On 19 June 1964, Sen. Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy’s [D–Massachusetts] airplane crashed on its way to the Massachusetts Democratic state convention. Kennedy suffered severe injuries and remained hospitalized for the next six months. On 30 June, while recovering with help from a spinal support device, Kennedy phoned President Johnson from the hospital. 

When Castro cut off the water supply to the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo, LBJ discussed his options with Secretary of Defense McNamara.

During a conversation about political strategy with running mate Senator Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. [DFL–Minnesota], President Johnson outlined the security risks of the campaign trail and the measures the Secret Service should take to protect the presidential and vice presidential candidates. 

Throughout the 1964 presidential contest, President Johnson ran far ahead of the Republican nominee, Sen. Barry M. Goldwater Sr. [R–Arizona]. In this call from early that year, Johnson and Democratic strategist Tommy G. “Tommy the Cork” Corcoran lampooned Goldwater’s campaign stumbles. 

Following hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that challenged President Johnson's prosecution of the Vietnam War, Johnson and Secretary of State Dean Rusk considered the value of seeking a resolution from Congress to update the August 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which authorized the President to protect US national security in Southeast Asia. Both thought that doing so would be unwise. 

Discussing the just-reported Medicare bill with House Ways and Means Committee chair Wilbur D. Mills [D–Arkansas], President Johnson explained his willingness to spend more on the program than previously planned, arguing that “$400 million’s not going to separate us friends when it’s for health.” 

After President Johnson mentioned a protest at his ranch by a group of anti-poverty activists from Syracuse, Chicago mayor Richard J. "Dick" Daley expressed his frustration with the Community Action Program. Johnson and Daley then discussed the possibility of replacing R. Sargent Shriver as head of the Office of Economic Opportunity. 

President Johnson and Speaker of the House John W. McCormack [D–Massachusetts] discussed the prospects for passing an immigration bill. The House and Senate had introduced such legislation in February 1964, but it would be another 18 months before Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act in October 1965. Johnson framed the matter as an act of compassion. 

As he urged House Appropriations Committee chair George H. Mahon [D–Texas] to pass a $700 million supplemental aid request for Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, President Johnson said that he had intervened in the latter to save American lives. 

In their first recorded conversation on the Johnson White House tapes, President Johnson spoke with former first lady Jacqueline B. “Jackie” Kennedy ten days after the assassination of President John F. “Jack” Kennedy. 

President Johnson and Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. “Joe” Fowler discussed the tax surcharge bill and tensions over conservative demands for cuts in social spending as the price for supporting the bill. When Fowler called Johnson the “master of the Senate,” Johnson despondently replied, “I’m not master of a damn thing . . . I’m not a master of nothing.” 

A few minutes before this call, Sen. James O. “Jim” Eastland [D–Mississippi] told President Johnson that the disappearance of three civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—was a “publicity stunt.” Johnson then took a call from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and learned that the Bureau had found the activists’ burned-out car. Hoover speculated that “these men have been killed.” 

The day after his nomination as the Democratic candidate for president, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. called President Johnson to discuss potential nominees for his vice presidential running mate. Johnson highlighted the qualities necessary in a vice president and reflected that Humphrey himself was the ideal choice for “an impossible job.”

During a long call about Vietnam and civil rights, President Johnson and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discussed strategies for securing Republican support for the voting rights bill, particularly in Rust Belt states. Johnson and King also wished to stop an amendment that would derail the administration’s attempt to eliminate poll taxes. 

On the day that Richard M. “Dick” Nixon accepted the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, President Johnson called to congratulate him and to invite him to a classified briefing on negotiations for peace talks to end the Vietnam War. 

Almost two weeks after his landslide 1964 election, President Johnson complained to White House press secretary George E. Reedy that recent press coverage had cast his victory not as a success in his own right but as a political reaction against his opponent. The President encouraged Reedy to shake up the White House communications staff and to hire someone who could advocate for Johnson and his administration more effectively. 

While working late and attempting to reach Republican presidential nominee Barry M. Goldwater Sr. [R–Arizona] with a brief on impending air strikes against North Vietnam, President Johnson took a moment to speak with Lady Bird Johnson. 

