Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and numerous other publications.

Secretary Gates is the author of a number of bestselling books, including A Passion for Leadership and his memoir, Duty, and has served as President of Texas A&M and currently holds the position of Chancellor of the College of William & Mary. Mark Updegrove talked to him recently before a full house at the LBJ Library, where he offered his reflections on an increasingly chaotic world, including the Israel-Hamas War, the War in Ukraine, the security threats posed by an increasingly aggressive China, and the struggles we face here at home

In the past few years, Richardson has also become one of the most influential voices in American public life. Almost 2 million subscribers receive Letters From An American, a daily newsletter than delves into the historical context of the latest national and international news.

Her new book, Democracy Awakening, similarly sets current political controversies within the long sweep of American history. She joined us at the LBJ Library for a discussion on the book, and how she views our current political moment.

Tapper has been covering politics in Washington for over 25 years--from the Clinton Administration through the Biden Administration. He’s also a best-selling author of five books, three of which are works of fiction, including his latest, All the Demons Are Here. During a recent visit to the LBJ Library to promote the book, Jake talked to Mark Updegrove about his reflections on the state of our democracy, the media landscape, President Joe Biden, and Biden’s presumptive Republican challenger in next year’s presidential election: former President Donald Trump.

In his new book, Lincoln's God, Josh Zeitz teases out Lincoln's complicated religious outlook, and makes clear just how important religion was to the course, and the outcome, of the Civil War.

Josh Zeitz writes for Politico, and has also been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The New Republic. He is also the author of several books, including Building a Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House; Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincon's Image; and now, Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation.

But it’s Humphrey’s early years that Samuel Freedman covers in his book, chronicling Humphrey’s humble beginnings in smalltown South Dakota and his move to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Humphrey launched an activist political career that helped to change the trajectory of civil rights in America. 

Goodyear shines a light on James Garfield’s presidency but also dwells on his earlier career as a teacher, Ohio politician, Union general during the Civil War, and ultimately powerful member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Garfield participated in many of the most contentious debates of the period after the Civil War.

In this episode you will find vignettes on Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Edith Wilson, Jackie Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, and Joe Biden.

Eig joins us for an enlightening conversation about King’s life and legacy. This is the second of a two-part conversation; the first conversation was released on July 20, 2023.

Eig joins us for an enlightening conversation about Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy. This is the first of a two-part conversation; the second conversation will be released on August 3, 2023.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony, author of a new book, Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy, offers a compelling look at the future First Lady in her years as an adventurous college student, as the Washington Times-Herald’s inquiring camera girl, and as a vibrant single woman who had come to date and eventually marry the dashing U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.

Anthony is the author of a dozen books about presidents’ wives and families, including As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Friends and Family, The Kennedy White House: Family Life & Pictures, 1961-1963 and the two-volume First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power, 1789-1990.

She recently published Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson, a richly detailed biography of a woman who has eluded careful study despite the fact that she played a vital role in one of the most consequential presidencies of the 20th century.

Inboden was a policymaker in the George W. Bush administration before coming to UT Austin to teach U.S. national security policy and global affairs. His essays and op-eds have appeared in publications such as Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, and CNN.

Richard joined Mark Updegrove to discuss his newest book, An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford.

Selverstone is the award-winning author of The Kennedy Withdrawal: Camelot and the American Commitment to Vietnam and Constructing the Monolith: The United States, Great Britain, and International Communism, 1945-1950.

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Dr. Matthew Costello co-authored Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture, a new book which examines the way we observe the passing of our chief executives as a means of reflection, reckoning, and reevaluation of presidential legacies and eras in our nation’s past

More than 150 years after the Civil War ended, the United States is still battling over the meaning of the war. Liz Varon shows how those debates got started even as the smoke was clearing from the final battles.

His new bestselling book, which he edited with Kevin Kruse, is entitled “Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past,” and is comprised of essays that take aim at many of the distortions and manipulations of our history that have led many Americans to believe fiction over fact.

