Clearer peace or war, brotherhood or division, prosperity or poverty, a march into a Bright Future or retreat into a dark past it is all or nothing and every single one of you needs to go out there and fight for every single vote in every single part of this great country of ours god bless you Charlie Bryan cranston for the hour, next. Theres a saying around here you stand behind what you say. Around here, we dont make excuses, we make commitments. And when you cant live up to them, you own up and make it right. Some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where its needed most. But i know youll still find it, when you know where to look. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. From the first time i turned the corner on to this street and saw this with my name above the title on a broadway house charlie yeah. It stopped me cold. I couldnt move. I couldnt believe it. Now to see this whole thing happening, an emotional moment. Oh, my god, because you have hopes, aspirations that Something Like this could happen but you never actually think its going to, really. You know, then it does. I wanted to pick up the phone. Charlie you shared this . I did. I called my wife and daughter and i said, ive got to show you a little picture. I took a picture of that and sent it to her and its, like, youre kidding my wife is screaming and daughter is laughing because, of course, to them, im just the goofy guy that lives at home. Charlie and youre seeing a guy above the marquee in the hottest play on broadway. Bryan cranston makes his broadway debut as president Lyndon Baines johnson in all the way, best known for his emmy awarding role walter white in his hit Television Series breaking bad. siren gunshot screaming truck horn blowing motor revving sirens traffic sounds charlie outside the neil simon theatre in new york, we couldnt help but run into some of the fans talking at the same time in a good way . Come see the play we would like to but were only here a day. Well come back. Come today come on were such fans of yours. Oh, thank you, nice to meet you. Charlie we also went backstage. Well, heres the entrances we have going backstage. Here we have some props over here i want to show you. Charlie yeah. His favorite just a little cutting, all thats needed. Hoovers favorite prop. Charlie people forget Lyndon Johnson was the guy that a put this stuff in the white house, the taping. He did. He told nixon, youre going to need this because youre going to forget what people tell you in private. So he considered a recorded phone call private. So make sure they tell you in person and he said for the memoirs. So he kind of planted that seed. Well, maybe hes right. laughter charlie oh, my goodness. These are my little ear lobes. Ive named this one. This is called left. Charlie this is left and right. Yeah. Charlie did you put this right on your ear . Yeah, i just put them with a little glue. Something like that. Charlie yeah. Andetand it gives me an extra charlie they just hang there. Its like i was wearing heavy earrings. Whoa yeah. laughter would you like to try them . Charlie and this is the phone. Remember these, rotary dial . Charlie yeah, rotary dial. And these are the hats . A number of hats. We have 20 Different Actors and we have, like, 38 different characters. So people are taking on and off wigs all over the place and its a madhouse back here during a show. Charlie hats are interesting because jack kennedy would never wear a hat and johnson wore a cowboy hat all the time. He did and he looked right in a cowboy hat. But its a very dangerous thing for a president to wear any kind of hat. You remember michael dukakis. Charlie right. He lost the election right there. Charlie it was like this doesnt belong. I remember that candidate obama was given a sombrero. They said, put it on, put it on thats an election killer right there. Charlie when had you done theater before this, the last time . I did two plays in between like a year and a half between the end of malcolm in the middle and the beginning of breaking bad. Charlie you were always anxious to get back if you could find time within the schedule. Yeah. And if you get a play that resonates within you and makes sense and seems challenging, i mean, thats what youre looking for. Charlie we sat down for an extended interview about this role and his career. So you finished breaking bad. You were on top of the world. Why this . Why Lyndon Johnson on broadway for Bryan Cranston . Well, i think any actor looks at doing broadway as the pinnacle of their career and i certainly had it on my bucket list to be able to do a broadway show, i mean, that was going to be very exciting for me if that was possible. The zitegeist of breaking bad created such a fervor that it got a lot of attention and i was caught up in that maelstrom of energy, and i thought, well, i have an opportunity now. So i knew that, after 14 years of doing television for 7 with malcolm in the middle and six with breaking