A few days after the 1964 election, Dr. Benjamin M. Spock, author of the nation’s most popular parenting handbook, described a recent appearance on a public affairs television program in which he had discussed the Medicare bill. Spock relayed to President Johnson some of the network’s troubles in finding a guest willing to deliver an opposing view. 

On 9 September 1965, Hurricane Betsy made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi. President Johnson surveyed the damage the following day, and on 14 September, he and Sen. Russell B. Long [D–Louisiana] urged Office of Emergency Planning leader Robert “Bob” Phillips to “cut out all the red tape” and “to work around the clock” to coordinate relief services among government agencies and local businesses. 

Roughly six hours after Sen. Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy [D–New York] was shot in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic primary, President Johnson placed a call to Sen. Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedy [D–Massachusetts], RFK's younger brother, to express his sympathy. Johnson also explained a new provision he had authorized for Secret Service details to be assigned to all presidential candidates and their families.

President Johnson told Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman that he wanted to place conditions on aid to India, a country suffering through a series of food crises. India’s criticism of his Vietnam policy had frustrated Johnson, and he stipulated that any agreement between the United States and India would not “be a one-way deal.”

Speaking with Attorney General Nicholas deB. “Nick” Katzenbach about candidates for positions in the federal judiciary and the executive branch, President Johnson highlighted the politics of those appointments. In the process, Johnson told Katzenbach of his postpresidential plans. 

In response to questions about President Johnson’s diet, White House secretary Juanita Roberts and longtime Johnson family cook Zephyr Wright discussed the President’s affinity for beans of all kinds. 

On 30 September 1968, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. surprised President Johnson by announcing that, if elected president, he would halt the bombing of North Vietnam “as an acceptable risk for peace.” Republican presidential nominee Richard M. “Dick” Nixon called the White House to find out if the administration’s position on a bombing halt had changed. 

President Johnson berated House Education and Labor Committee chair Adam Clayton Powell Jr. [D–New York] for his failure to advance the elementary and secondary education bill through his committee. Frustrated by Powell’s attempt to gain funding for other priorities as a price for reporting the education bill, Johnson dismissed Powell’s concern about an education clause in the administration’s Appalachia bill.

President Johnson reached out to New York City mayor John V. Lindsay, a liberal Republican and a rising star in his party, to join what would become the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, more popularly called the Kerner Commission after its chair, Illinois governor Otto J. Kerner Jr. The commission, with Lindsay as its vice chair, would release its report in February 1968. 

President Johnson congratulated Senator Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. [DFL–Minnesota] on a recent pro-Democratic statement to the press and offered his take on the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Humphrey, the Senate majority whip, was widely perceived as a front-runner for the 1964 vice-presidential nomination and had emerged as the administration's most effective defender in the upper chamber. 

President Johnson called the Dallas-based Haggar clothing company to order some new pants. He spoke with Joseph M. "Joe" Haggar Jr. and provided specific (and sometimes graphic) instructions for how the garments should be customized. 

President Johnson and Secretary of Labor W. Willard “Bill” Wirtz discussed a rhetorical strategy for the last two months of the presidential campaign. Johnson advised Wirtz to “do all the speaking you can” but to avoid arguing with Republican candidate Senator Barry M. Goldwater Sr. of Arizona and his running mate, Representative William E. Miller of New York. 

Shortly after the 1964 election, President Johnson and House Majority Leader Carl B. Albert [D–Oklahoma] discussed the implications of the Democrats' landslide victory for vacancies on the crucial Ways and Means Committee and for the prospects of reporting and eventually passing the Medicare bill. 

Speaking with Senator Richard B. "Dick" Russell Jr. [D–Georgia], President Johnson criticized his own War on Poverty's Community Action Program as "a wasteful thing" and "a dangerous thing, too." He then turned to the Democratic Party's prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. 

President Johnson wanted the commission investigating the assassination of John F. “Jack” Kennedy to be bipartisan, selecting two Republicans and two Democrats—one each from the House and the Senate—to be among its members. In this call, Johnson reached out to Rep. Gerald R. “Jerry” Ford Jr. [R–Michigan], the House Republican conference chair and later House Minority Leader, vice president, and president. 

