AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, THE: LBJ, PART 2: MY FELLOW AMERICANS (TV)
Summary
Continued from T:29405. Part two of this four-part program in this documentary series. This program chronicles the political career and personal life of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the thirty-sixth president of the United States. Part two examines Johnson's first fourteen months in the presidency, from the slaying of President John F. Kennedy to Johnson's inaugural ball of 1965, before his dreams for "The Great Society" were overshadowed by the Vietnam War. Topics include Johnson's decision to retain Kennedy's cabinet, despite the protests of adviser John Connally; Johnson's hopes of turning the slain Kennedy's programs into a "martyr's cause"; Johnson's attempts to eradicate segregation in the South, which he had often supported while serving in Congress; and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Roger Wilkins, who later joined the Johnson administration, discusses his distrust for the Texas president with a checkered civil-rights record. Other topics include Johnson's aspirations to be the greatest president of all, and his hopes of inviting the disenfranchised into the mainstream, according to Johnson biographer Robert Dallek; Johnson's "war on poverty"; his attempts during the election year to prove that he is not "soft on communism," as his opponent Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) asserts; and the lie that Johnson tells in order to secure the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which presidential adviser Clark Clifford says "started us down a long road to Vietnam." Includes comments by Rep. James Pickle (D-Texas); Joseph Raugh, Jr., of the Wash. D.C. Democratic Committee; Andrew Young of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Vietnam historian Larry Berman; James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): Jack Valenti and S. Douglas Cater, special assistants to the president; and Sargent Shriver discussing the war on poverty. Includes archival footage of civil-rights demonstrations and appearances by Ho Chi Minh, Goldwater, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Part two concludes with footage of President Johnson dancing with Lady Bird Johnson at the inaugural ball on January 20, 1965. Continues with T:29414.
Acquisition and cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: September 30, 1991 Monday 10:04 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:54:41
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29413
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Blacks - Civil rights; Blacks - Politics and suffrage; Civil Rights Act, 1964; Communism - 1964; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; Poverty; Segregation; U S - Elections - 1964; U S - Officials - Talk/Interviews; Vietnam War - 1964
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1988-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Judy Crichton … Executive Producer
- Patricia Perini … Executive Producer
- David Grubin … Executive Producer, Writer
- Margaret Drain … Senior Producer
- Chana Gazit … Senior Producer
- Laurie Kahn-Leavitt … Associate Producer
- Hillary Dann … Associate Producer
- Sam Sills … Associate Producer
- Laura Jean Ozment … Associate Producer
- MIchael Bacon … Music by
- Charles Kuskin … Theme Music by
- David McCullough … Narrator
- Larry Berman
- S. Douglas Cater
- Clark Clifford
- John Connally
- Robert Dallek
- James Farmer
- Barry Goldwater
- Ho Chi Minh
- Lady Bird Johnson
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- John F. Kennedy
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- James Pickle
- Joseph Raugh
- Sargent Shriver
- Jack Valenti
- Roger Wilkins