00:11:15,080 a nickname that stuck for life. 263 00:11:15,211 --> 00:11:16,231 [slide clicks] 264 00:11:16,251 --> 00:11:18,190 [Rigueur] Lady Bird Johnson comes from 265 00:11:18,211 --> 00:11:20,040 an upper-class elite family 266 00:11:20,141 --> 00:11:22,211 with black workers, with black maids. 267 00:11:23,111 --> 00:11:26,091 [Lady Bird] There's Zephyr with Luci and the peonies. 268 00:11:26,190 --> 00:11:28,070 [Updegrove] When her husband was in the Senate, 269 00:11:28,150 --> 00:11:30,221 Lady Bird Johnson had seen first-hand 270 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,040 the scourge of segregation, legal apartheid 271 00:11:35,131 --> 00:11:37,111 when she drove with Zephyr Wright 272 00:11:37,131 --> 00:11:39,070 from Washington DC. back to Texas. 273 00:11:39,180 --> 00:11:42,221 [Rigueur] Lady Bird challenges segregation, 274 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:44,200 refusing to stay in hotels 275 00:11:44,221 --> 00:11:47,200 if her cook, or her servants, can't stay with her. 276 00:11:47,221 --> 00:11:48,251 [slide clicks] 277 00:11:49,091 --> 00:11:50,121 [Updegrove] Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson know 278 00:11:50,141 --> 00:11:51,170 there's an uphill struggle... 279 00:11:52,050 --> 00:11:54,060 to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 280 00:11:54,211 --> 00:11:56,101 He and Lady Bird talk about this openly. 281 00:11:56,190 --> 00:11:59,200 Southern segregationists are still very much 282 00:11:59,221 --> 00:12:02,150 a core contingency within the Democratic camp. 283 00:12:02,251 --> 00:12:06,050 [Updegrove] The Johnsons cultivated Southern Democrats 284 00:12:06,070 --> 00:12:07,141 throughout LBJ's political career, 285 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,131 they helped him to ascend the ranks. 286 00:12:09,221 --> 00:12:11,070 And now they realize 287 00:12:11,091 --> 00:12:12,221 they're gonna have to run over those same people. 288 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:14,221 [Califano] His aides said, "Don't do this 289 00:12:14,241 --> 00:12:18,050 because you're running for re-election in November of '64." 290 00:12:18,141 --> 00:12:19,251 [Updegrove] They know that it might cost him 291 00:12:20,070 --> 00:12:22,141 the 1964 election, 292 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,060 and earning the presidency in his own right. 293 00:12:24,231 --> 00:12:28,070 [narrator] Despite what's at stake, the Johnsons press ahead. 294 00:12:28,170 --> 00:12:29,231 [Updegrove] Lyndon and Lady Bird 295 00:12:29,251 --> 00:12:31,251 were wholly complimentary human beings. 296 00:12:32,121 --> 00:12:34,021 Johnson's way of getting things done 297 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,190 was known [laughs] as the Johnson treatment. 298 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,221 [Rigueur] He uses his fiery temper... 299 00:12:38,241 --> 00:12:40,030 [slide clicks] 300 00:12:40,150 --> 00:12:43,091 ...but also his physical build to intimidate people, 301 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,251 to broker a bipartisan alliance 302 00:12:46,150 --> 00:12:50,060 between Republicans and northern Democrats. 303 00:12:51,091 --> 00:12:53,200 [Marton] One of Lady Bird's least favorite roles 304 00:12:53,221 --> 00:12:57,231 was going after people who had been insulted, 305 00:12:57,251 --> 00:13:00,160 humiliated, offended by her husband. 306 00:13:00,241 --> 00:13:02,160 [Califano] She was more important 307 00:13:02,180 --> 00:13:04,141 to what he did in the White House 308 00:13:04,231 --> 00:13:05,231 than any staffer. 309 00:13:06,091 --> 00:13:10,021 She was an absolutely essential counterweight 310 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:11,060 to his brutality. 311 00:13:12,150 --> 00:13:14,080 [Updegrove] He could be extraordinarily cruel 312 00:13:14,101 --> 00:13:15,150 to Lady Bird Johnson, 313 00:13:15,251 --> 00:13:19,131 particularly when she was pushing him to be his best self. 314 00:13:20,131 --> 00:13:21,251 [Brower] He would compare her 315 00:13:22,030 --> 00:13:23,251 to other women he thought were more beautiful and say, 316 00:13:24,030 --> 00:13:26,060 "Oh, that dress looks like a saddlebag. Take that off.” 317 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:27,131 And, "Why aren't you wearing lipstick?" 318 00:13:27,241 --> 00:13:29,160 [Marton] He would not think twice 319 00:13:30,030 --> 00:13:32,021 about embarrassing her in public. 320 00:13:32,180 --> 00:13:37,150 A person with less steel could not have survived. 321 00:13:37,241 --> 00:13:38,241 I-- I've always wondered 322 00:13:39,091 --> 00:13:41,170 whether Lyndon Johnson let his demons graze... 323 00:13:42,131 --> 00:13:44,121 knowing that Lady Bird Johnson 324 00:13:44,221 --> 00:13:47,221 would inevitably summon his better angels. 325 00:13:49,060 --> 00:13:53,141 [marching band music] 326 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,111 [reporter] Congress passes the most sweeping 327 00:13:55,131 --> 00:13:57,211 civil rights bill ever to be written into the law. 328 00:13:58,170 --> 00:14:00,131 [narrator] Just seven months into his Presidency, 329 00:14:00,211 --> 00:14:04,021 Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act 330 00:14:04,180 --> 00:14:07,180 ending legalized segregation in America. 331 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:08,231 [Updegrove] It's the first meaningful 332 00:14:08,251 --> 00:14:11,111 civil rights legislation to allow America 333 00:14:11,131 --> 00:14:15,050 to fulfill its promise of all men are created equal, 334 00:14:15,070 --> 00:14:16,251 long eluded in our history. 335 00:14:17,030 --> 00:14:21,111 But LBJ was never gonna rest on his laurels 'cause he knew 336 00:14:21,131 --> 00:14:23,111 the ephemeral nature of political power. 337 00:14:29,091 --> 00:14:30,211 [Lady Bird] Now, there's me, 338 00:14:31,060 --> 00:14:32,091 and there is Lyndon. 339 00:14:32,150 --> 00:14:34,101 A younger and slimmer Lyndon 340 00:14:34,121 --> 00:14:35,141 [Lady Bird laughs] 341 00:14:36,021 --> 00:14:37,160 [Caroli] The courtship of Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson 342 00:14:37,180 --> 00:14:41,021 has got to be one of the most unusual in presidential history. 343 00:14:41,111 --> 00:14:43,060 [jaunty music playing] 344 00:14:43,150 --> 00:14:45,091 [narrator] Lyndon proposed to Lady Bird 345 00:14:45,111 --> 00:14:46,190 on their very first date. 346 00:14:47,101 --> 00:14:49,221 She was a 21-year-old college graduate, 347 00:14:50,170 --> 00:14:53,021 he was a 26-year-old congressional aide. 348 00:14:54,021 --> 00:14:56,040 [Updegrove] He sees something in Lady Bird, 349 00:14:56,060 --> 00:14:57,150 and he's smitten right away. 350 00:14:57,170 --> 00:14:59,030 [Sweig] He was ling and working in Washington. 