Oral history transcript, George Christian and Harry Middleton, interview S-1, 4/1/1996

Title:

Oral history transcript, George Christian and Harry Middleton, interview S-1, 4/1/1996

Number of Pages:

39

Description:

Difficulty in seeing LBJ's personality through his papers; LBJ's power in the Senate and ability to persuade people to support his ideas; LBJ's relationship with Senator Richard Russell; Russell's reluctance to serve on the Warren Commission; LBJ's use of the telephone and the Library's plans to make LBJ's phone conversation recordings available; how George Christian got to know LBJ; LBJ's strengths and flaws; LBJ's interactions with the press; how LBJ kept up to date on Congressional activity and support for his ideas; LBJ's intimate knowledge of Congress; LBJ's expectations of his staff; how LBJ got the best work out of his people; LBJ's awareness of his own decreasing power and lack support toward the end of his administration; LBJ's credibility; John Kenneth Galbraith writing a speech for LBJ; LBJ's displeasure with a speech Middleton wrote about Vietnam; trying to find LBJ's personality reflected in the Library's documents; how LBJ being a great legislator lost support for Vietnam; how the Vietnam War changed under Richard Nixon's leadership; fear of Chinese and Soviet involvement in Vietnam; comparing LBJ's and Bill Clinton's sources of information; the relationships between presidents and former presidents; LBJ's great capacity for taking in information; LBJ's interest in the news; LBJ as a liberal; what LBJ would have thought of 1996 political issues; the relationship between LBJ and Connally; speculations on LBJ's career if he had run for re-election in 1968; how LBJ's presidency will be viewed in the future; Middleton and Christian's opinion of LBJ and their time spent working for LBJ; preparing for the Library's first conference; LBJ's opinion of the process of reviewing Library documents for potential closures

Contributor:

Christian, George E. (George Eastland), 1927-2002; Middleton, Harry Joseph, 1921

Collection:

LBJ Library Oral Histories

Collection Description:

Go to List of Holdings

Series:

Transcripts of Oral Histories Given to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library

See Also:

See all online interviews with George Christian; See all online interviews with Harry Middleton

Subject:

Congressional relations; Press relations; LBJ Library; Vietnam; Presidency

Relation:

Go to Interviewee bio page (Christian)
Go to Interviewee bio page (Middleton)

Rights:

Possibly copyright restricted: see deed at end of transcript for details