We talked to Julian about the myths and legends that have shaped American consciousness, how they arose, and why they need to be dispelled in order for us to get a truer sense of who we are as a nation.

In G-Man, Gage covers the full sweep of Hoover’s life, from his birth in 1895 to his death in 1972, offering a nuanced portrait of a complicated man who took the helm of the FBI before the age of 30, and would go on to become a confidante, and often a nemesis, to 8 presidents—from Warren Harding to Richard Nixon.

The Divider is, at least for the moment, the definitive account of the Trump presidency. Sweeping across four years of nearly constant crisis and controversy, the book examines one of America's most enigmatic presidencies, which included two impeachments, dramatic international events, a constantly shifting array of advisers, and the insurrection of January 6, 2021.

This conversation took place on December 13, 2022, at the LBJ Presidential Library.

Featured guests:

Amity Shlaes on Calvin Coolidge

John Farrell on Richard Nixon

Paul Gregory on Lee Harvey Oswald

Nicole Hemmer on Ronald Reagan

Jonathan Martin on Donald Trump

Pete Souza on Barack Obama

Gabriel Debenedetti on the legacies of Obama and Biden

Anthony Fauci on his own legacy

Ali Vitali on Queen Elizabeth II and female leadership

Darlene Superville and Julie Pace on Jill Biden's influence on Joe Biden's decision whether to run for reelection

His latest book, Ted Kennedy: A Life, explores Senator Kennedy’s remarkable 77 years, rife with inconceivable triumph and unimaginable tragedy.

Troy Senik is a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and a co-founder of the digital media company Kite & Key. Troy is also author of A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbably Presidency of Grover Cleveland (September 2022).

Mark Updegrove and Mark Lawrence talk to Pete about his unique vantage point on the presidency and the presidents he has worked with and captured for history. 

We talked to Gregory about the Lee Harvey Oswald he came to know, someone who possessed the motive, cunning, and killer instinct of a murderer who was desperately vying for a place in history. 

Ali talked with us about the obstacles that female contenders have faced in running for the presidency over the years, how those challenges might be overcome, and the prospects for election of the nation’s first female president. 

Hemmer talked to us about the partisan politicians, personalities and pundits who began remaking the Republican Party 30 years ago, forging a modern conservative movement that trumped the conservative coalition of Republican icon Ronald Reagan and led to the far right Trumpism of today’s GOP.

The Long Alliance delves into one of the most consequential political partnerships of recent times – the sometimes contentious, often close relationship between America’s forty-fourth and forty-sixth presidents. Gabe joined us to talk about how two men from different generations, with contrasting political styles, led the Democratic party through challenging moments of recent history, and continue to shape the nation today.

But Tim Naftali is also one of the nation’s leading experts on the Watergate scandal, which erupted in 1972 with the attempted burglary of the Democratic National Committee Office in Washington’s Watergate complex. As Director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum from 2007 to 2011, Tim was responsible for conducting numerous interviews with key players in the Watergate affair, redesigning the Library’s exhibit on the topic, and opening new archival materials connected to the scandal. Tim joined us to talk about Watergate and its meanings half a century later.

In this episode Mark Updegrove talks with Kate about three of her books: The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump, and First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents and the Pursuit of Power. 

Jeffrey has published four novels that dissect the social world of elite Washington. In 2013, he turned to presidential history, publishing Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, a bestselling account of the partnership between President Eisenhower and his Vice President, Richard Nixon.

Jeffrey joins Mark Lawrence to talk about his latest book, The Trials of Harry S. Truman, the first study in many years to tell the story of the Truman presidency. 

Lindsay Chervinsky, a scholar of 18th century America and the U.S. presidency, is among the first historians to delve deeply into these questions. A senior fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, Lindsay has published in the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Magazine, CNN, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She joins Dr. Mark Lawrence to talk about her writing on the early American presidency.

Now a businessman and walnut farmer, Craig McNamara is founder of the Center for Land-Based Learning, an organization devoted to educating young farmers in the business of sustainable agriculture. Craig joins Mark Lawrence to talk about his remarkable life and especially his complicated relationship with the man he called ‘Dad.’

