in the end, president lyndon johnson, eight days out from bloody sunday, speaking to the nation, and i would say gave one of the most meaningful speeches any modern president had given on civil rights. and at the end of that speech he said that we shall overcome. that was help. that said it all. >> join american history tv next saturday and sunday for live coverage from selma, alabama. at 8 p.m. eastern each day highlights of our coverage. >> 48 hours of programming in american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for more

that is lyndon johnson. parenthetically, let me ask and answer parenthetically, did this historical explanation drive johnson's decision to escalate the war? i don't think so. i will come back to that in a moment. in terms of justifying it, in terms of explaining it to the american people, in the middle of 1965, it mattered a great deal. as the war in vietnam dragged on, johnson's's reading of the past would be questioned. with over half a million men on the ground, and overwhelming firepower being used. it stressed the futility of force. the ghosts of munich had to contend with the ghosts of vietnam. i am sometimes reminded when i think of the limits of historical analogy, and here is mark twain again, twain's vivid quote following the equator, this is twain. we should be careful to get out of and experience only the wisdom that is in it, and stop there. lest we be like the cat, that sits on a hot stove lid. she will never sit down on a hot stove lid again. that is all well. but also, she will never sit dow

>> well, lyndon johnson used this moment both for legislation and i think this is a lyndon johnson moment. you can find demonstration and legislation to address the crippling issues of voter denial and poverty, which poverty destroys dreams, educational options, it destroys people's life options. we must address these issues in a real way that i think have not yet been addressed. some think it's a celebration here but i think it's time for -- i'm sorry. >> i apologize. there's a little bit of a delay here. what do you think, i appreciate your passion in terms of getting things done, but what do you think needs to be done? it's one thing to talk about it. we know there are issues there on the table but what's your plan and what are those who support your plan, what are you planning to do to move these -- move everything forward? >> two things. two things. we need congressional remedy for the impact of the section four decision by the supreme court which leaves us unprotected from the tyranny of the majority. that's a very specific challenge. secondly is people who are hungry need food, hou

charlie: lyndon johnson threatened. abraham lincoln threatened. dan: there are a lot of things you can get away with when lyndon -- lincoln and johnson were president that you can't get away with now. charlie: but this was a central campaign theme in 2008. dan: right. look. if we could have -- if we could make it better, we absolutely would. looking back on it, there are of course things we could do better. i look at that, it's not just in our outreach to republicans. it's in everything. you -- we came in at a time of tremendous crisis, trying to keep the economy from falling off a cliff. i wish we could have done more things. but we are proud of our accomplishment that we've had through the six years that i worked there. charlie: and you should be. you spent your life doing that you should be proud of what you've done. but there's a piece i read in the no times online about foreign leaders, that the president is cool and businesslike. is that simply what ought to be recognized as his style and don't expect him to be something he's not? dan: he is

that was a sense of righteous indignation in america. >> reporter: on march 15 president lyndon johnson addressed a joint session of congress and introduced the voting rights act. >> and we shall overcome. >> reporter: lewis was watching on tv along with martin luther king. >> i looked at dr. king. tears came down his face and he said we will make it from selma to montgomery and the voting rights act would be passed. >> reporter: john lewis grew up in rural alabama, went to segregated schools and saw the signs for whites and colors. then he brings up something that happened to the kids in his family when he was 16. >> trying to get library cards, attempting to check out somic boo ssomic -- some books and were told it was for whites only. >> reporter: lewis says selma selected itself. >> the county was more than 80% african-american. there was not a single registered african-american voter in the county. >> reporter: lewis has been a member of congress now for 28 years. but he goes back to selma every year. >> selma has freed and lib rates not just america's south but liberated a country

johnson and he federalized troops so they could make their way to montgomery alabama. i'm here to tell you today that our vote is necessary, our marching is necessary, but these don't get off your knees. remember that when we talk to the one who can make a difference he will send the army to fight our battles. harder yet maybe the fight sometimes right will yield to might. wickedness may rain and satan's cause may be there but there is a god who rules with a hand of power and a heart of love. and if we are right, and we are right, he will fight for us. [applause] >> i know i'm out of order but if we are going to get to this bridge