During the 1968 Democratic convention, President Johnson lobbied covertly via James R. “Jim” Jones and Charles S. “Charlie” Murphy to prevent the party platform from including language that demanded a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam. At the time, Johnson’s advisers told him that a bombing halt would cost American lives unless Hanoi agreed to respect the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam.  

While offering legislative advice to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr., President Johnson spoke of the connection between education and racial progress—a connection, he said, that should lead Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to lobby for the education bill. 

President Johnson’s performance in the days following President John F. “Jack” Kennedy’s assassination had won virtually uninterrupted praise until the publication of The Death of a President by William R. Manchester. Written at the urging and with the cooperation of the Kennedy family, the book recounted the events in Dallas and their aftermath and painted an unflattering portrait of Johnson. The President blamed Sen. Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy [D–New York] and complained to Attorney General Nicholas deB. “Nick” Katzenbach about the book’s inaccuracies.

President Johnson asked his mentor, Sen. Richard B. “Dick” Russell Jr. [D–Georgia], for advice on Vietnam. “It’s the damned worst mess I ever saw,” Russell declared, noting the political instability in South Vietnam, the hazards of invading North Vietnam, and the threat of Chinese escalation. 

President Johnson beseeched Attorney General Nicholas deB. “Nick” Katzenbach for help in reporting the immigration bill. At the time of the call, Johnson was meeting with the House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Emanuel “Manny” Celler [D–New York], who warned Katzenbach that a Senate subcommittee had sought to limit immigration from the Western Hemisphere, a provision that Celler deemed “very dangerous.” 

In this call, President Johnson asked Senate Majority Leader Michael J. "Mike" Mansfield [D-Montana] for advice on whether to approach Congress about escalating the Vietnam War. The previous day, the US commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, had requested an additional 44 battalions of troops—a request that, if granted, would dramatically expand the US combat presence in Vietnam. 

When news broke of the disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, President Johnson called Sen. James O. “Jim” Eastland [D–Mississippi], the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As an arch-segregationist, Eastland dismissed the disappearance as a “publicity stunt” and assured Johnson there was “nobody in that area to harm them.”

Four days after President Johnson declared on national television that he would not seek the Democratic nomination in the 1968 presidential election, civil rights leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in Memphis, Tennessee. In this call with Ivan E. Allen Jr., the mayor of King's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, the President and Lady Bird Johnson reflected on both events, and the President and Allen agreed to remain in contact about civil unrest in the wake of King's assassination.

Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen [R–Illinois] had been haggling with Lyndon B. Johnson ever since Johnson’s days as Senate Majority Leader in the 1950s. In this conversation, Dirksen asked the President for help with the Kaskaskia River Navigation Project in a distressed area of Illinois. Johnson in turn asked Dirksen to help him get votes on an excise tax amendment. 

Just hours after the start of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam, Secretary of Defense Robert S. “Bob” McNamara gave President Johnson an initial assessment of the attack and suggested its likely impact on American public opinion. McNamara would leave the administration in less than 30 days, and his frustration with the war was apparent in this early morning call.

While President Johnson called the parents of two White civil rights workers missing in Mississippi, the White House struggled to find a telephone number for the family of the third missing man, a Black civil rights activist named James Chaney. White House aide Lee C. White consulted newspaper reports and the AT&T operator in an attempt to reach the Chaneys. 

In July 1955, at the age of 46, Lyndon B. Johnson suffered a serious heart attack. Years later, during his presidency, Johnson’s legendary, nonstop work style worried his friends and family. He downplayed their concerns while describing his new life in the White House to Walker Stone, editor of Scripps Howard newspapers and native of Oklahoma.

In this telephone call, Lady Bird and Lynda Bird Johnson reported to President Johnson on their experience in the Palmetto State aboard the Lady Bird Special campaign train. Meanwhile, President Johnson was in Chicago for the night after a day of campaigning in Iowa and Illinois.  

The assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on 4 April 1968 ignited turmoil in cities across America. Chicago mayor Richard J. “Dick” Daley asked the state of Illinois to send in the National Guard and, when that proved inadequate to the challenge, asked President Johnson for American troops. 