The son of famed film director George Stevens, George Stevens Jr. grew up in the highest reaches of Hollywood, on the sets of classic films like Giant, Shane, The Diary of Anne Frank, and A Place in the Sun. But yearning for his own place in the sun, he ventured to Washington to work with legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow at the United States Information Agency, producing films for John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, before going on to work for other presidents in other capacities.

The founding director of the American Film Institute and the creator of the Kennedy Center Honors, Stevens describes his remarkable life and unimaginable brushes with history.

Mark Updegrove talks to Martin about the explosive revelations in the book and, more broadly, the political polarization and party dysfunction that have become the hallmarks of today’s Washington.

Kai Bird is the Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center and a highly acclaimed author with several biographies to his credit. These include The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy and The American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, which Bird co-authored with Martin Sherwin and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Tchen began her White House tenure in 2009 as the Director of Public Engagement before serving as Assistant to President Obama and Chief of Staff to the First Lady from 2011 to 2017. She talks about what it was like to be behind the scenes in the West and East Wings during the Obama administration working closely with President and Mrs. Obama, and what their legacies will mean to history.

She joins us to talk about her biography of America's 30th President, Calvin Coolidge.

In 2017, these two giants in the history of the early American republic teamed up to publish the book at the heart of our discussion today, “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination. This book ranks among the most original and engaging studies of Thomas Jefferson and his times to appear in recent years. They join us today to discuss our third President, his life and times.

John Avlon is a senior political analyst and anchor at CNN and the author of Independent Nation, Wingnuts, and Washington’s Farewell, which covers George Washington’s farewell address and its seminal mark on our nation. Previously Avlon served as editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast and as chief speechwriter for the Mayor of New York after the attacks of 9/11.

John worked for many years as a journalist for major American dailies and covered the White House for TheBoston Globe. His books include biographies, not just of President Nixon, but also of the famed lawyer Clarence Darrow and House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

In his book The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office, Dr. Suri sweeps across the history of the American presidency and paints a rather gloomy picture of the institution in the early 21st century. In this episode, he explains why we haven’t had a great president since Franklin Roosevelt, in his opinion.

His latest book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice, written with co-author Rupa Marya, reveals the links between health and structural injustices—and offers solutions that can lead to the healing of our bodies and our world.

Her latest book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, looks at four Presidents she has studied closely as a biographer: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, for whom she worked as a White House Fellow before helping him write his memoir after he left the presidency. 

This conversation took place on September 26, 2018, at the LBJ Presidential Library.

This conversation took place on January 28, 2016, at the LBJ Presidential Library, as part of the Tom Johnson Lecture Series.

Cappy McGarr co-created the John F. Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which launched in 1998. Appointed to the Kennedy Center board of trustees by Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2011, McGarr continues to serve as Executive Producer of the Mark Twain Prize and also helped established the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. 

His new book, The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House and Other Comedy Venues, recounts his history with the Mark Twain Prize and what he has learned about comedy—and our most famous comedians—along the way.

Dr. Fauci talks frankly about what he has learned in his fruitful life and career in medicine, the high praise and scorching criticism he has received along the way, and the unparalleled challenges he has faced in helping to keep our country safe from COVID-19. 

Award-winning investigative reporter Craig Whitlock offers an authoritative perspective. Whitlock has covered the war in Afghanistan for the Washington Post as a foreign correspondent, Pentagon reporter, and national security specialist. 

His new book, The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War, tells the story of an unwinnable campaign that had gone awry almost from the beginning, sparking a military and government conspiracy to keep the failure of the war from the American people. As he explains in this interview, “America was losing a war it thought it had won.”

In this episode, we draw on an LBJ Library program with three pivotal members of the George W. Bush Administration who have their own unique perspectives on that fateful day: Karen Hughes served as Counselor to the President, Clay Johnson as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, and Karl Rove as Senior Advisor to President. Each reflected on their personal experiences and what it was like to be with the President on September 11, 2001, and in the crucial days immediately afterward.