351 00:14:59,050 --> 00:15:02,231 His vitality and sexuality was all just a huge turn on. 352 00:15:03,131 --> 00:15:05,101 [Caroli] Lyndon was a lot like her father, 353 00:15:05,170 --> 00:15:06,180 and she adored her father. 354 00:15:07,131 --> 00:15:09,221 [Lady Bird] There's my daddy, Thomas Jefferson Taylor. 355 00:15:10,170 --> 00:15:12,190 Big man, tall and heavy... 356 00:15:12,211 --> 00:15:14,221 [Caroli] Her mother died when she was five, 357 00:15:15,060 --> 00:15:17,050 and I think it had an enormous effect 358 00:15:17,070 --> 00:15:18,170 on the kind of person she became. 359 00:15:19,150 --> 00:15:23,050 [Sweig] She had to be her own emotional ballast 360 00:15:23,070 --> 00:15:24,060 from very early on. 361 00:15:25,060 --> 00:15:26,131 [Caroli] Lyndon Johnson could 362 00:15:26,150 --> 00:15:28,221 start down the stairs in a good mood, 363 00:15:28,241 --> 00:15:30,180 and arrive at the right at the bottom in a bad mood, 364 00:15:30,241 --> 00:15:33,101 and you can see that in the courtship letters. 365 00:15:33,251 --> 00:15:36,070 [narrator] When Lyndon returned to work in Washington, 366 00:15:36,190 --> 00:15:39,111 the couple wrote each other nearly 90 letters 367 00:15:39,231 --> 00:15:41,040 in less than 90 days. 368 00:15:41,111 --> 00:15:43,150 [Caroli] He writes "I'm very unhappy tonight. 369 00:15:43,170 --> 00:15:45,101 All week I've felt this way." 370 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,091 [Caroli] In another he says, 371 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,190 "This morning I'm ambitious, proud, energetic, 372 00:15:49,211 --> 00:15:52,021 and very madly in love with you." 373 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,131 And at the end, he says, 374 00:15:53,150 --> 00:15:55,170 "How cruel it was to even let you know 375 00:15:55,190 --> 00:15:57,221 how despondent I felt last week." 376 00:15:58,131 --> 00:15:59,180 [Sweig] She discovers 377 00:15:59,241 --> 00:16:03,021 he is an emotionally brittle and needy person. 378 00:16:03,121 --> 00:16:05,021 [Lynda] She loved him. 379 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,180 But she didn't need him as much as he needed her. 380 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,091 [Brower] He was essentially a manic-depressive, 381 00:16:12,190 --> 00:16:14,221 and Lady Bird evened him out. 382 00:16:15,251 --> 00:16:18,251 [narrator] Lady Bird deliberated over Lyndon's marriage proposal 383 00:16:19,030 --> 00:16:22,080 for two and a half months before he forced the issue. 384 00:16:22,221 --> 00:16:25,231 [Caroli] He says, "If we don't do it now, we never will." 385 00:16:26,251 --> 00:16:28,040 [narrator] Twenty-four hours later, 386 00:16:28,121 --> 00:16:29,121 they were married. 387 00:16:29,251 --> 00:16:32,251 [Caroli] She recognized that he was the weaker person 388 00:16:33,030 --> 00:16:36,111 with enormous ambition, enormous possibilities, 389 00:16:36,190 --> 00:16:38,221 and she was willing to put up with the bad side 390 00:16:38,241 --> 00:16:41,021 in order to be part of the good side. 391 00:16:41,141 --> 00:16:44,200 [marching band music] 392 00:16:44,221 --> 00:16:46,121 [reporter] As the Democratic Party delegates 393 00:16:46,141 --> 00:16:47,251 gather in Atlantic City, 394 00:16:48,070 --> 00:16:49,180 all the hoopla begins to build... 395 00:16:50,111 --> 00:16:53,040 [Updegrove] On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, 396 00:16:53,111 --> 00:16:54,221 which is about to crown 397 00:16:54,241 --> 00:16:57,121 its presidential candidate for the election of 1964, 398 00:16:57,211 --> 00:17:01,040 Lyndon Johnson has a profound moment of doubt. 399 00:17:02,091 --> 00:17:03,121 [narrator] It's a chance for Johnson 400 00:17:03,141 --> 00:17:04,211 to secure his own mandate. 401 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:07,090 But he refuses to leave the White House. 402 00:17:08,100 --> 00:17:09,191 [Johnson] I don't think a white southerner 403 00:17:09,211 --> 00:17:12,140 is the man to unite this nation in this hour. 404 00:17:12,161 --> 00:17:14,110 [indistinct shouting] 405 00:17:14,130 --> 00:17:16,151 [Updegrove] He sees an increasingly divided nation, 406 00:17:16,251 --> 00:17:19,161 the Civil Rights Act jeopardizing the southern states 407 00:17:19,181 --> 00:17:22,040 meaning they may well turn Republican. 408 00:17:22,060 --> 00:17:23,080 [crowd roars] 409 00:17:23,100 --> 00:17:24,120 [Updegrove] He sees that America 410 00:17:24,140 --> 00:17:26,201 is still deeply missing John F. Kennedy, 411 00:17:26,221 --> 00:17:29,181 and they see Bobby Kennedy as an alternative. 412 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,191 [Johnson] There are younger men, and better prepared men, 413 00:17:32,211 --> 00:17:35,021 and Harvard educated men... 414 00:17:35,221 --> 00:17:37,130 [narrator] Johnson writes a statement 415 00:17:37,151 --> 00:17:40,080 saying he is not the man to take the country forward. 416 00:17:40,100 --> 00:17:41,100 [sad music] 417 00:17:41,161 --> 00:17:43,140 [Marton] Lady Bird understood 418 00:17:43,161 --> 00:17:45,241 that he would not be happy 419 00:17:46,021 --> 00:17:48,080 if someone else was in the White House 420 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:49,110 instead of him. 421 00:17:50,070 --> 00:17:52,171 [narrator] With Johnson's aides at a loss for what to do, 422 00:17:53,060 --> 00:17:56,211 Lady Bird writes her husband a carefully worded letter. 423 00:17:57,110 --> 00:18:01,120 "Beloved, you are as brave as Harry Truman, 424 00:18:01,140 --> 00:18:04,060 or FDR, or Lincoln. 425 00:18:04,151 --> 00:18:06,171 You've been strong, patient, 426 00:18:06,191 --> 00:18:10,110 determined beyond any words of mine to express. 427 00:18:11,090 --> 00:18:15,100 To step out now would be wrong for your country, 428 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:16,080 and I can see nothing... 429 00:18:16,241 --> 00:18:20,040 but a lonely wasteland for your future." 430 00:18:20,191 --> 00:18:22,241 [Sweig] Suggesting to Lyndon Johnson 431 00:18:23,021 --> 00:18:24,070 that he's a coward 432 00:18:24,161 --> 00:18:26,090 is a brilliant way 433 00:18:26,110 --> 00:18:27,241 of getting him out of bed. 434 00:18:28,021 --> 00:18:31,090 But she also elevates his presidency 435 00:18:31,181 --> 00:18:34,161 to potentially being one of the greats in American history. 436 00:18:35,030 --> 00:18:36,181 [Luci] "I know it is your choice. 437 00:18:37,030 --> 00:18:42,120 But I know you are as brave as any of the 35. 438 00:18:43,070 --> 00:18:46,211 I love you always, Bird.” 439 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:51,241 [crowd cheering] 440 00:18:52,070 --> 00:18:53,241 [narrator] Within hours of reading the letter, 441 00:18:54,161 --> 00:18:57,100 Johnson is at the Convention in Atlantic City. 442 00:18:57,161 --> 00:18:59,201 [crowd cheering] 443 00:18:59,221 --> 00:19:01,171 [Johnson] My fellow Americans, 444 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,191 I accept your nomination. 