bad, that it was time to purpos push away and sty from that ubiquitous nature of television and hide out, so to speak, in the theater and do a play that was hopefully important and a character that i can sink my teeth into, and this was both of those days. Charlie how much did you know about Lyndon Johnson other than the fact that during vietnam he was the president . You know, i think the interesting concept is that, for most people, when they think of Lyndon Johnson, they think of the failures of vietnam, and thats his legacy. And here we are the 50t 50th anniversary of the first year of his presidency, and Civil Rights Act charlie which this play is about. Which this play is about. The first year of his president presidency. And i think its credible and important to be able to revisit that legacy, not in an historical revisionist sort of way, but to say what were the accomplishments that he actually took . Charlie there are people who think that vietnam is a scar, but its important for a kind of balancing, for what he accomplished in extraordinary legislative achievements and a great society. I agree. I agree. You dont want to diminish the unfortunate condition of vietnam. Even lyndon, in my research i was listening to many, many tapes, phone conversations that he had, and hes talking with dick russell, his mentor in the senate, and said, i just dont see how we can win this. Why are we even there . We dont have any business there. Why would i send kids off there to die, for what . You know, he was lamenting the fact that there is no rightful place for america to be involved in that war. And yet the escalation was certainly on his shoulders and he listened to his advisers and generals, and robert mcnamara, and pushed forward. I think my theory is i think it was his political hubris that did that. Charlie political hubris . Yes, that he did not want to be known as the first president to lose a war. Charlie he said that. Yeah. He did not want to be vulnerable to attacks by Barry Goldwater during the campaign of 64 that he was weak, soft on military, you know, and scared, have the red scare come in and be a factor in that election. Charlie hes an interesting guy. I know a lot of people think hes the most interesting president of the last you know, after roosevelt, probably the most interesting guy to inhabit the office. I think so. Charlie just the largeness of the personality. Unbelievable. I think bill moyer said Lyndon Johnson is the most interesting of the 11 people ive ever met. He is the full spectrum of emotion. You cannot assign any one adjective to Lyndon Johnson. You have to use all of them, he is mecurial and impassioned and wallowing in self pity and funny, and threatening and ferocious and you never knew what part of Lyndon Johnson you would receive when you walked into his office. Charlie probably depended on what his needs were. Absolutely. And his political acumen, the flip side of the political hiewb brings coin, was unmatched since roosevelt. He knew everyone. Everyone in the house of representatives, anyone in the senate, and he knew what those senators and congressmen wanted for their own Political Base and needs and, so, he gave them he worked hard to give them what they wanted so he could get from them what he needed. Charlie politics was a transaction. It was a beautiful thing, in his words. He loved it. He loved it he lived for it. Charlie loved the game. Loved it it was brutal on him and it cost him blood, sweat and tears, but i think thats the difference. Charlie dick russell tell you hed rip your arm off and beat you over the head with it. With your own arm, yeah, metaphorically and maybe literally, too, if it had to come to that. Charlie when you began to figure out you talked about before as an actor how that kind of you began to get inside a character, you know, and, by the end of your process, you are him. Well, yes. Charlie you tell me. In a way, yes. I mean, whenever an actor first starts a production, a play, a movie, whatever, the character is floating somewhere out there and the more research you do and the more you allow that character to be absorbed into your being, the more secure you feel. And it feels like theres a transitional period to where you got it and it comes inside. From that point on, you hold on and you let that character live. And when you read them source material or comments from the director or the writer about your text or character, it then goes through that filter that youve created and either sits well or right or not, and you might night after night, im trying something charlie really . Oh, absolutely. Charlie give me an example of that. Theres a passage in the play where im manipulating hoofer. Charlie j. Edgar hoover. Played brilliantly by michael mccain. And i just got off the phone with the senator with the governor from mississippi, whose name is also johnson, and hes not doing anything about looking for these three boys, the three boys that went missing during freedom