it's like the republicans doing watergate saying well lyndon johnson wiretapped people too. it's completely irrelevant, and please let's not play that game. >> well let's not interrupt me and let me explain. what jeb bush -- >> i'm not asking about jeb bush. i'm asking why it was that hillary clinton in 2011 told all state department officials use government e-mails and she continued to refuse to do it? >> chris, i gave you that answer that she as secretary of state had a good reason -- >> what was the good reason? >> i gave you the reason, you're apparently not listening. >> you said -- i don't understand somehow it was going to be more convenient? >> maybe you don't understand because you're not letting me finish. as a secretary of state, she might feel the need -- >> why? >> traveling all over. >> why? >> with a handler -- >> why is state goin govern not adequate? >> she may feel the need as secretary of state -- you won't let me finish. i think jeb bush is a fine man and did nothing wrong. but you won't ask the same question of why does he not use state.gov. >> why don't

if you ask others, they say, frank underwood is two-thirds lyndon johnson. he was a guy who got things done. kevin: it is an interesting thing we are examining. johnson, for his entire congressional career, was on the opposite side of the civil rights movement. when he became president, i think, the cousin of the way he became president, feeling it was his obligation to try to continue president kennedy's mandate. he saw the presidency as a place where you can get something like that done. charlie: and civil rights, he did more than kennedy. he said, lyndon johnson did, if you cannot do this, what is the presidency for? kevin: the march in selma had a lot to do with pushing that agenda further. charlie: mafia chieftains, they know who they are and what they are about. making money, keeping the family together. do this for me. i beg you. what would bill clinton say about it? kevin: i love that "house of cards." no, it is so good. charlie: and johnny carson. kevin: i am too busy writing a monologue. i can't binge. charlie: you are so good at that. this season,

and he'll praise lyndon johnson, obviously. but i think that for barack obama, i mean he has to talk about ferguson. there is a direct link when people write this chapter of the obama presidency the linkage to the speech today and what's transpired at ferguson with that horrific report that the justice department has just brought on and the president just a day ago said there are a lot of fergusons. it's not just unique. many communities are targeting african-americans and it has to stop. but keep in mind at the core of your question barack obama is still beloved by african-americans. he has at least an 85 and 90% approval rating. so they never broke ranks with him. and so there will be a lot of warmth and love for the president felt at selma by the -- the people that are survivors of the fights of the civil rights movement but also the young people. i will be curious to see if he at all thinks about or will mention what the bridge means. he had pound pet us was a racist there is talk about changing the name of the bridge perha

in the end, president lyndon johnson, eight days out from bloody sunday, speaking to the nation, and i would say gave one of the most meaningful speeches any modern president had given on civil rights. and at the end of that speech he said that we shall overcome. that was help. that said it all. >> join american history tv next saturday and sunday for live coverage from selma, alabama. at 8 p.m. eastern each day highlights of our coverage. >> 48 hours of programming in american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for more information on our schedule of upcoming programs and to keep up with the latest history news. >> each week american history tv's real america brings you archival films that help to tell the story of the 20th century. march 8, 1965, 3500 marines were deployed to vietnam. by the end of 1965 almost 200,000 americans were in the country. when the war ended, 300 million americans had served in the conflict. up next, the screaming eagles in vietnam, a u.s. army big picture episode documentary the activities of the air force division from its arrival thr

that is lyndon johnson. parenthetically, let me ask and answer parenthetically, did this historical explanation drive johnson's decision to escalate the war? i don't think so. i will come back to that in a moment. in terms of justifying it, in terms of explaining it to the american people, in the middle of 1965, it mattered a great deal. as the war in vietnam dragged on, johnson's's reading of the past would be questioned. with over half a million men on the ground, and overwhelming firepower being -- ghosts of the anon. i am sometimes reminded when i think of the limits of historical analogy, and here is mark twain again, twain's vivid quote following the equator, this is twain. we should be careful to get out of and experience only the wisdom that is in it, and stop there. lest we be like the cat, that sits on a hot stove lid. she will never sit down on a hot stove lid again. that is all well. but also, she will never sit down on a cold one. analogizing across time and space is a fraught proposition ladies

