Friends of the LBJ Library | May, 20 2021 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Thursday, May 20, 7:00 p.m. CDT/ 8:00 p.m. EDT
*Online event
In honor of the LBJ Presidential Library’s 50th anniversary this month, join us for an evening discussing the extraordinary telephone conversations President Johnson recorded in the White House, which offer an unparalleled peek into his presidency. Scholar Melody Barnes, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams will join Dr. Mark Lawrence, Director of the LBJ Library, in conversation.
This event will mark the launch of a new web initiative – a partnership between the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and the LBJ Library – to make the telephone tapes more accessible and comprehensible.
The program will premiere at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday, May 20. A link to view will be emailed to registrants earlier that day. We will not be taking comments or questions live— please submit your questions in advance, as part of the registration process, to help streamline the program. We welcome your comments on our Facebook and YouTubechannels.
About the speakers:
Melody Barnes is co-director for policy and public affairs for the Democracy Initiative, an interdisciplinary teaching, research, and engagement effort led by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. She is the Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor and a professor of practice at the Miller Center and is also a distinguished fellow at the UVA School of Law. Barnes has spent more than 25 years crafting public policy on a wide range of domestic issues. Barnes was assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration. Last year, she served as host of the podcast “LBJ and the Great Society,” named among the “best podcasts of 2020” by The New Yorker.
Michael Beschloss is an award-winning historian, scholar of leadership and bestselling author of ten books. Among his earlier books are two volumes on Lyndon Johnson’s secret tapes: Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964 and Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-65. Beschloss appears regularly on television as the NBC News Presidential Historian and contributor to the PBS NewsHour. He has also been a contributing columnist to the New York Times. He has won an Emmy for his television work and received six honorary degrees and numerous other awards. Beschloss has the largest Twitter following of any American historian, with more than half a million followers.
Brian Williams is the anchor of “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams,” which airs weeknights at 11 p.m. Eastern on MSNBC. Williams served as anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” for a decade, during which it was the most-watched newscast in the United States. Over the course of his career, Williams has received over a dozen Emmy Awards, eleven Edward R. Murrow Awards, four DuPont-Columbia University Awards, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and the industry’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award.
About the website:
In celebrating the legacy of LBJ, the LBJ Library is offering greater public accessibility to the crown jewels of our archives: the telephone conversations President Johnson taped during his years in the White House. The Library has partnered with the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia to create a website focusing on the tapes. Scholars in the Miller Center’s Presidential Recordings Program have transcribed more than 100 pivotal conversations for inclusion on the site, spanning key areas such as civil rights, the Vietnam War, and the Kennedy assassination.
Designed and built by the Miller Center’s web team, the site will mark the first time the telephone tapes have been so easily accessible and paired with supporting archival material, including photographs, documents, and oral histories from the LBJ Library and Miller Center collections. Over time, additional tapes from the Johnson White House will be added to reflect more dimensions of the Johnson presidency. The website will be a valuable tool for understanding not only Lyndon Johnson’s tenure in the White House but also the institution of the presidency itself. The website is scheduled to launch on May 20, 2021.
Please note: the LBJ Presidential Library remains closed; this is an online event.
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