summer. And i convinced the governor that im going to send the f. B. I. Down there. Oh, no, no, no, no its better than sending down the federal marshals and u. S. Army, aint it . Okay, okay, okay. Then i tell hoofer the governor waltzed the f. B. I. In to look for these kids. And hoofer says, well, i would be happy to, mr. President , but we dont have jurisdiction. He said, no, no, i talked to bobbie about that and he said weve got the lindbergh statute on our side. It occurred to me i was probably lying about that, too. So last night or before, i just said, no, no, i talked to bobbie about that and i indicated to walter jenkins, no, no, i talked to bobbie about that, indicating i have no idea what i talked to him about, and it just got a laugh. Charlie so this is a great yeah, so youre constantly allowing it to stay alive. You know, i dont think i ever really want it to set in concrete to where, no matter what happens, no matter what audience you have at any given time that youre doing the same performance night after night, the same words but there is a different feeling to it. Charlie does it matter how you felt . Sometimes people talk about actors may give a different performance because theyre feeling different that night. Very true. Yeah. I mean, i think its important to be honest about that and, if youre not feeling well, you may have to augment your natural performance and maybe play it under a little bit. Hopefully, with the same intensity or same intention at those places, but maybe not with the same volume or charlie what does the audience do for you . Oh, its wonderful to be able to feel the immediate response. Even subtle gasps. You know gasping or pushbacks in their seats or theyre offends by something and you can feel it. And sometimes you go in for the jugular, as lyndon would, as he could sense blood in the water. Charlie he knew what you needed and wanted and were scared of. Yes, and he fed into that. Charlie there is this with lincoln and the great performance we saw by daniel lewis who won an academy award. He had photographs and history books. But you had a very live multivolume biography. Yes. Charlie you had audio recordings. Yes. Charlie people who knew him. Right. Charlie video of him in action and speeches so theres no excuse for me to be bad. Is that where youre going with that . laughter charlie i mean, this was a piece of cake i mean, come on laughter but theres this, he is my height, 63 or 4. You are less than that. Im just at 6. Charlie but everyone talks about that, that they sense the towering presence of him. How did you come up with the idea of being able to suggest that Lyndon Johnson physically towered over those people . 3inch lifts. I have shoes that i have lifts in. Ill tell you a secret. Last night i had another conversation with the head of wardrobe, jessica, and i said, i want you to go into everyones wardrobe, grab their shoes and take the heels of their shoes down another inch. Dont even tell them. But i want and i was serious i said, take them down because the johnson treatment that was a big part of it. He used his size and girth to be able to intimidate and he got you know, he invaded their space. Charlie he was like this. He was right in on people and hed bend people backwards. Charlie theres a famous photograph with the senator from rhode island, hes leaning back. Johnson leans forward, and he leans back. And it could be in a good way. Charlie hes laughing or smiling or a poke in the chest. Yes. Charlie its helpful to have all that material. It is. I dont have his girth either. He was always battling his weight. He had terrible eating habits. It just wasnt important to him. Eating was sustenance. Charlie it was politics that was important. Politics. And i have twoinch lifts that get me close. I have height envy of you. When i saw you today, i said, damn you you and your 63 frame. Charlie and i wish i had your talent. Its a tradeoff. I also have prosthetic ear lobes. Charlie droopy like a dog. And i put on the ear lobes that give me an extra inch. Every inch matters. Charlie wouldnt you love to have a conversation with him. Yes. Charlie and what would you ask . Hmm well, i think the most important thing i would probably ask something that no one else would ask him, or that i would think no one else would ask him, and that would be Something Like a childhood memory. I would want to get into, say, you know, what was your whats your first pet . What was your first, you know, thing that you ever really got so excited about . Charlie thats good. I used to be the producer for bill moyers and we went to do an interview with jimmy carter when he had just gotten the nomination, and the campaign hadnt really started, and bill and i talked about it. And bill asked him about first memories about growing up in plains. And it was almost like then candidate carter went back he was back in that time and place. So then the emotional charge of the interview was elevated because he had engaged the