1965, lyndon johnson's administration was spending on both a war and a greasociety without raising taxes. the fed was left to fight the resulting inflation alone. the nation's central bank, originally created to protect the banking system against panics acquired more powe to affect the economy than even it imagined at theutset. the federal serve: does money matter? with the help of economic analyst richard gill we'll explore that question on economics usa. i'm david schoumacher. coins, billschecks--our basic moy supply. the amount of money and where it goes wiin the bankingysm has en the main concern of our nation's central bank. at t fed's heauaers re in washington, dc closedeliberatioare held by experts who continuously monitor our nancial health and prescribe medies. how did these experts prescribe a remedy that plunged us even deeper in the gat depression? early in the 20th century, american banks operated with little regulation and great vulnerability. in 1907, that vulnerability became apparent when depositors lost confince and demandedir money. e nks coul't get short-termoa and ma

president lyndon johnson, eight days after bloody sunday, speaking to the nation gave one of the most meaningful speeches and american president had given in modern times on civil rights and voting rights. at the end of the speech he said, "and we shall overcome." that was hope. that said it all. >> join american history tv next saturday and sunday for live coverage from selma, alabama.

now, you debt -- you get a lot about lyndon johnson. caro four volumes out now? tremendous, tremendous books. good books about, several about you know, teddy roosevelt seems to attract wonderful biographers. some wonderful books about, about him. so it's a little bit who you like. jackson, some great recent biographies about andrew jackson. so it depends on who you're interested in and what you'd like. but i -- as a historian, i'd read the new ones coming out about he keeps bringing out one about every five years on lyndon johnson. i wouldn't have picked lyndon johnson myself, but you can sure learn a lot about the passage of power by reading those books. so those would be a few suggestions. they attract many great biographers, and that'd be a start. any other questions? yes. >> maybe not exactly on the washington topic but the constitutional convention. >> yes. >> one of the things that i find groundbreaking about that is the system of checks and balances. and i'm just wondering if you know what the philosophical origin toes of that -- origins of that -- [inaudi

we heard part of the speech that lyndon johnson made shortly after bloody sunday. he addressed congress on voting rights. what was lbj thinking on voting rights prior to event in selma? guest: he wanted voting rights no question. for him, it was a question of timing. that is what brought it there. martin is a king met with him and it was not the right time. the young people in the voting rights campaign made sure it was time. they reminded johnson that they were setting the timetable, not the president. host: where were you on bloody sunday? and when you heard about bloody sunday, what was your reaction? guest: i was in los angeles going to ucla at the time. i remember the reaction myself, and many of the people i knew, was anger. we wanted to do something. we wanted to come and protest. instead, we decided to protest at the federal building in los angeles. we basically shut the federal building down for a short time in order to make it clear that the federal government had to react on behalf of the voting rights marches in selma. host: mark luther, where was he 50

today the city of selma also honored late president lyndon johnson, who signed the 1965 voting rights act into law. >>> today is international women's day and a speakout was held this afternoon in san francisco. the even was held at 24th and mission streets and joins voices globally as a day of protest to win full equality for women's rights. the theme make it happen. it's a call to action for the numerous issues facing women today. >> as women we face a number of conditions in this country where we're denied access to our reproductive rights to health care to education, to live in poverty and face effects of racism and it's essential we're doing this today as much as we can. >> international women's day has been celebrated in the u.s. since 1909. >>> as part of the clinton foundation's not there campaign for general equality, hillary clinton and daughter chelsea have disappeared from their twitter profiles. you see here hillary's profile picture is blank and there are no images currently of chelsea clinton on her twit are page. other notable women are taking part including serena wil

>> a lyndon johnson moment a moment to focus on legislation, renewing the voters right act and war on poverty deals with poverty. >> you think the president should have come out swinging a little bit harder? >> well, the voting rights act of 65 has been gutted by the shelby decision. these legislators here today, many will not resupporting it. they should challenged. we should see action this coming week in washington. >> how about from the state of alabama and the govern governor he? >> $100 million in education money for education to be spent on prisons. he rejects medicaid and millions of americans in alabama are kofshth. he supports shelby and that's why people responded to him the way they did because he does not represent the spirit of this crowd's ambitions. >> last question: ferguson. big issue right now with the state department justice department. >> ferguson is more typical than unusual. many small towns in this country are using, labeling blacks as atm machines locking people up arresting them and making money off of attacks, arrests and taxation is not fair. it's not just

