LBJ

LBJ is a 1991 two-part television documentary film about Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. Produced by PBS for The American Experience (now American Experience) documentary program, it recounts Johnson's life from his childhood to his presidency up to his death. Written, co-produced and directed by David Grubin and narrated by David McCullough, the film first aired on PBS in two parts on September 30, 1991. Interviewees Robert Baker, Senate aide George Ball, Undersecretary of State Larry Berman, Vietnam historian William P. Bundy, Assistant Secretary of State S. Douglas Cater, Washington, D.C. reporter Clark Clifford, presidential adviser John Connally, campaign aide; advisor Ava Cox, cousin Robert Dallek, biographer Homer Dean, campaign supporter Rebecca Doggert, Newark Head Start Ronnie Dugger, biographer Daniel Ellsberg, Defense Department staff James Farmer, civil rights activist J. William Fulbright, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer Richard Goodwin, presidential speechwriter Lewis Gould, historian Nicholas Katzenbach, Attorney General Eliot Janeway, economist; family friend Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady Donald Malafronte, aide to Mayor of Newark Harry McPherson, Senate staff Rep. James Pickle, campaign worker George Reedy, White House press secretary Dean Rusk, Secretary of State Howard Schuman, Senate aide Sergeant Shriver, Peace Corps director E. Babe Smith, Pedernales Electric Co-op James Thomson Jr., National Security Council staff Jack Valenti, special assistant to the president Elizabeth Wickenden, family friend Roger Wilkins, Johnson administration attorney Lee Williams, aide to Senator Fulbright Andrew Young, civil rights activist Critical response Walter Goodman of The New York Times gave LBJ a positive review, stating that "Mr. Grubin demonstrates the mastery of the television documentary that makes his work an absorbing start to a new season of 'The American Experience.' [...] It is a powerful story, powerfully rendered."