interview. Yeah. Charlie it wasnt just a political interview. It was this is where i came from. Yes. Charlie and your instinct. The thing i would love to explore with him. It is the notion of where his fear was. Where was his fear, you know, and where was his vulnerability. And we know of his connection to his mother, those kinds of things, which would give us an idea of the balance of insecurity and overconfidence. His mother rebecca whom he admired and loved but was also very strict for the time, she was the disciplinarian and the tough one of the family. There were times when she would withhold affection from young lyndon if she was displeased with his behavior, grades or whatever the case may be and would almost be like hes not in the room, just like hes invisible. I dont hear him, i dont see him and, to a young boy, that created such an emptiness and an extreme desire to be loved, and thats what i found to be the emotional core of Lyndon Johnson. Charlie the need to be loved. The need to be loved. The need. The absolute desperate desire to be loved. Charlie the interesting thing, as people say, you know, i didnt necessarily like him, but i loved him. Yeah. Charlie you know. Because i knew beyond all this stuff, the ends justifies the means. Well, and thats what it is. The end was so valuable and altruistic and important, but the means that he got there were treacherous. Charlie yeah. And unapologetic, and he would just take your nose and rub it into your own fecal matter laughter he didnt care. Oh, my god, he was just unbelievable, some of the things he would do. Charlie i believe schenkkan said l. B. J. Was the life of the party, violent, vialvileand utterly terrible. Is there any link between walter white and Lyndon Johnson in just strains of personality, one real and one fictional. Walter white is real laughter no, Lyndon Johnson was real, too. Charlie in the minds of people became real and perhaps you, too. Well, he was real to me. Charlie yeah. I cant play someone unless you make him real and honest to you. Yeah, there are similarities. I think both had created and allowed the incredible drive and ambition to be unleashed. Charlie and just t end justifies the means. I can do whatever i want to its for my family. And Lyndon Johnson, its for the bertment of the country. I am cutting your balls off for the betterment of the country so youre a gelding now, just think what you accomplished laughter charlie it was necessary to protect the country. I know you know this scene if i can make it happen. Go ahead. Hello. Mr. Hager . Yes, this is general hager. General, is your phone the one that makes us close. Yes, sir, were all together. Ou all made me some real light weight slacks, he just made up on his own, sent to me three or four months ago, kind of a light brown and a light green, rather soft green, soft brown. Yes, sir. And theyre real light weight. Now, i need about six pairs for summer wear. Do you recall the exact size . I want to get them right for you. No, i dont know. Yall just guessed at them, i think. Dont you have the measurements there . Well find them for you. I can send you a pair. I want them a half inch larger in the waist than there were before except i want two or three inches of stuff left back in there so i can take them up. I vary 10 or 15 pounds a month. All right. So leave me at least two or three inches in the back where i can let them and take them up, make these half an inch bigger in the waist and the pockets at least an inch longer. My money and knife and everything fall out. Wait a minute. The pockets, when you sit down in the chair, the knife and your money comes out, so i need it at least another inch in the pockets. That will be fine. Now, another thing, the crotch, down where your nuts hang, its always a little too tight. So when you make em up, give me an inch that i can let out there because they cut me. Its just like riding a wire fence. These are the best ive had anywhere in the United States, but when i gain a little weight, they cut me under there. Believe me, you never do have much margin there. See if you cant leave me about an inch from where the zipper is around under the back of my bunghole so i can let it out there if i need to. All right. Charlie there you go. The president of the United States talking. laughter charlie talking to his tailor. To his tailor, hager. And you can tell hes eating and drinking, chewing, doing three or four or five things at one time which he always did, and but he got involved in every little detail. The measurement. He wanted an inch more deeper in his pockets. Charlie so my nuts can hang, like riding on a wire and telling at the time, so my pocket knife doesnt fall out. The president of the United States carrying a pocket knife. You never know when im gonna have to whittle i mean, im gonna cut this budget thats what im gonna do charlie how did you get the voice . Well, going down to the hill country helps a lot and just being open to it and listening to