. >> rose: if you ask bo and others and maybe you they say frank was two-thirds lyndon johnson. he got things done. you can talk about the emancipation proclamation and the voting rights bill like in selma. >> yes. johnson for his entire congressional career was on the opposite side of the civil rights movement no doubt about it. but when he became president a i think because of the way he became president feeling it was his obligation to try to continue president kennedy's mandate, he saw the presidency as a place where you can, in fact, get something like that done and that's what he sought out to do. now, obviously -- >> rose: on civil rights he did more than kennedy had done after he became president and in fact he said -- and perhaps if kennedy had had a longer time in the second term, he might have done that, but he also said, lyndon johnson did if you can't do this what's the presidency for? >> exactly, what's it for. and obviously the march in selma had a lot to do with pushing that agenda further for johnson. >> rose: back to frank underwood, mafia chieftains they know

on march 15th in a televised address to congress, president lyndon johnson spoke out against the violence and asked congress to pass the voting rights act. >> it's not just negative grow negroes, really it's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. and we shall overcome. >> a week later on march 21st, more than 3,000 people embarked on a 54-mile trek to montgomery. this time under the protection of federal troops walking some 12 miles a day sleeping in nearby fields at night. by the time they reached montgomery the crowd was massive. 25,000 people joining in the struggle for change. and change did come in august when congress passed the voting rights act and president johnson signed it into law. [applause] >> that is our tony harris live on the ground in selma alabama even as we speak along with our correspondent robert ray. we'll be joining them later in the program. we're looking live at the edmund pettus bridge, and the symbolism cannot be lost on anyone that the podium is set up for the president of the united states, an african-american president at

one of my tasks was to write a history of lyndon baines johnson's achievements in china policy. this was a slim volume at best. [laughter] but it gave me a chance to look in the files and see all of the different initiatives we had worked on, sent forward to dean rusk, which were then sent back. the change that nixon came in with was palpable. we were asked by the secretary's office to brush off various initiatives we made on cultural exchange sports, and education and so on. so we sent them forward. and they disappeared. and they must have gone to the white house. we didn't have a clue what was going on. >> the state department was kept out of what was broiling out the -- at the pentagon. >> we were not privy to what nixon and kissinger and grant win lord were cooking up. [laughter] >> we relied a lot on some of the background and papers that were sent to us even though they didn't know why they were sending them. >> those of us who had read the nixon article and those of us who are sensitive to these different vibrations realized that something was up. we didn't know what it w

and over time, that has worked to the advantage of the democratic party. 1964, when lyndon johnson was re-elected, whites provided about 95% of all the votes cast in the election. in 2012 whites were about 72% and that growth, given the scheft of whites to very dominant support for the republican party non-whites for the democratic party, has produced a racially polarized electorate, but one that, given want growth of non-whites has worked to the democrats afs advantage in presidential elections lately. >> sreenivasan: there are democrats and some republicans that will be there today or through the weekend in selma. but what happens when they go back to washington? >> when they go back to washington, they're going to take the places that they've become accustomed to in this polarized environment that we're-- have been living with for some time. president george w. bush is going to represent republicans but you don't have republican leaders in congress going down. although interestingly, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell himself was a supporter of civil rights at the time of selma

in the end, president lyndon johnson, eight days out from bloody sunday, speaking to the nation, and i would say gave one of the most meaningful speeches any modern president had given on civil rights. and at the end of that speech he said that we shall overcome. that was help. that said it all. >> join american history tv next saturday and sunday for live coverage from selma, alabama. at 8 p.m. eastern each day highlights of our coverage. >> 48 hours of programming in american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on

black protesters horrified the nation and it helped to propel the voting rights act which president lyndon johnson signed into law five months later. >>> and now a year after malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared family members and friends gathered to mark the first anniversary. more than a hundred people came together in kuala lumpur. a tribute to the loss was played at the event. the australian prime prime minister promises the search will go on. >> we owe it to the traveling public to do whatever we reasonable coastal low to resolve this mystery. it's one of the great mysteries of the 21st century. >> meanwhile a report released today showed the battery of the locator beacon expired more than a year before the plane vanished. >>> well swiss pioneers meantime will set off on monday on the first round the world trip ever attempted with a solar powered plane. the takeoff of solar impulse two will cap 13 years of research and testing by two swiss pilots. they will take turns at the controls of the aircraft which is made of carbon fiber. now the flight is to begin in abu dhabi and end the