445 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,171 [crowd cheers] 446 00:19:07,191 --> 00:19:10,060 [Sweig] Lady Bird was absolutely essential 447 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,171 to his emotional wellbeing, 448 00:19:12,191 --> 00:19:15,201 and that was deeply tied with his ability to perform. 449 00:19:15,221 --> 00:19:17,201 [Johnson] Prosperity for most has not 450 00:19:18,021 --> 00:19:20,120 has not brought prosperity to all. 451 00:19:21,021 --> 00:19:22,241 [Updegrove] If Lady Bird Johnson gets... 452 00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:25,030 -LBJ to Atlantic City... -[crowd cheering] 453 00:19:25,050 --> 00:19:28,110 ...she is a crucial part of American history. 454 00:19:28,191 --> 00:19:33,030 Most Americans want an education for every child, 455 00:19:33,050 --> 00:19:36,070 to the limit of his ability, and so do I. 456 00:19:36,090 --> 00:19:38,021 [crowd whistles and cheers] 457 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:39,161 [Updegrove] If Lyndon Johnson had not won 458 00:19:39,181 --> 00:19:41,130 the presidency in 1965, 459 00:19:41,151 --> 00:19:44,040 we would not have the laws of the Great Society, 460 00:19:44,060 --> 00:19:47,080 which provide the foundation for modern America. 461 00:19:47,100 --> 00:19:52,110 [Johnson] Most Americans want medical care for older citizens, 462 00:19:52,130 --> 00:19:53,171 and so do I. 463 00:19:54,050 --> 00:19:56,201 [Updegrove] Those laws that transform America 464 00:19:56,221 --> 00:19:58,100 at this turning point in our history. 465 00:19:58,241 --> 00:20:01,070 [Johnson] I ask the American people 466 00:20:01,090 --> 00:20:03,231 for a mandate to begin. 467 00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:05,110 [crowd cheers and applauds] 468 00:20:05,130 --> 00:20:06,211 [Updegrove] He needed the reassurance 469 00:20:07,070 --> 00:20:10,080 of the person he most trusted in the world... 470 00:20:11,060 --> 00:20:12,241 and that was Lady Bird Johnson. 471 00:20:17,241 --> 00:20:18,251 [crowd cheering] 472 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,171 [narrator] The 1964 Presidential Election 473 00:20:21,191 --> 00:20:23,080 is only four weeks away. 474 00:20:23,100 --> 00:20:26,080 [reporter] The Johnson family is busy on the campaign trail. 475 00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:28,201 Lynda, and her mother, board the Lady Bird Special 476 00:20:28,221 --> 00:20:30,201 for a whistle-stop tour of the South 477 00:20:30,221 --> 00:20:32,120 where Democratic defection threatens. 478 00:20:33,021 --> 00:20:36,080 [Brower] It's shortly after the Civil Rights Act is passed, 479 00:20:36,100 --> 00:20:38,090 and Southerners are furious. 480 00:20:38,110 --> 00:20:41,201 They think that Johnson is attacking their way of life. 481 00:20:42,060 --> 00:20:44,040 [Luci] Many of my father's advisors said, 482 00:20:44,060 --> 00:20:46,241 "Don't put campaign money into the south... 483 00:20:47,021 --> 00:20:47,221 [crowd cheering] 484 00:20:48,050 --> 00:20:49,080 ...they're not gonna support us." 485 00:20:49,221 --> 00:20:52,030 But, my mother couldn't bear 486 00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:53,191 to give the south away... 487 00:20:54,070 --> 00:20:55,070 without a try. 488 00:20:55,211 --> 00:20:57,090 [Lady Bird] I've got too much respect for the south, 489 00:20:57,110 --> 00:20:59,201 and too much in common with it, 490 00:20:59,221 --> 00:21:03,251 and too much love for it, uh, to count it off. 491 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,060 [Brower] It's incredibly dangerous to do this, 492 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,171 and this is at a time when 493 00:21:09,191 --> 00:21:11,130 were three people in Mississippi 494 00:21:11,151 --> 00:21:13,130 who were murdered simply for trying to get 495 00:21:13,221 --> 00:21:16,080 some African Americans registered to vote. 496 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,070 [man] Johnson has no place here, whatsoever. 497 00:21:19,161 --> 00:21:21,151 The whole state of Georgia's for Goldwater. 498 00:21:22,070 --> 00:21:25,151 [Lady Bird] Georgia strains run strong in my family. 499 00:21:26,030 --> 00:21:28,241 [Rigueur] She challenges the very system 500 00:21:29,110 --> 00:21:30,221 she grew up in... 501 00:21:31,140 --> 00:21:32,191 and to say, 502 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,241 "I support Civil Rights, you should as well," 503 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,181 she ends up being faced with threats 504 00:21:38,201 --> 00:21:40,050 from the Ku Klux Klan. 505 00:21:40,130 --> 00:21:41,181 [Lynda] Oh, it was dangerous, 506 00:21:41,241 --> 00:21:43,040 and there were some threats 507 00:21:43,060 --> 00:21:44,221 -to blow up the train. -[crowd cheering] 508 00:21:44,241 --> 00:21:46,191 [Luci] You'd see signs that said, 509 00:21:46,211 --> 00:21:49,171 "Black Bird, fly away home." 510 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,201 [Brower] Lady Bird's husband was running against Barry Goldwater, 511 00:21:52,221 --> 00:21:53,241 who was trying to 512 00:21:54,021 --> 00:21:55,171 take advantage of this opportunity 513 00:21:55,191 --> 00:21:58,201 to woo Southern Democrats to the Republican Party. 514 00:21:59,181 --> 00:22:04,100 [crowd chanting] 515 00:22:05,140 --> 00:22:06,140 [Lynda] There were a lot of people 516 00:22:06,161 --> 00:22:07,251 who would try to drown you out. 517 00:22:08,191 --> 00:22:11,060 I got mad, and I was ready to go out and... 518 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:12,040 whip 'em. 519 00:22:12,100 --> 00:22:13,181 -[crowd shouting] -My friends... 520 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,221 this is a country of many viewpoints, 521 00:22:16,241 --> 00:22:20,070 and I respect your right to express your own. 522 00:22:20,171 --> 00:22:23,040 Now it's my turn to express mine. 523 00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:28,080 -Thank you. -[crowd applauds and cheers] 524 00:22:28,100 --> 00:22:31,090 [narrator] LBJ fears he's lost the entire South. 525 00:22:31,221 --> 00:22:34,191 But three of the eight states Lady Bird campaigned in 526 00:22:34,211 --> 00:22:36,070 will buck the trend, 527 00:22:36,090 --> 00:22:38,110 and go for her husband on Election Day. 528 00:22:38,130 --> 00:22:39,110 [crowd cheers] 529 00:22:39,231 --> 00:22:41,181 [Luci] My father met us at the end of the road. 530 00:22:41,201 --> 00:22:46,040 She looked at him, and you could see in his eyes, 531 00:22:46,060 --> 00:22:49,090 "You got an A plus, girl, you got an A plus." 532 00:22:52,171 --> 00:22:55,050 [crowd shouting] 533 00:22:55,171 --> 00:22:57,080 [narrator] Two weeks before the election, 534 00:22:57,100 --> 00:23:00,100 Johnson's Presidential campaign was hit by scandal. 