it and, of course, theres the basic thing is dropping the ing, listnin, walkin, figurin. You have the hard r of the west versus the soft r of the south, but with a twang to it, and gunna, and git goin, git. Charlie do you do this on your own or with somebody who understands dialect . I did it on my own and deaf a dialectition who helps us, cut this word, draw this one out. It really helps. Just being open to it and listening. Charlie tell me about the satisfaction of being on stage, having people in the audience everyday, having a chance to mold it and shape it and find a way to change it one night if you want to. Is deeply gratifying. This is my joy. I love to act. I love to come to the theater. So a day off is great for rest. Charlie and you dont speak on your day off. I dont speak on monday. Good thing its not a monday. Charlie would be a bad interview, questions and no answers laughter yeah, it would be terrible. But i look forward to coming to the theater. Charlie when you come for an evening performance im here an hour and a half before the curtain. Usually people get here half an hour before the curtain and get into their costumes quickly, i suppose. Im the first one here, and i take my time. I put my own makeup on and my ears and do my hair. Charlie youve done that for always . On this show, yeah. You know, in film and television, you have people doing that for you, but youre there much earlier. Charlie yes. For walter white, im usually in the makeup and hair chair 5 30, 6 00 in the morning every morning, and i sit there charlie 5 30 or 6 00 . Yeah. Charlie those are my hours. I know charlie we also had good things happen later in life. You were 51 before you started. Yeah, well i turned 50 when we were doing breaking bad. I turned 40 when we were doing malcolm in the middle. Charlie right. I think it helped. You know, i know that this business owes me nothing. This life owes me nothing. Everything that you are able to achieve, its a gift, and i never forget that. I know that there are acting careers that sometimes go nowhere. I have no idea why this happened to me. I love it and im always involved in it, but theres a tremendous amount of luck that is necessary to have a successful career. Charlie does pain change things . Oh, it does. Charlie how so . In many good ways and in many not so good ways. I never sought fame. I never seek fame. Its a byproduct of what i love to do. The good things well, first of all, financial security. Charlie right. I would never have to work another day in my life, but i dont work for money anyway. I have people who are incentivized to have me earn a good living, so i trust them, and i dont even know what im making doing this play. Charlie you really dont . I know the ballpark, but theyre talking about it and charlie you never read the contract . No, i dont read the contracts. Charlie yeah. I say this charlie i dont either. I say to my agent, are you happy . And if they go, well, i think we can get more. I said, i dont want to sound like, oh, no, i need i dont need money, i dont like money. No, money is great. But its not what motivates me. Charlie theres a time you liked to go out and observe, go to the mall, for example, im told, and just see how people are, get a sense of things that might play, might be tools to use in your performance. Thats an actors job, observing Human Behavior. I tell young actors, if youre bored ever, youre not doing enough work. Youve got to get out there and do work. Well, what can i do if im not actually acting . I said, work, work, work. You can go to an airport or a restaurant or a mall or anyplace and you observe Human Behavior, and you take it in and you say, oh, that couple is silently arguing. How fascinating to watch them not say a word but you know charlie and the difference in men talking to men and women talking to women. Or a man on the make, the energy that changes, or the flirtation that she may be showing or not, you know. Charlie all Human Behavior. All Human Behavior and, no matter what the condition, you could be working. But the interesting thing about fame and i was talking to daviddavid about this, and he sa very interesting thing once the observer becomes the observed, your cover is blown. You cant because their behavior changes. Charlie thats right. If im recognized, they change their behavior and all bets are off. So it makes it harder for me to be able to do that. Charlie somebody told me about a great acting coach that would basically ask young actors to stand up and walk around and because they were thinking about walking, it would be a very sense of being observed, they would have a consciousness of being observed, so their walking would be affected. They would then ask them to think about something else, and once they began thinking about something else, they didnt have a sense of being observed in that thought and the walk would change. The walk became more natural. Thats why you go on stage, you have to have a thought of what is my