In two conversations on 29 November 1963, President Johnson entreated Sen. Richard B. “Dick” Russell Jr. [D–Georgia] to serve on the commission investigating the assassination of John F. “Jack” Kennedy. Russell opposed working alongside the head of the commission, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and declined the President’s request. Johnson persisted and announced the members of the Warren Commission on this day, informing Russell of his inclusion after the fact. 

Explaining that he wanted to "do this job that Lincoln started," President Johnson asked appellate judge Thurgood Marshall to become solicitor general of the United States. Johnson intimated that the post might not be the last one in Marshall’s career, implying that he might yet appoint Marshall as the first Black justice on the US Supreme Court. 

Before discussing civil rights concerns and presidential appointments with Sen. John L. McClellan [D–Arkansas], President Johnson reminisced about his early role with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Gemini 3 had launched that morning from Cape Canaveral, just days after Moscow’s launch of a manned space flight that had ascended to an earth orbit higher than any the Americans had yet reached. 

Speaking with Chicago mayor Richard J. “Dick” Daley, President Johnson revealed his frustration with the Kerner Commission’s report on civil disturbances. The report rejected the notion, which Johnson had come to accept, that organized agitators were the primary cause of disorder. In this call, Johnson also defended the money he had spent already on urban renewal. 

Responding to a wave of antiwar protests and civil unrest, President Johnson regarded these actions as the work of left-wing agitators. This call with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover highlighted Johnson’s conviction that the recent disturbances in Detroit and Newark were rooted at least as much in anti-American activities as in the pent-up frustrations of marginalized Black communities. 

On 19 June 1964, Sen. Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy’s [D–Massachusetts] airplane crashed on its way to the Massachusetts Democratic state convention. Kennedy suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized for the next six months. President Johnson spoke to Teddy’s brother Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy and then to Jacqueline B. “Jackie” Kennedy, the widow of his brother John F. “Jack” Kennedy. 

At the end of 1966, after a recent hernia operation and a year of political setbacks and growing criticism from the left and the right, President Johnson received the Christmas gift of encouragement from a prominent Republican: Clare Boothe Luce, the playwright, ambassador, and former congresswoman from Connecticut. 

Reflecting on the victory speech that Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy had given after winning a US Senate seat from New York, President Johnson complained that Kennedy had failed to acknowledge Johnson’s help in securing that result. Johnson aides Bill Moyers and McGeorge “Mac” Bundy sought to still the President’s pique. 

Three days before the 1968 presidential election, President Johnson contacted Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen [R–Illinois] to inform him that the White House had received hard evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Richard M. “Dick” Nixon was interfering with Johnson’s efforts to start peace talks to end the Vietnam War. In this call, Johnson referred to contacts between Nixon’s campaign and South Vietnamese president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu that urged Thiệu to thwart any such negotiations. 

North Korea’s seizure of the USS Pueblo, a small cargo ship that the US Navy had recently refurbished for electronic intelligence gathering, stunned the Johnson administration. President Johnson discussed the incident with Secretary of Defense Robert S. “Bob” McNamara. 

During the 1964 Democratic National Convention, President Johnson was so despondent over the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party struggle that he told several confidants that he planned to withdraw from the race. Shortly after deciding against withdrawal, he recounted the history and purpose of the Democratic Party to vice presidential nominee Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. and United Automobile Workers president Walter P. Reuther.

A coalition of Republicans and right-wing southern Democrats blocked President Johnson’s nomination of Supreme Court justice Abraham “Abe” Fortas for Chief Justice of the United States. Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen [R–Illinois] had promised to do his best to push the nomination through but did not deliver. 

While discussing the violent clashes that had occurred outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the previous night, Attorney General W. Ramsey Clark told President Johnson that most of the trouble had been caused “by excessive police action.” Johnson and Clark agreed that the network television news coverage of the events had been “ignorant.” 

In advance of a congressional reception at the White House that evening, President Johnson requested remarks on Vietnam from Secretary of Defense Robert S. “Bob” McNamara. Johnson then offered his own description of US policy and his options going forward, as well as a critique of his predecessor’s approach to reducing US personnel in Vietnam. 