535 00:23:01,181 --> 00:23:04,120 [phone ringing] 536 00:23:04,140 --> 00:23:05,201 [narrator] News is about to break 537 00:23:06,021 --> 00:23:08,130 that chief aide, Walter Jenkins, has been arrested 538 00:23:08,151 --> 00:23:12,251 after being caught having sex with a man in a YMCA men's room. 539 00:23:14,070 --> 00:23:15,161 [Goldwater] There's a President 540 00:23:15,181 --> 00:23:18,040 who must be using every power of his great office 541 00:23:18,060 --> 00:23:20,241 to cover up the sorriest of rumors. 542 00:23:21,021 --> 00:23:22,100 [Updegrove] The arrest of Walter Jenkins 543 00:23:22,171 --> 00:23:25,151 is a crisis of titanic proportions. 544 00:23:26,050 --> 00:23:30,021 At that time, homosexuality was an absolute stigma. 545 00:23:31,030 --> 00:23:33,030 LBJ knew that it would be, 546 00:23:33,050 --> 00:23:36,110 not just stain on his administration, 547 00:23:36,130 --> 00:23:37,211 but on the presidency itself. 548 00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:40,171 [Caroli] Jenkins was so close to the president 549 00:23:40,191 --> 00:23:42,221 he could easily be blackmailed. 550 00:23:42,241 --> 00:23:44,070 He knew everything, 551 00:23:44,090 --> 00:23:47,070 foreign policy, things that nobody else knew. 552 00:23:47,090 --> 00:23:50,090 If this type of man had information... 553 00:23:51,030 --> 00:23:52,110 vital to our survival, 554 00:23:52,211 --> 00:23:55,060 It could be compromised very dangerously. 555 00:23:55,231 --> 00:23:58,070 [Updegrove] Walter Jenkins had been working for LBJ 556 00:23:58,090 --> 00:23:59,130 for 25 years... 557 00:24:00,151 --> 00:24:02,120 and he is suicidal. 558 00:24:03,221 --> 00:24:05,181 [narrator] Lady Bird immediately steps in, 559 00:24:05,201 --> 00:24:08,241 and calls her husband, who is away campaigning. 560 00:24:09,021 --> 00:24:11,201 [Lady Bird] When questioned, I'm gonna say 561 00:24:11,221 --> 00:24:14,211 that this is incredible for a man 562 00:24:14,231 --> 00:24:17,070 that I've known all these years, 563 00:24:17,221 --> 00:24:21,181 a devout Catholic, the father of six children-- 564 00:24:21,201 --> 00:24:22,221 [Johnson] I wouldn't say anything, 565 00:24:23,090 --> 00:24:25,140 because it's not something for you to get involved in now. 566 00:24:25,231 --> 00:24:28,231 [Marton] And she is all about humanity, 567 00:24:29,060 --> 00:24:30,211 and he is all about cut him off. 568 00:24:31,140 --> 00:24:35,181 [Brower] Then she appeals to Johnson's own self-preservation. 569 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,201 [Lady Bird] Uh, I think if we don't express 570 00:24:38,221 --> 00:24:41,060 some support to him, 571 00:24:41,161 --> 00:24:44,090 I think that we will lose 572 00:24:44,110 --> 00:24:46,251 the entire love and devotion 573 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,201 of all the people who have been with us. 574 00:24:50,030 --> 00:24:52,090 [Johnson] You just can't do that to the presidency, honey. 575 00:24:52,231 --> 00:24:55,060 The average farmer just can't understand 576 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,060 that your knowing it and approving it. 577 00:24:57,151 --> 00:24:58,241 [Brower] They're going back and forth, 578 00:24:59,021 --> 00:24:59,231 and she is like a rock. 579 00:24:59,251 --> 00:25:01,120 She is not budging. 580 00:25:01,211 --> 00:25:04,251 [narrator] Finally, Lady Bird decides to act alone. 581 00:25:05,030 --> 00:25:08,021 [Lady Bird] My love, I pray for you along with Walter. 582 00:25:08,171 --> 00:25:10,060 You're a brave good guy, 583 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,021 and if you read where I've said some things in Walter's support, 584 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,070 they'll be along the lines of what I just said to you. 585 00:25:15,161 --> 00:25:16,251 Goodbye, my beloved. 586 00:25:17,191 --> 00:25:18,201 [phone line disconnects] 587 00:25:18,221 --> 00:25:21,060 [Caroli] Lyndon wanted her to keep quiet. 588 00:25:22,100 --> 00:25:24,221 But she was like a ship under sail. 589 00:25:24,241 --> 00:25:28,171 It was absolutely defiance of Lyndon's orders. 590 00:25:29,050 --> 00:25:30,090 [narrator] Lady Bird summons 591 00:25:30,110 --> 00:25:31,181 the editor of the Washington Post, 592 00:25:31,251 --> 00:25:33,231 and issues a personal statement. 593 00:25:34,251 --> 00:25:36,140 [Sweig] "My heart is aching today 594 00:25:36,161 --> 00:25:39,050 for someone who has reached the end point of exhaustion 595 00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:41,191 in dedicated service to his country. 596 00:25:42,090 --> 00:25:45,060 He is now receiving the medical attention he needs... 597 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,110 Nothing could persuade her not to issue the statement. 598 00:25:49,060 --> 00:25:51,030 She is Johnson's moral compass. 599 00:25:51,151 --> 00:25:54,080 [Sweig] ...I know our family, and all of his friends, 600 00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:57,060 and I hope all others, pray for his recovery." 601 00:25:57,221 --> 00:26:01,110 In that moment, you see the steel magnolia 602 00:26:01,211 --> 00:26:03,050 that is Lady Bird Johnson. 603 00:26:03,181 --> 00:26:06,110 [marching band music] 604 00:26:06,130 --> 00:26:08,130 [narrator] The Johnsons win the election, 605 00:26:08,201 --> 00:26:10,030 -a landslide victory. -[crowd cheering] 606 00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:11,221 [reporter] An overwhelming mandate 607 00:26:11,241 --> 00:26:13,241 is handed to Lyndon Baines Johnson. 608 00:26:14,021 --> 00:26:16,090 It is an historical sweeping victory. 609 00:26:16,110 --> 00:26:17,161 [crowd cheers] 610 00:26:17,181 --> 00:26:19,100 [Updegrove] Getting the greatest landslide 611 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:21,040 in American history, to that point, 612 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:24,060 gave Lyndon Johnson the mandate he needed 613 00:26:24,221 --> 00:26:25,251 to push through 614 00:26:26,030 --> 00:26:28,241 the most ambitious legislative agenda 615 00:26:29,070 --> 00:26:31,171 since Franklin Roosevelt pushed through the New Deal. 616 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:41,040 I, Lyndon Baines Johnson, do solemnly swear 617 00:26:41,060 --> 00:26:44,090 that I will faithfully execute the office of the president... 618 00:26:44,110 --> 00:26:45,231 [narrator] Handed a clear mandate, 619 00:26:45,251 --> 00:26:47,211 Lyndon Johnson pushes through one 620 00:26:47,231 --> 00:26:52,021 of the most ambitious legislate programs in American history. 621 00:26:53,021 --> 00:26:55,040 [Johnson] In a land of great wealth, 622 00:26:55,140 --> 00:26:59,050 families must not live in hopeless poverty. 623 00:27:00,161 --> 00:27:03,060 [Califano] If today, a president passes one bill 624 00:27:03,151 --> 00:27:04,241 it's considered a great achievement. 