government when lyndon johnson was before the government was responding to the marches from selma to montgomery. but the law was written on that 40 mile route. al: that march took place two weeks after bloody sunday and was led by dr. martin luther king. today a lot of americans know dr. king was a great orator. they have hurt the speeches. what kind of leader was he? vernon: well, he was strategic. he was courageous. he understood that we could not do it alone. he wanted blacks, whites, he wanted the entire community doing it, but he also knew that confrontation was necessary. and that is what selma was. al: who was in nexen, and what is his significant? vernon: ed nixon goes -- who was e.d. nixon? vernon: he was one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. when rosa parks was arrested, she did not call martin luther king. she called net than, who was the president of the local branch of the naacp. that is who rosa parks called. and the lawyer that e.d. nixon called was a white lawyer, he was the first lawyer to see after rosa parks. and then after she sat down, got arrest

he is not going to be lyndon johnson ronald reagan or george bush. he is going to be who he is. and i think george bush is always known as a very friendly guy. >> as bill clinton. >> but george bush also had horrendous relations with many of the leaders and countries in the world. the president has very good relations. his style has worked for him. >> but help me understand. this is really interesting. because we are right at the point of understanding. i mean you have seen him up close, up close up personal. you've talked about life. you've talked about culture. all those kinds of things. where does that come from. is that all in the first book that he wrote that explains being an outsider explains the lifestyle he's had. is that what is in the end shaped the guy that's been president and we expect him to be things that he's not because his experiences were different? >> i mean, i think the first book, you know is having a president to have written a memoir like, gives people a window into his-- the creation of his identity and a way in which other you may not have for other pr

eight days later on march 15 1965, president lyndon johnson spoke to a joint session of congress asking for the introduction and passage of a voting rights law and appealing for equal rights for all americans. and now here's president johnson's entire 48-minute speech. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states! [ applause ] [ applause ] >> members of the congress, i have the great pleasure, the highest privilege and the distinguished, and i might also say, personal honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> speaker, members of the congress, i speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. i urge every member of both parties, americans of all religions and of all colors from every section of this country to join me in that cause. at times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. so it was at lexington and concord. so it was a century ago at apomatics. so it was last week in selma alabama. there, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested t

as lyndon johnson said at one point, you mean to tell me soldiers are coming back from vietnam and do not have the right to vote? this is wrong and has to be changed. and so i think that bloody sunday catalyzed the movement to do something about our voting rights, and later that year, we got the voting rights act of 1965, and i think selma gave lyndon johnson and the congress the power, the moral power to seek that legislation and to get it passed. >> what's your take on, you know, one of the most passionate parts of the president's speech yesterday where he did take on those critics who said we're not making progress on race. the president outlined the great progress we've made but also laying out what more needs to be done. >> well, you know, we're always searching for that more perfect union that our founding fathers talked to us about. we've made enormous progress. if we hadn't made progress, he wouldn't have been standing there. eric holder wouldn't have been with him and i wouldn't be here now. things opened up. law was changed and the barriers to advancement went away, but we s

later that year, lyndon johnson signing the voters rights act. we go your call shortly, the numbers are on your screen. you also join us on facebook or twitter. log on to facebook.com/cs panhistory. or tweet us. >> c-span3's american history tv live in selma, alabama, for the 50th anniversary commemoration of bloody sunday. the edmund pettus bridge on the right-hand side of your screen. we are waiting for remarks by president obama, who has arrived in selma. we will take some of your phone calls. first, a tweet -- don't just cross the bridge, finished the walk. and a picture of the edmund pettus bridge along with reverend jesse jackson and al sharpton. let's go to the calls, first up is wayne in auburn hills michigan. your thoughts today. caller: i was listening to a lady earlier about how blacks and whites should have a war here. the problem is everyone is taught to hate each other, and we are all god's children. i have an 18-year-old boy who is colored, he's really good kid, he's a christian, i talked to them all the time, and i'm white. he tel

president lyndon johnson signed the voting rights act into law five months later. there is a sea of people lined up for blocks for a chance to walk across this iconic bridge named for a leader believed to be a ku klux klan member. 9-year-old jenny newton wanted to be among the crowd commemorating her sacrifice. >> it feels nice, because it means they still remember what things were about. >> reporter: before the walk, worshipers gathered at brown chapel a.m.e. church. they heard from the reverend al sharpton and attorney general eric holden. >> we remain undowntd in our pursuit of a meaningful right to vote for every american. >> reporter: many walkers will be back monday morning for the journey to the alabama state capitol. >> this weekend also marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the ground war in vietnam. u.s. marines came ashore on red beech to try and prevent the spread of communism. this weekend some veterans returned to the land where they fought some five decades ago. more than 5,000 u.s. soldiers died in vietnam. another 153,000 were wounded. today t