During a conversation with United Automobile Workers president Walter P. Reuther, President Johnson discussed a yearning among Americans for a more beautiful country and a more meaningful life. Nine months later, thanks in large part to the lobbying efforts of Lady Bird Johnson, Congress passed the Highway Beautification Act, an important step toward realizing the goals outlined in this call. 

When reports surfaced of tactical nuclear weapons being used in Vietnam, former president Dwight D. Eisenhower called President Johnson to share some concerns expressed to him by a group of his former science advisers. President Johnson assured Eisenhower that “we have no nuclear weapons in South Vietnam” and “nobody ever has recommended it.” 

Republican presidential nominee Richard M. "Dick" Nixon learned that President Johnson had received evidence of the Nixon campaign's interference in negotiations for peace talks to end the Vietnam War. Prompted by this development, Nixon called Johnson to strongly deny any involvement, but the President reiterated the accuracy of the reports.

Few politicians could match Lyndon B. Johnson’s persuasive powers. In the summer of 1964, passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Economic Opportunity Act required significant cooperation from Republicans in Congress. This spirited back-and-forth conversation with House Minority Leader Charles A. “Charlie” Halleck [R–Indiana] offers an insider’s view of how Johnson got things done. 

President and Lady Bird Johnson exchanged Christmas greetings and well wishes with the former president and first lady, Harry S. and Elizabeth V. “Bess” Truman, thanking them for their support and friendship. The President also described a gift from his Cabinet that had origins in the Truman administration.

Following the close of the Glassboro summit with Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin, President Johnson called former president Dwight D. Eisenhower to brief him on those three days of talks. Johnson highlighted several topics of discussion but emphasized Moscow’s concern about the Six-Day War that erupted earlier that month between Israel and the Arab states. 

As part of US efforts to promote arms control and disarmament, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. "Bob" McNamara reviewed language to restrict the spread of nuclear weapons. This drafting process would result in the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or Nonproliferation Treaty, signed by 36 countries in Moscow on 1 July 1968. 

At the time of President John F. “Jack” Kennedy’s assassination around 12:29 p.m. CST, White House press secretary Pierre E. G. Salinger and several members of the Cabinet were airborne over the Pacific Ocean en route to Japan. Over the next hour, the White House Situation Room relayed to Salinger numerous reports on the developing situation in Dallas, including confirmation of the President’s death. 

A long telephone call between President Johnson and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in July 1965 revealed a close link between the issues of civil rights and Vietnam. Having recently delivered a speech that seemed critical of Johnson’s Vietnam policies, King phoned in to clarify his remarks. The President responded with a torrent of speech, outlining his dilemmas. 

In this call almost two months before the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, President Johnson and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exchanged ideas about the need for voting rights legislation and for building a coalition of Black voters and moderate White voters. Both men endorsed King’s argument that it would “really make the New South.” 

In advance of speaking with journalists about economic considerations for the coming year, Walter W. Heller, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, sought President Johnson's advice on how he might answer questions about key proposals and initiatives. Johnson took the opportunity to explain his economic and political philosophy to Heller, highlighting his credentials as a cost-conscious liberal. 

Following the passage of his administration's Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which launched the War on Poverty, President Johnson was in no mood to celebrate. Instead, in a conversation that foreshadowed conflicts over the War on Poverty's Community Action Program, he complained to special assistant Bill Moyers that the bill did not give adequate authority to mayors and local government agencies. 

The Warren Commission report concluded that the Secret Service was inadequately staffed and equipped to investigate threats to the president and recommended that a Cabinet-level committee oversee presidential protection. In response, President Johnson told Senate Majority Leader Michael J. “Mike” Mansfield [D–Montana] that he would set up a blue-ribbon study group on the matter. 

Speaking with Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr., President Johnson explained his philosophy on the Great Society, how he believed it would help the administration politically, and Humphrey’s role in it. 

Over the previous few days, violent exchanges between American and Panamanian students in the Panama Canal Zone had resulted in over 20 deaths and a rupture in US-Panamanian relations. President Johnson spoke with Sen. Richard B. “Dick” Russell Jr. [D–Georgia] about the American response and relayed a summary of his communications with Panamanian president Roberto Chiari. 