625 00:27:05,110 --> 00:27:08,030 Lyndon Johnson passed hundreds of bills: 626 00:27:08,161 --> 00:27:11,161 Medicare and Medicaid, the Fair Housing Act, 627 00:27:11,181 --> 00:27:15,060 all the Civil Rights acts, clean air, clean water. 628 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,221 We are living in Lyndon Johnson's America today. 629 00:27:17,241 --> 00:27:19,050 [slide clicks] 630 00:27:19,151 --> 00:27:22,040 [Lady Bird] Head Start is an exciting experience for me, 631 00:27:22,110 --> 00:27:24,130 to know that hundreds of thousands of children... 632 00:27:24,151 --> 00:27:25,221 [children chanting] 633 00:27:25,241 --> 00:27:28,181 ...are being given the devotion and attention they need. 634 00:27:28,201 --> 00:27:31,100 [Califano] Head Start was a program to give poor children 635 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:34,201 preschool education that affluent children were getting, 636 00:27:35,100 --> 00:27:37,070 and Lady Bird was a major factor 637 00:27:37,090 --> 00:27:39,080 in getting the Head Start program passed. 638 00:27:39,211 --> 00:27:41,060 It's one of the most popular programs 639 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,060 the Government has today. 640 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:43,060 [crowd applauding and cheering] 641 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:44,211 [narrator] But at the same time, 642 00:27:44,231 --> 00:27:48,231 Lady Bird watches a dark cloud descend over her husband. 643 00:27:49,021 --> 00:27:51,060 [jet engine staring] 644 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,080 [reporter] US Navy Films show our jet fighters' bombers 645 00:27:58,100 --> 00:28:00,191 plastering North Vietnam facilities. 646 00:28:02,060 --> 00:28:03,151 [narrator] Johnson approves 647 00:28:03,171 --> 00:28:05,130 sustained bombing in North Vietnam, 648 00:28:05,151 --> 00:28:08,130 and deploys the first American combat troops. 649 00:28:09,130 --> 00:28:11,231 But privately, he has been harboring doubts 650 00:28:11,251 --> 00:28:13,211 about the war for the past year. 651 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:15,140 [Bundy] It just worries the hell out of me. 652 00:28:15,161 --> 00:28:17,080 I don't think it's worth fighting for, 653 00:28:17,100 --> 00:28:18,211 and I don't think we can get out, 654 00:28:18,231 --> 00:28:20,050 and it's just the biggest damn mess. 655 00:28:21,090 --> 00:28:24,040 [Lady Bird] Lyndon lives in a cloud of troubles 656 00:28:24,060 --> 00:28:25,120 with few rays of light. 657 00:28:25,211 --> 00:28:28,211 Every moment a new struggle, every moment a new direction. 658 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:31,110 [Updegrove] Lyndon Johnson didn't start the Vietnam War. 659 00:28:31,201 --> 00:28:34,110 This was a conflict that Truman was involved in, 660 00:28:34,130 --> 00:28:36,110 and then Eisenhower, and then John F. Kennedy. 661 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,040 [Marton] Johnson was out of his depth, 662 00:28:39,140 --> 00:28:41,251 and listening to the so-called experts 663 00:28:42,030 --> 00:28:43,211 who were cooking the numbers. 664 00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:45,130 [Updegrove] They all said, 665 00:28:45,151 --> 00:28:47,221 "Just a few more troops, Mr. President, 666 00:28:47,241 --> 00:28:49,181 and we've got this thing won." 667 00:28:50,060 --> 00:28:52,161 But he's getting reports every single day 668 00:28:52,181 --> 00:28:54,181 about how many troops won't come back. 669 00:28:55,021 --> 00:28:58,080 [Luci] Ours was the last presidential family 670 00:28:58,171 --> 00:29:01,070 that had two sons-in-law that went to war. 671 00:29:01,221 --> 00:29:05,120 So, my father felt it not just as a president, 672 00:29:05,140 --> 00:29:07,241 but as a father, and a grandfather. 673 00:29:08,191 --> 00:29:10,021 [Lynda] Chuck left for Vietnam, 674 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,050 and my father did see me worrying, 675 00:29:13,070 --> 00:29:16,120 and I represented all those other mothers, 676 00:29:16,140 --> 00:29:20,130 and wives, of all the men that were over there. 677 00:29:20,151 --> 00:29:23,201 [Sweig] Lynda and Luci's men going off to war, 678 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,241 even though Lady Bird never quite gets herself to say, 679 00:29:28,021 --> 00:29:30,130 "my husband can't be responsible 680 00:29:30,151 --> 00:29:33,040 for the deaths of my sons-in-law," 681 00:29:33,211 --> 00:29:36,100 that's the oxygen she begins to breathe. 682 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,060 [whirring] 683 00:29:38,130 --> 00:29:39,221 [birds tweeting] 684 00:29:39,241 --> 00:29:41,221 [Luci] Nature had always been my mother's solace. 685 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,221 It was her first love. 686 00:29:45,110 --> 00:29:46,130 When her mother died, 687 00:29:46,151 --> 00:29:48,211 and she was three months shy of six... 688 00:29:50,221 --> 00:29:55,040 she knew that nature could lift the spirits of all our people. 689 00:29:55,221 --> 00:29:57,171 [reporter] The scenic countryside 690 00:29:57,191 --> 00:29:59,030 sprang to life today 691 00:29:59,050 --> 00:30:01,060 with the arrival of Mrs. Johnson and her entourage. 692 00:30:01,161 --> 00:30:03,021 [Lady Bird] This is my first trip 693 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:04,080 to the Redwoods. 694 00:30:04,151 --> 00:30:07,030 But I've been wanting to come here all my life. 695 00:30:07,050 --> 00:30:08,140 [crowd applauds] 696 00:30:08,201 --> 00:30:10,231 [narrator] Lady Bird looks to heal a nation divided by war, 697 00:30:10,251 --> 00:30:12,241 racial tensions, and urban decay. 698 00:30:13,201 --> 00:30:17,090 She embarks on a campaign to beautify America. 699 00:30:17,241 --> 00:30:20,021 [Lady Bird] Getting on the subject of beautification 700 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,100 is like picking up a tangled skein of wool, 701 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,080 all the threads are interwoven: 702 00:30:24,151 --> 00:30:26,100 recreation and urban renewal, 703 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,110 and mental health and the crime rate, 704 00:30:28,130 --> 00:30:29,221 and the war on poverty. 705 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,140 [Sweig] When she talks about urban poverty, 706 00:30:32,161 --> 00:30:35,201 and race, and access to natural beauty, 707 00:30:36,050 --> 00:30:38,050 these are big ideas! 708 00:30:38,191 --> 00:30:40,040 [Marton] Lady Bird made the connection 709 00:30:40,060 --> 00:30:43,241 between an impoverished, blighted environment, 710 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,090 and how people behave. 711 00:30:46,151 --> 00:30:48,060 She was an environmental pioneer. 712 00:30:48,181 --> 00:30:51,140 [narrator] In an effort to clean up the dilapidated capital, 713 00:30:51,161 --> 00:30:53,191 Lady Bird builds recreation areas, 714 00:30:53,211 --> 00:30:55,090 -and landscaped parks. -[children chattering] 715 00:30:55,110 --> 00:30:57,140 It's a model for other cities to follow. 