. >> the events in selma helped pave the way for the voting rights act as president lyndon johnson signed into law later that year. >>> just getting going on a monday. it's 4:40. a story of survival from utah after a car crashes into a frozen river there. how a toddler managed to remain alive in those freezing temperatures for hours. >>> what is cool about your school? we want to know. you can e-mail your ma'am it nations to us at cool schools and we >>> as the drout lingers expect to pay a little more now for water. santa clara valley water district will consider a 30% hike at a meeting tomorrow. the agency is losing money because of water conservation. eastbay mud and the san francisco public utilities commission are considering some similar hikes as well. >>> and in the city of san jose there are new restrictions when people can water their lawns. >> here is mark kelly with a lock at what else people in the city are doing to save water. >> reporter: san jose's home and garden expo is part home improvement, part tutorial on california's drout. >> i worry about it every day. >> jennifer

president lyndon johnson sign the voting rights act into law five months later. >> there is a sea of people lined up for blocks for a chance to walk across this iconic bridge named for a couldn't federal general believed to be a clue clucks clan leader. many of the original marchers crossed yesterday alongside president obama. 89-year-old jenny newton wanted to be among the crowd commemorateing her sacrifice. >> it feels nice. because it means they still remember what things were about. >> reporter: before the walk, worshipers gathered at brown chapel ame church. they heard from the reverend al sharpton martin luther king the third and attorney general eric holder. >> we remain undaunted and undeterred in our pursuit of a meaning while right to vote for every american. >> many marchers will be back monday morning setting off a 5-day journey to the alabama bam state capital. marchly hall cbs3 "eyewitness news". >> a year after malaysian airlines flight 370 disappeared familiar and friends gathered to mark the first anniversary more than 100 people came together wearing t shirts with t

johnson sign the voting rights act. that was of course four or five months after bloody sunday. it has been an extraordinarily important piece of legislation, it prevents discrimination in voting on the base of race all over america. and we all revere the changes that have been brought in our country as a result of this important legislation. >> schieffer: let me just ask you one final question here, that is, now that you are the majority leader in the senate, do you feel you are obligated to work with the president and with the white house to get things done? >> of course. and i think there's some areas that i'm pretty optimistic about. i think we'll be able to make progress on trade, make progress on cyber-security. when the american people are not saying they don't want anything done they are saying we want you guys on each side to look for things that you can agree on to make progress in the country. that's always my first choice. >> schieffer: quick question treasury secretary sent letter to congress saying that de

there were negotiations going on. >> and he had also seen the previous president, lyndon johnson, his presidency nearly destroyed by it. >> the last conversation -- we had been talking -- or he had been, nixon, had been talking about vietnam and chinese support for it, etc. they did a diplomatic thing. nixon nailed it. so you are not going to help us with the vietnamese. he basically said, yes you and then -- yes. and then that passed. nixon said, well, at least help us won't you in reaching a negotiated solution and not try to torpedo the negotiations as your russian friends are doing etc. so we were at least trying to say please encourage them to negotiate and president's it was left that way. the me enemies were in real shock -- vietnamese were in shock that the president of the united states had been there. they were very concerned. what did they do? this was the end of february. they launched an offensive in late april, and that caused us to respond by doing something that was very nasty in the russian standpoint. they were the main provider. a lot more intensive bombing in respo

and lyndon johnson figuring out how to take that movement and move it forward for politics. you had the turnaround tuesday march, which was a disappointment to a lot of young activists that they didn't get to complete the journey to montgomery. but then the final march on march 24 you actually had a giant contingent of americans from all over the country. not just people from the south, but all over the country who answered the call to come and literally used their moral force to have the act happen. the idea that we would now declare the end of history. the supreme court would say that those people those bodies in the street. the people who bled and in fact, died to get that act through that that is the end of it. that we can look at history almost as a beautiful picture in a book not as a living preething thing that is happening now. i think it's frightening. i think a lot of americans do like to look at the postcard and forget the reality. remind congress. a lot of members of congress, mu melissa melissa, they are marching. they feel what they are doing is renewing the vo