As part of an extraordinarily complex legislative strategy, President Johnson needed key Democratic votes in the Senate Finance Committee for parts of the tax cut bill. With an eye on the November election, he applied the legendary “Johnson Treatment” to Sen. R. Vance Hartke [D–Indiana] and Sen. Abraham A. “Abe” Ribicoff [D–Connecticut] in back-to-back conversations. 

In the first of several calls that day to Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, President Johnson implored Shriver to accept a second role as head of the War on Poverty. Shriver repeatedly begged off the assignment, but Johnson persisted. By the end of the day, the President had worn down Shriver and secured his acquiescence. 

On 7 August 1964, after passage of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, White House legislative liaison Lawrence F. “Larry” O’Brien Jr. summarized the situation on Capitol Hill ahead of a vote on the economic opportunity bill. O’Brien told President Johnson that “if we can just keep the boys that should be sober, sober, and the ones that should be drinking, drinking, that’s our job for the afternoon.” 

Speaking with Sen. Russell B. Long [D–Louisiana] the day after Hurricane Betsy slammed into New Orleans, President Johnson heard about the Category 4 storm’s damage to the region. Long implored Johnson to tour the affected areas—a visit, the senator assured him, that would pay significant political dividends. 

On 25 March 1965, after the march from Selma to Montgomery, a group of Ku Klux Klan members murdered civil rights activists Viola Liuzzo and Leroy Moton in their car as the pair traveled along US Highway 80. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover reported to President Johnson on the progress of the investigation and revealed the involvement of an FBI informant. 

President Johnson discussed the administration's Medicare bill with House Ways and Means Committee chair Wilbur D. Mills [D–Arkansas]. Later that month, Mills implemented parliamentary maneuvers to block Medicare for the year, but this conversation foreshadowed Mills's strategy for a 1965 compromise bill that included both Medicaid and coverage of physicians' bills.

President Johnson and House Minority Leader (and future president) Gerald R. "Jerry" Ford Jr. [R–Michigan] discussed highway funding. Johnson noted that it was "a governmental policy that I don't think is partisan," even though it had been criticized by a Republican House member. The President then asked that Ford reach out to him more often, as other Republican leaders often did.

Three weeks before President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the president of South Vietnam, Ngô Đinh Diệm, was assassinated in a coup d'état along with his brother and top adviser, Ngô Đình Nhu. Speaking to Kennedy's brother-in-law, R. Sargent Shriver, President Johnson recalled his opposition to the Diệm coup when it was debated at the highest levels of the Kennedy administration. 

As the presidential transition from the incumbent Johnson administration to the incoming Nixon administration began to take shape, President Johnson sought to ensure a smooth transfer of power while still retaining all the prerogatives of the office—including the sole authority for policymaking in foreign affairs. Speaking with Nixon assistant Bryce N. Harlow on 14 November 1968, and again the next day, Johnson conveyed the message that the country had only one president at a time. 

During a summer of civil unrest in American cities and just over three months before the Election of 1964, President Johnson spoke with House Appropriations Committee chair George H. Mahon [D–Texas] about passing the Economic Opportunity Act—the enabling legislation for Johnson's War on Poverty. The President explained that his approach would turn "tax-eaters" into "taxpayers." 

Shortly after the Ways and Means Committee reported the Medicare bill to the House, Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare [HEW] Wilbur J. Cohen explained to President Johnson the changes in the bill. In this excerpt, Cohen focused on the section covering physician costs, which had been adapted at the last minute from a Republican alternative bill. 

In response to incidents in the Tonkin Gulf, President Johnson launched the first US bombing attacks on North Vietnam. Two days later, he asked political adviser James H. “Jim” Rowe Jr. to speak with Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. [DFL–Minnesota] regarding comments the senator had made about these events. Johnson feared that Humphrey had been too chatty in his remarks—and too accurate.

As part of his effort to keep the presidential candidates apprised of key developments involving US national security, President Johnson briefed Republican nominee Richard M. “Dick” Nixon about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.