716 00:30:57,161 --> 00:31:01,201 She also saw how billboards scarred the earth, 717 00:31:01,221 --> 00:31:03,040 and she wanted them removed. 718 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,030 [narrator] Lady Bird leads the fight 719 00:31:05,050 --> 00:31:06,171 for a Highway Beautification Act 720 00:31:06,241 --> 00:31:10,090 to restrict billboards, and relocate junkyards. 721 00:31:10,191 --> 00:31:12,070 [Califano] it was a very controversial 722 00:31:12,090 --> 00:31:13,120 piece of legislation, 723 00:31:13,201 --> 00:31:15,130 and a terrific battle with the billboard lobby, 724 00:31:15,151 --> 00:31:17,191 which had a tremendous amount of power. 725 00:31:18,140 --> 00:31:19,211 [Brower] The billboard industry 726 00:31:19,231 --> 00:31:22,040 targeted her as someone who was overstepping; 727 00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:24,030 she was not an elected figure. 728 00:31:25,030 --> 00:31:27,021 [narrator] When Republicans try to sink the bill, 729 00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:28,161 her husband steps in. 730 00:31:28,241 --> 00:31:31,080 [Brower] Johnson said, "I love this woman, 731 00:31:31,100 --> 00:31:33,221 this is what she wants, and we're gonna get it done." 732 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:35,161 [Jones] Johnson's relentless. 733 00:31:35,181 --> 00:31:38,040 There was a congressional party at the White House; 734 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,171 he would not let members of Congress come down 735 00:31:40,191 --> 00:31:42,201 until they passed Lady Bird's bill. 736 00:31:44,021 --> 00:31:45,161 [narrator] The Highway Beautification Act 737 00:31:45,181 --> 00:31:48,201 is the result of the first open political partnership 738 00:31:48,221 --> 00:31:51,100 between a President and a First Lady. 739 00:31:52,181 --> 00:31:54,030 [Califano] Thank God for that bill. 740 00:31:54,050 --> 00:31:55,251 If you're driving in the United States today, 741 00:31:56,030 --> 00:31:57,070 you can see the land. 742 00:31:57,090 --> 00:32:00,100 The key to getting that done was Lady Bird. 743 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:02,211 [crowd] LBJ, LBJ, 744 00:32:02,231 --> 00:32:08,021 [crowd chanting] 745 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,201 [narrator] As the death toll from Vietnam mounts, 746 00:32:11,060 --> 00:32:13,090 protestors converge on Washington. 747 00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:17,211 [crowd chanting] 748 00:32:17,231 --> 00:32:19,050 [Luci] We could hear 749 00:32:19,070 --> 00:32:21,040 people marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, 750 00:32:21,110 --> 00:32:23,201 and the next morning that was our wake-up call as well. 751 00:32:23,221 --> 00:32:24,231 [crowd chanting outside] 752 00:32:25,110 --> 00:32:27,161 [Califano] Lyndon Johnson signed a letter to the spouse, 753 00:32:27,181 --> 00:32:30,181 or mother, of everybody that was killed in Vietnam. 754 00:32:31,140 --> 00:32:33,070 It took an enormous toll. 755 00:32:33,221 --> 00:32:36,231 [Marton] He really only had Lady Bird as his solace... 756 00:32:36,251 --> 00:32:38,090 [chanting continues] 757 00:32:38,110 --> 00:32:41,161 ...and Johnson was unraveling in the White House. 758 00:32:42,021 --> 00:32:43,100 [Sweig] She's worried that the stress of Vietnam 759 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:44,080 is going to kill him. 760 00:32:44,191 --> 00:32:46,120 [Updegrove] Just five years before 761 00:32:46,140 --> 00:32:49,161 we had lost John F. Kennedy to an assassin's bullet. 762 00:32:49,241 --> 00:32:52,060 Lyndon Johnson nearly died 763 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,161 of a heart attack in 1955, 764 00:32:54,241 --> 00:32:56,140 and she doesn't wanna to put the nation 765 00:32:56,161 --> 00:32:58,140 through a crisis like that. 766 00:32:58,251 --> 00:33:01,080 [plane engine whirring] 767 00:33:01,100 --> 00:33:02,151 [explosion] 768 00:33:02,251 --> 00:33:07,040 [Marton] Lady Bird couldn't escape the tentacle of that war. 769 00:33:07,151 --> 00:33:10,060 Sometimes she would go down to the basement 770 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:11,161 where there was a bowling alley, 771 00:33:11,241 --> 00:33:15,021 and she would release some of her tension. 772 00:33:15,201 --> 00:33:17,181 [thudding] 773 00:33:18,060 --> 00:33:20,221 That was the tragedy of the Johnson era, 774 00:33:20,241 --> 00:33:26,030 that it was completely swamped by this distant war 775 00:33:26,050 --> 00:33:28,110 that tore the nation apart. 776 00:33:28,191 --> 00:33:32,040 It was the deepest rupture in our country 777 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:34,030 since the Civil War. 778 00:33:35,161 --> 00:33:37,151 [reporter] This was the largest pacifist demonstration 779 00:33:37,171 --> 00:33:38,221 in New York's history. 780 00:33:38,241 --> 00:33:40,120 Best estimates were around 50,000... 781 00:33:40,140 --> 00:33:41,171 [crowd chanting on news report] 782 00:33:42,021 --> 00:33:44,030 [narrator] Johnson is under attack over Vietnam 783 00:33:44,050 --> 00:33:46,030 by both doves and hawks. 784 00:33:46,130 --> 00:33:48,090 His popularity has plummeted. 785 00:33:48,211 --> 00:33:51,251 Polls show he would lose an election by a landslide. 786 00:33:53,090 --> 00:33:55,110 [Jones] She was concerned about the split in the nation, 787 00:33:55,191 --> 00:34:00,201 and intense feeling for and against the Vietnam War, 788 00:34:01,050 --> 00:34:04,241 and I think she felt that he couldn't unite it. 789 00:34:06,181 --> 00:34:07,221 [narrator] Lady Bird feels it's time 790 00:34:07,241 --> 00:34:09,120 for them to leave the White House. 791 00:34:10,151 --> 00:34:14,160 She urges Johnson to declare he will not seek a second term. 792 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,191 [Updegrove] This is the same man 793 00:34:17,031 --> 00:34:21,171 who has this hunger for power and what it can do for America, 794 00:34:22,021 --> 00:34:26,040 and he sees a little more juice in the presidency. 795 00:34:32,021 --> 00:34:34,171 [reporter] Ms. Kitt did you go to the White House today 796 00:34:34,191 --> 00:34:37,080 with a personal anti-Vietnam war protest? 797 00:34:37,191 --> 00:34:40,140 I did not go to the White House with a personal anything. 798 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,160 [narrator] As the President continues to agonize 799 00:34:43,180 --> 00:34:45,211 over whether to seek a second term, 800 00:34:46,111 --> 00:34:48,111 Lady Bird walks into a storm. 801 00:34:48,131 --> 00:34:50,111 [Kitt] What I said to Mrs. Johnson upset her? 802 00:34:50,191 --> 00:34:51,231 I was telling her the truth. 