objective for this, you know, any given point . Whats just happening . What do i need to do . So that youre not thinking, how am i sitting, how am i you know, otherwise, you become selfconscious about those things and youre not doing your work. Charlie what are your dreams . Now that weve seen breaking bad have all this success, which i was lucky enough to be part of, thank you very much. Yes, you were in the final episode charlie next to the final. For us, its always been science first and would you would you would you go back, please. There. What, here . The way things turned out. But just yesterday your charity, Gretchen Schwartz foundation announce add 28 million grant for Drug Abuse Treatment Centers throughout the southwest charlie, the southwest is our home and we couldnt just ignore whats going on in our own backyard. Charlie but im sure youre aware that there are people who suggest other motives. In the New York Times there was a column suggesting the grant was a publicity maneuver to shore up the stock price of grey matter technologies because of your association with water white walter white. Well, thats not exactly. Charlie to cleanse yourself as having a methamphetamine kingpin as cofounder of your company. Charlie, im glad you brought that up. I have to believe the investing public understands were talking about a person who was there early on and had nothing to do with the creation of the company and less with growing it into what it is today. Charlie so what was walter whites contribution. To be honest honey. He company name. Your appearance gave it credence, a sense of this is real. Charlie well, thank you. But the point was this was so huge, breaking bad. I mean, you know, id never seen anything like it in terms of how people took note of the fact that somehow your opinion associate youwere associatedg bad and somehow you understood that. So you look back on that experience and, obviously, it shaped your life. I knew when i read that pilot script by Vince Gillgan that there was something very special there. I knew it was special, but theres no way charlie its just that good a script. It was terrific. And i related to this man. I knew men like him who missed opportunities in their lives and became functioning still functioning, still loving to their family, still paying their bills, but there is something that died in the interior, and theyre putting one step in front of the other. Theyre in a deep depression. And in doing some of the research, i found that, you know, in broad strokes, when people are in deep depression, there are two basic ways it manifests either externally or internally. Either internally, that boss screwed me, otherwise my life would be completely different, ready to fight, blame my exwife charlie someone elses fault. Yes, or its me and i missed it, and i go into a shell. And that was walter white. He went into a shell. He didnt care about his looks. He didnt care about his weight. He didnt care about his clothes. Nothing mattered to him. He was invisible to himself and the world. This ironic diagnosis of terminal cancer was his get out of jail free card. It exploded his emotion. Charlie it gave him reason and purpose. To live, even if its just for a short period of time. You are in over your head. Thats what we tell them. Thats the truth thats not the truth. Of course it is a school teacher, cancer, desperate for money. Were done. Unable to even quit. You told me that yourself, walt walt, please lets both of us stop trying to justify this whole thing and admit youre in danger who are you talking to right now . Who is it you think you see . Do you know how much i make a year . I mean, even if i told you, you wouldnt believe it. Do you know what would happen if i sendly decided to stop going into work . A business big enough that it could be listed on the nasdaq goes belly up, disappears. It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly dont know who youre talking to. So let me clue you in i am not in danger, schuyler. I am the danger a guy opens his door and gets shot and you think of me. Now, i am the one who knocks those last two years of his life were full and exciting and i dont think he would have traded it. Charlie and he acknowledged it in the end. He acknowledged it in the end. Charlie i love it. I loved it. It was for me. I was good at it, and thats the brilliance of vinces writing, to have him confess to that hubris, to that ego. And it was a full, you know, maturation, if you can say that, of that character, that he came to completely understand who he was and the evil that men do. Charlie your father was one of those men. Physically. Charlie just physically . Yeah, i always felt walter white was much older than he was chronologically, so i wanted to give him sloped shoulders and, you know, his posture was bad and he was a little overweight, so i wanted to give him the weightiness of a man who is 25, 30 years old. Charlie closely identify. My upbringing was a mess. It was like