Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon's 'treason'

Via Michael

 The US delegation, left, and North Vietnamese delegation at Paris peace talks

Declassified tapes of President Lyndon Johnson's telephone calls provide a fresh insight into his world. Among the revelations - he planned a dramatic entry into the 1968 Democratic Convention to re-join the presidential race. And he caught Richard Nixon sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks... but said nothing.

After the Watergate scandal taught Richard Nixon the consequences of recording White House conversations none of his successors have dared to do it. But Nixon wasn't the first.

He got the idea from his predecessor Lyndon Johnson, who felt there was an obligation to allow historians to eventually eavesdrop on his presidency.

"They will provide history with the bark off," Johnson told his wife, Lady Bird.

The final batch of tapes released by the LBJ library covers 1968, and allows us to hear Johnson's private conversations as his Democratic Party tore itself apart over the question of Vietnam.

More @ BBC

2 comments:

  1. Brock,
    I am sure happy and thrilled that I could be of help to'ya. I truly wished I could do more at this time for ya'll, but circumstances dictate as usual.
    Ya'll are always in my prayers! After all, you are my people...... and I do care, immensely...

    Take Care,
    Michael-- Deo Vindicabamur

    ReplyDelete