803 00:34:51,251 --> 00:34:53,051 [crowd applauds] 804 00:34:53,071 --> 00:34:54,180 [narrator] When Eartha Kitt is invited 805 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,191 to a White House luncheon to discuss juvenile delinquency, 806 00:34:58,051 --> 00:34:59,191 she confronts Lady Bird. 807 00:34:59,211 --> 00:35:02,131 [Lady Bird] She said, "You send the best of this country off 808 00:35:02,151 --> 00:35:03,240 to be shot and maimed. 809 00:35:04,021 --> 00:35:05,071 They rebel in the street, 810 00:35:05,091 --> 00:35:06,171 they don't want to go to school 811 00:35:06,191 --> 00:35:08,031 because they're going to be snatched off 812 00:35:08,051 --> 00:35:10,051 from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam." 813 00:35:10,191 --> 00:35:13,031 Civility is irrelevant to Eartha Kitt... 814 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,200 when people are dying, 815 00:35:14,220 --> 00:35:17,211 and when those people are disproportionately black, 816 00:35:18,091 --> 00:35:19,211 disproportionately poor, 817 00:35:20,071 --> 00:35:22,120 and disproportionately working class. 818 00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:25,071 [Kitt] The parents themselves are angry, 819 00:35:25,091 --> 00:35:29,060 "I have borne a child that is going to be taken away from me, 820 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:33,021 and get thrown into something that I don't even understand." 821 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,100 [crowd applauds] 822 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,100 Lady Bird being called out 823 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,111 for something she had no control over. 824 00:35:39,180 --> 00:35:42,220 She had no way of changing the course of this war, 825 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,021 and I that think she saw no end in sight. 826 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,080 [crowd] Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did ya kill today? 827 00:35:49,191 --> 00:35:50,240 [Johnson] Since the middle of January, 828 00:35:51,021 --> 00:35:53,131 more than 48,000 South Vietnamese have... 829 00:35:54,031 --> 00:35:56,140 [Lady Bird] Today was a crescendo of a day. 830 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:57,240 At nine o'clock in the evening 831 00:35:58,021 --> 00:36:00,200 Lyndon was to make his talk on the war. 832 00:36:00,220 --> 00:36:02,160 The speech was not yet firm; 833 00:36:02,180 --> 00:36:03,160 there were revisions. 834 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,200 I can't read this substitute you've got here, "work"? 835 00:36:08,031 --> 00:36:10,180 [narrator] Only Lady Bird and a few White House insiders 836 00:36:10,251 --> 00:36:13,140 know about Johnson's deliberations 837 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,220 over whether to seek a second term. 838 00:36:17,171 --> 00:36:19,140 Even Lady Bird Johnson doesn't know 839 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,100 whether he's going to actually do it or not. 840 00:36:22,211 --> 00:36:24,080 [Califano] We all wanted him to run. 841 00:36:24,180 --> 00:36:25,231 Nobody in Washington 842 00:36:26,051 --> 00:36:28,180 could do things with Congress that he had done. 843 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:29,240 ...good, we can change it but it's... 844 00:36:30,021 --> 00:36:31,171 [Lady Bird] And I, what did I feel? 845 00:36:31,191 --> 00:36:35,021 There was much in me that cried out to go on, 846 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,180 right up to the last, 847 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,171 and if we lost, well and good, we were free! 848 00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:42,051 But, we could be free without all this. 849 00:36:42,251 --> 00:36:44,151 [narrator] Daughter, Lynda Johnson, 850 00:36:44,171 --> 00:36:45,171 is three months pregnant. 851 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,091 That morning, her husband had boarded a plane for Vietnam. 852 00:36:49,211 --> 00:36:51,231 [Lynda] I was just scared to death to let him go. 853 00:36:52,060 --> 00:36:55,060 If I could have run up the stairs of the airplane, 854 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,060 I would have done it. 855 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:57,251 [Caroli] Lynda said to her father, 856 00:36:58,031 --> 00:37:01,021 "If he gets killed, I'll never forgive you," 857 00:37:01,111 --> 00:37:03,160 And Lady Bird said, "I had never seen 858 00:37:03,180 --> 00:37:06,091 such a hurt look in Lyndon's face 859 00:37:06,180 --> 00:37:08,071 since his mother died. 860 00:37:08,151 --> 00:37:10,060 [Luci] We wanted our father to live, 861 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:11,151 and we saw it was killing him. 862 00:37:12,021 --> 00:37:15,071 But, he was our husband's commander in chief 863 00:37:15,091 --> 00:37:16,220 and he would desperately fight 864 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:18,220 to bring all of our boys home. 865 00:37:19,100 --> 00:37:20,140 [Lady Bird] And there was Lyndon. 866 00:37:20,231 --> 00:37:22,120 I went to him and said quietly, 867 00:37:22,140 --> 00:37:24,211 "Remember pacing and drama," 868 00:37:25,191 --> 00:37:28,091 and I did not know what the end would be. 869 00:37:29,111 --> 00:37:31,080 Good evening, my fellow Americans. 870 00:37:32,051 --> 00:37:33,021 [tense music] 871 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,051 Tonight, I want to speak to you 872 00:37:35,071 --> 00:37:37,200 of peace in Vietnam and South East Asia. 873 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,051 [narrator] Johnson announces a partial halt to the bombing, 874 00:37:41,071 --> 00:37:44,040 and calls for Hanoi to join peace talks. 875 00:37:44,211 --> 00:37:46,191 But, that's not the end of his address. 876 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,220 [Johnson] With American sons in the field far away, 877 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:53,171 I do not believe that I should devote an hour, 878 00:37:53,191 --> 00:37:55,171 or a day, of my time... 879 00:37:56,191 --> 00:37:59,091 to any personal partisan causes... 880 00:38:00,060 --> 00:38:02,080 or to any duties other... 881 00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:05,200 than the awesome duties... 882 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:07,231 of this office. 883 00:38:08,171 --> 00:38:11,021 [Updegrove] The speech takes a turn 884 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:14,111 wholly unexpected by the American people. 885 00:38:14,211 --> 00:38:16,091 I shall not seek... 886 00:38:18,071 --> 00:38:19,231 and I will not accept... 887 00:38:20,220 --> 00:38:22,131 the nomination of my party 888 00:38:22,151 --> 00:38:24,100 for another term as your president. 