living two different lives. Up until ten years old, it was a model life. Charlie because they were both there. Both there. My dad was always one of our coaches in sports, taking us places. My mom was the team mom and the upper ware lady and p. T. A. Tupperware lady and p. T. A. And making our costumes and when we realized my dad didnt want to be with my mother anymore it exploded. It wasnt like coming to an understanding, it exploded, and their emotional immaturity damaged the rest of the structure, and i didnt see my father for ten years. Charlie no phone call, no nothing . No, didnt see him. He had a breakdown. He was late 40s. Charlie was it about success . I think it was. I think it was about the lack of success. I think it was his frustration at not being he was an actor and it was about his frustration of not being a star. He wanted to be a star, like a lot of people, and he didnt handle it well when he was getting to be a certain age. I mean, im sure there is complications that are much deeper than that that i wasnt privy to and, you know, hes of a generation where revealing those inner thoughts, men would rather go to their grave thano thano than to admit what they consider weakness. Charlie to not be a star is a weakness. Or to be able to say i felt this and i was you know, but hell, to this day, now and hes nearly 90 charlie hes seeing everything good happening to you. Hes seen it all. Charlie regardless of the relationship, all of us want to say, i did okay, dad. Yeah. And hes extremely proud. Extremely proud. And hes changed, as men do. Tough old guard guys soften with age. He cries openly now. Charlie whats interesting about Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon Johnson, who went back to the texas hill country after saying he would not run for another term, started smoking again. Mmhmm. Charlie you know, you get this from robert, and knew he was nailing a nail into his coffin. What was that about . He was a great prognosticator. He knew he was going to die of a heart attack. Charlie hed already had two already. He knew he was going to die of a heart attack and he did at 64 years old. Charlie 64 which is young. Charlie young. But he knew he was going to die, so it was like courting death. Maybe thats why he thought, to hell with it, its gonna happen anyway laughter but had he run for reelection and won in 68, he would have died three days after his term would have ended. So he died in january of 1973, but if he were elected to a second term in the presidency, i think he would have died in office and so did lady bird. Lady bird thought the amount of stress and the way vietnam was rolling out, he just was not capable of commanding that war. He was not able to know how to end that war. Charlie you just wonder i mean, when you think of what that meant to the country, it tore the country apart unbelievable. Charlie and how much he hated it because he had his drive was to do something about education and poverty and all those things that roosevelt wanted to do, his great political mentor right. Charlie and he did. He accomplished those things. You would hope somehow, in a case like that, somebody, for all of us, if were at a place where were doing the wrong things, whether destructive or not, and just think of seymore hoffman, addiction. Lyndons addiction was politics. He never read a book, didnt go to the theater, the concerts or sporting events. Charlie only baseball to Court Richard russell. Have a photo op, throw out the ball or something. But his arena was politics. The only books were biographies of president s he admired, maybe he gleaned something from that. He was a machine of politics and he had true, good, altruistic intentions, and he didnt care how he got there, he just wanted to get the end result. And his accomplishments domestically are unparalleled from roosevelts. Charlie the people who loved him loved him because they said he was larger than life. But in the end, they knew that however despicable he might be in terms of personality at the moment, that his heart in the end was in the right place. And he got things done. Charlie yeah, which brings me to the president obama comparison. You know, the constant part of the political conversation, if only the president were more like Lyndon Johnson, he would be able to do more with the republicans in the congress. Well, i think thats unfair to our president. Charlie and so does he. Well, i think it is unfair to say why cant you be more like this man . He is his own man. I think theres two distinct differences that dont allow the system to work as it did in johnsons day. One is our president s own past experience. He didnt have the years in the house of representatives and the senate that johnson had. Johnson had 12 years in the house, 12 years in the senate, rose to the most powerful position in the senate before taking on the vice presidency. So he knew all the players, knew everything about them, what they wanted, knew their wives, would be able