some of them are inside leaders like lindnd like lyndon johnson. some are outside leaders like ronald reagan. everyone in the senate -- there is a small fraternity -- we all know who are the stand-out leaders. we knew in my era scoop jackson, sam nunn on defense were good for seven or eight votes in a tight vote any time. we knew that dick lugar on foreign policy was good for six or seven votes. they were leaders in their area. all of you on this committee know who the half-a-dozen leaders of this committee are. i don't know who they are but you know. and certainly the ranking member and chairman know who they are. and a coalition of those can be put together. but the key is not do you have the leadership. there is a does the little leadership group agree on the goal that they want to reach. if they don't agree on the goal, no quantity of leadership is going to make any difference. >> all right. thank you. second question deals with, you did all this work in '86. no sooner was the ink dry on all that legislation and we started clanging it. a whole

also in this speech the president talked about president lyndon johnson, saying that he sent protection to those people that he was instrumental in getting the voting rights act of 1965 passed. i mean you wrote this book about president johnson. what do you make of that when we think about the president then and the president now and the ways in which they contributed to civil rights? >> well i think that's an important part of the message. president obama is reminding americans of this magical moment where the president of the 1965 and a grassroots movement which many thought of as radical at the time came together. they came together in march of 1965 to push against all of the opponents at the grassroots level and in congress for this legislation. and i think president obama wants to invoke that moment as a reminder for what needs to be done in the coming years with all of the issues that the nation faces involving race relations and so i think that is an important part of the speech and has pointed to johnson. >> julian stay with me. we're going to take a break. when we come back we'

johnson. he addressed a joint session of congress a few days after bloody sunday on march 15, 1965. his voting rights speech to congress. we will show you a portion of that now. >> believe that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. the most basic right of all was the right to choose your own readers. the history of this country, in large measure, is the history of expansion of that right. to all of our people. many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. but about this, there can and should be no argument. every american citizen must have an equal right to vote. [applause] a -- or that right. yet, the harsh fact is that in many places in this country, men and women are kept from voting simply because they are negroes. every device of which human ingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. the negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong. or the hour is late. or the official in cha

.>1 so government, when lyndon johnson went before the congress, was responding to the marches frommmontgomery. but the law was written on that 40 mile jaunt. >> hunt: that march of course took place two weeks after bloody sunday and the march was led by dr. martin luther king. >> yes. >> hunt: today a lot of americans know dr. king was a great orator.eç&they've heard the speeches. what kind of leader was he. >> he was strategic, he was courageous. he wanted everyone doing it but he also knew that confrontation was necessary. >> hunt: that's what selma was judicial that's what selma was exactly. >> hunt: who was ed nixon and what was his significance. >> ed nixon goes back to the montgomery bsof theçwu5i6 civil rights movement. when rosa parks was arrested she doesn't call martin luther king, jr., she called e.d. nixon who was the local branch of the naacp and he was one of a. philip randolph's union members. that's who rosa parks called and the lawyer that e.d. nixon called was clifford derr. a fight lawyer. he was the first lawyer to see after rosa parks. and then after she sat down, got a

president lyndon johnson, eight days after bloody sunday, speaking to the nation and i think gave one of the most meaningful speeches any american president has given in modern times. he said and we shall overcome. that was hope. that said it all. >> join american history tv next saturday and sunday for live coverage from selma, alabama. and it 8:00 eastern each day highlights of our coverage. >> on march 30, 1981i would be assassin hired six shots at present ronald reagan outside the hilton hotel two miles from the white house. washington post reporter, del wilbur matus on the sidewalk where the shooting took place, to tell his story of that day. >> ronald reagan was leaving this hotel after delivering a speech to the afl-cio. reagan, a long-time union man was kind of excited to give this speech. he actually rewrote it by hand. [ applause ] >> at 2:25, 2:26, 2:27, he emerges from this entrance behind this area, this is new, they built this after the shooting. it's a bunker, and if you look inside over here, you'll see the entrance, the door, a steel door, where the president emerged