889 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:27,131 That is colossal news 890 00:38:27,251 --> 00:38:30,111 to the American people, and to the world. 891 00:38:31,131 --> 00:38:32,180 [Lynda] We all went up to him, 892 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,131 and told him how much we cared about him. 893 00:38:34,231 --> 00:38:37,131 [Luci] It looks like a thousand pounds 894 00:38:37,151 --> 00:38:39,051 has been lifted off of his shoulders. 895 00:38:40,031 --> 00:38:41,180 [Updegrove] Just as Lady Bird Johnson plays 896 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:42,140 this pivotal role 897 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:44,191 in her husband getting the presidency 898 00:38:44,211 --> 00:38:47,140 in his own right in 1964, 899 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:51,021 she also plays a-- just as pivotal a role 900 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,171 in ensuring that he steps down from the presidency with honor. 901 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,071 [Lynda] He wanted to give all of his attention 902 00:38:57,091 --> 00:39:01,040 to trying to get peace, and not trying to get elected. 903 00:39:02,051 --> 00:39:04,111 [Updegrove] Lady Bird Johnson had inserted 904 00:39:04,131 --> 00:39:06,251 in the speech, "I will not accept." 905 00:39:07,211 --> 00:39:09,191 She is putting a definite closure 906 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,251 on the situation by saying, "Not only will I not seek it, 907 00:39:13,131 --> 00:39:14,140 but I won't accept it either," 908 00:39:15,021 --> 00:39:17,151 and I think the American people saw it rightfully 909 00:39:17,171 --> 00:39:19,071 as an act of political courage. 910 00:39:19,091 --> 00:39:20,151 [slide clicks] 911 00:39:20,171 --> 00:39:21,180 [Lady Bird] At last, 912 00:39:22,031 --> 00:39:23,111 the decision had been reached and stated. 913 00:39:23,131 --> 00:39:27,100 although the actual exit is still nine months away. 914 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:28,071 [slide clicks] 915 00:39:28,151 --> 00:39:29,231 To these nine months 916 00:39:29,251 --> 00:39:33,111 I'm going to bring the best I possibly can. 917 00:39:34,171 --> 00:39:35,200 [TV tunes in] 918 00:39:36,071 --> 00:39:37,160 [reporter] Martin Luther King Jr. 919 00:39:37,180 --> 00:39:39,160 was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. 920 00:39:39,180 --> 00:39:40,211 Shot on the... 921 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:42,231 [narrator] The Johnsons' last months in the White House 922 00:39:42,251 --> 00:39:46,021 are some of the most tumultuous in American history. 923 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,131 The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 924 00:39:49,220 --> 00:39:51,160 sparks riots across the nation. 925 00:39:51,180 --> 00:39:53,071 [crowd commotion] 926 00:39:53,091 --> 00:39:54,120 [thudding] 927 00:39:54,140 --> 00:39:56,021 [people screaming] 928 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:57,231 [Mankiewicz] Senator Robert Kennedy 929 00:39:57,251 --> 00:40:01,080 -died at 1:44 a.m. today. -[crowd commotion on TV] 930 00:40:01,100 --> 00:40:03,040 [man] Where's Johnson? Where's Johnson? 931 00:40:03,060 --> 00:40:04,240 [Lady Bird] The three faces of the television 932 00:40:05,021 --> 00:40:07,111 kept repeating the hideous story. 933 00:40:08,060 --> 00:40:09,200 This can't be happening. 934 00:40:09,220 --> 00:40:11,111 [somber music] 935 00:40:11,131 --> 00:40:15,171 Remembering Martin Luther King just two months ago today, 936 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,111 and President Kennedy, 937 00:40:17,220 --> 00:40:19,200 what is happening to our country? 938 00:40:19,220 --> 00:40:20,240 [slide clicks] 939 00:40:21,021 --> 00:40:22,111 [Califano] Thank God Lyndon Johnson 940 00:40:22,131 --> 00:40:24,040 was not running for re-election. 941 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:25,231 That was like the hand of God 942 00:40:25,251 --> 00:40:27,140 was on the shoulder of the United States 943 00:40:28,031 --> 00:40:29,211 because he was able to say, 944 00:40:30,051 --> 00:40:32,031 "I'm just tryin' to hold this country together." 945 00:40:32,191 --> 00:40:35,140 In the wake of Bobby Kennedy's assassination, 946 00:40:35,231 --> 00:40:37,140 Lyndon Johnson uses that moment 947 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:40,111 to push through much needed gun control legislation; 948 00:40:40,131 --> 00:40:42,240 the most comprehensive America has ever had. 949 00:40:43,100 --> 00:40:44,211 [piano music] 950 00:40:44,231 --> 00:40:46,131 [Lady Bird] The golden coin is spent. 951 00:40:46,151 --> 00:40:49,040 This is the last full day in the White House. 952 00:40:49,251 --> 00:40:52,100 [narrator] Peace in Vietnam has eluded Johnson. 953 00:40:53,021 --> 00:40:55,060 But by the time they exit the White House, 954 00:40:55,171 --> 00:40:57,180 the administration has left behind 955 00:40:57,251 --> 00:41:00,160 the greatest legacy of social reform 956 00:41:00,180 --> 00:41:02,060 in American history. 957 00:41:03,060 --> 00:41:04,120 [Lady Bird] I went to bed... 958 00:41:04,140 --> 00:41:06,091 -[crowd cheering] -...with a line of poetry 959 00:41:06,111 --> 00:41:07,120 ringing in my mind, 960 00:41:08,060 --> 00:41:12,021 "I celebrate my glad release, the Tents of Silence, 961 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:13,160 -and the Camp of Peace." -[camera shutters] 962 00:41:13,220 --> 00:41:17,021 And yet, for me, it's not quite the exit line 963 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:22,031 because I have loved almost every day of these five years. 964 00:41:22,180 --> 00:41:25,021 [Marton] It's hard to overrate 965 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:29,080 Lady Bird's importance in the Johnson presidency. 966 00:41:29,171 --> 00:41:31,211 I can't even imagine Lyndon Johnson 967 00:41:31,231 --> 00:41:35,080 operating in the White House without Lady Bird. 968 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,060 She had a great deal of power... 969 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,240 but she worked very hard to conceal it. 970 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,051 He could never have done what he did without her. 971 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,251 [jaunty music] 972 00:41:47,211 --> 00:41:48,211 [dog barks] 973 00:41:49,051 --> 00:41:50,171 [narrator] Lady Bird never stopped working 974 00:41:50,191 --> 00:41:52,120 to protect the environment. 975 00:41:56,240 --> 00:41:58,171 On her 70th birthday, 976 00:41:58,191 --> 00:42:01,231 she founded the National Wildflower Research Center, 977 00:42:02,091 --> 00:42:05,080 dedicated to preserving native landscapes, 978 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:09,120 the culmination of her lifelong love of nature.