to break the ice and say, hows margaret . Is she okay . I know she had a bad hip. Well, thank you, mr. President. Now, listen, we need to get that bill hed catch them. He just complimented my wife, now i have to help. President obama has the experience he didnt have all those years. The second thing, i dont think the temperament, the attitude and the sensibility in johnsons days and this is just my opinion was this is politics, it is a horse trade, if you want to get something that you really need and want for the betterment of the country, its gonna cost you. Now, where charlie its a transaction. Yes, you do something for me. Blood, sweat, tears to get that done. Now, its arms folded, were not even going to compliment the other side. Charlie and its a zero sum game. If i succeed you fail. I think the wrong point of view is applied here. Ning johnsons day, in i think in johnsons day, in that era, the intention was lets do something for the betterment of the country. Now, its lets win. Were doing something to win, for our side to win. Is that best for the country . Its many times not. So i think our president is unfortunate to be, in this day and age, to live in that kind of cesspool of attitude. Charlie he knew the game but also he had majority and also the fact that people wanted the country to do well after the tragic assassination of president kennedy. Johnson knew he had that window of opportunity. Charlie the other thing thats fascinating to me is the idea of Bobby Kennedy. And here is a guy with all that he had, became Vice President , and all of a sudden was diminished. Lyndon johnson hated being Vice President. Compared to the Senate Majority leader, it was an impotent role. So then why did he take it . Well, i think that he got trounced by kennedy in the primaries, and he saw the handwriting on the wall. He thought, my opportunity to get in to become president is limited by age. You know, king arthur just came in charlie camelot. Okay, so hes going to be president. Hes going to be president for eight years. Whoever his Vice President is will have tin side track the inside track not necessarily guaranteed, but the inside track to be the next president for eight years. So if im going to get in, i look 16 years down the road and i miss my window of opportunity. So i think it was a calculated move on his part to say, i have to bite the bullet, accept the vice presidency, bring the south with me and bide my time and, hopefully, in eight years get the nod. Thats why i want you to be the floor manager of this bill. Floor manager . Mmhmm. I assume the Senate Majority leader would be oh, mikes a good man but i need someone more personable. People like him, hubert. Hell, even dick russell likes you. Really . Yeah you know, im under a lot of pressure to announce my rainingmate for the e runningmate for the election. People tell me i ought to pick Bobby Kennedy but im not sure of his loyalty. There was a time not so long ago when him and the rest of his harvard blue bloods would look down his nose at me like i was a country bump kin. Charlie whats your ambition after this . What is it that Bryan Cranston needs to do . Rest. I do. I need to rest. I go pretty hard at it, and its so much fun. Im having a great time, but i think, when this is over, when i finally leave the stage for the last time all the way, im going to collapse laughter you know, your body has a tendency to hold on, hold on, hold on its a very physically and emotionally demanding thing, i love putting it all out there, but i think i just want to relax for a while and let it rest and see what happens next. Charlie thank you for doing this. I so appreciate it. Charlie great to see you, thank you. They show up for school every day, dirty, ragged, hungry because most of them havent had any breakfast but they were so on fire to learn it just ahhh just made you feel good but there would come a day for each and every one of them when i would see the light in their eyes die because they discovered the world hated them just because to have the color of their skin. Now, as a southerner, ive had to bite my tongue on this issue my entire life until my mouth was full of blood. Well, not anymore. What the hells important being president if you cant do what you know is right . This aint about the constitution this is about those who got more wanting to hang on to what they got at the expense of those who got nothin and feel good about it uncle dick, he could talk about his riots until he is blue in the face but all i see are the faces of those little kids in cotula. Well, hes right about one thing, though. The war has just begun. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org announcer the following kqed production was produced in high definition. The beef torta was out of this world. I actually dont discriminate against pizza. This is a temple to we couldnt see it, and we couldnt hear it. Right. Whoa im actually in San Francisco . This is amazing [ laughter ] bring me more