This conversation took place on September 3, 2013, at the LBJ Presidential Library, as part of the Evening With speaker series.

The story of the legendary but controversial FBI director is told through the eyes of one who knew him well. Paul Letersky’s new book, The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover, chronicles his years working directly for Hoover, starting in 1966 when he was unexpectedly tapped by Hoover to be a member of his personal staff.

Nicholas Fandos, congressional correspondent for TheNew York Times, has covered Capitol Hill since 2017. He talks about our nation’s inconstant history on voting rights, his perspective on why voting rights are currently under siege, and what can be done to protect our most inalienable right as Americans.

Written by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford, “Forget the Alamo!” has not been without its critics. A recent event at the Bullock Texas State History Museum was cancelled hours beforehand by Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who called it a “fact-free rewriting of Texas history.” 

Guest host LBJ Library Director Mark Lawrence talks to two of the book’s authors—Bryan Burrough and Chris Tomlinson—about what history really says about the Battle of the Alamo and why the myth that so many want to preserve has endured so long.

Clay Risen, a senior politics editor at The New York Times and author of The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century, shares how Roosevelt became a revered leader—and what Roosevelt might make of our political environment today.

Becker takes us behind the curtain as she discusses what it was like for Bush to see his son, George W., become President, how he developed an unlikely but close friendship with Bill Clinton, and how he committed to serving others throughout his eventful, purposeful life.

Copies of Lincoln in Private are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

Their latest collaboration, Hemingway, takes a hard look at one of America’s most storied and enigmatic writers. Novick joins us to talk about the new film, what she learned about the complex author, and how she got into filmmaking.

Later, he would become Lieutenant Governor, then Governor of Virginia, and would go on to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate. He shares stories from his new memoir, appropriately titled “In the Arena,” chronicling his eventful life.

Copies of “In the Arena: A Memoir of Love, War, and Politics” are available from The Store at LBJ.

In this episode, Isaacson talks about Jennifer Doudna and what CRISPR technology will mean for our world, both in terms of its medical and technical possibilities and its moral and ethical implications.

Secretary Castro discusses what he learned in his 2020 presidential run, his new podcast “One America with Julián Castro,” and, given the challenges of inequity we face today, the state of the American Dream.

Copies of The Suffragist Playbook with signed bookplates are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

In 2015, we hosted Aaron at the LBJ Library. In an unusually candid interview, he reflected on his life and career, and offered his thoughts on baseball and the world today, and the advice he would give to young people following his example.

This conversation took place on January 22, 2015, at the LBJ Presidential Library, as part of the Tom Johnson Lecture Series.

As a politician, political strategist or lobbyist, he has come to know every president since John F. Kennedy, offering political counsel to many, and has an especially close relationship with Joe Biden, whom he met when Biden was elected to become the Junior Senator from Delaware in 1972.

Barnes talks about last week’s tragic siege on our nation’s Capitol, the fate of President Trump, and what the Biden presidency will look like.

Copies of Barnes’ book “Barn Burning, Barn Building” are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

His eventful life is chronicled in the bestselling book “The Man Who Ran Washington,” by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser. 

In this conversation, Secretary Baker is joined by authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser to discuss Secretary Baker’s extraordinary journey in government and how his Washington differs from that of today.

Jarrett shares her thoughts on the current presidential transition and President-elect Biden, what she anticipates from the Biden-Harris Administration, and her longtime relationship and ongoing work with Barack and Michelle Obama.

Copies of Flash of Light, Wall of Fire are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

This conversation was recorded on September 24, 2020, as part of a virtual program co-sponsored by the Harry Ransom Center and the School of Journalism and Media at The University of Texas at Austin.

Copies of "Rage" are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

This conversation took place on October 3, 2017, at the LBJ Presidential Library, as part of the Tom Johnson Lecture Series.

Copies of Palmieri’s book, “She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence from a Man’s World,” are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, a contributor to MSNBC, is the Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement and a Lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. 

Julian Zelizer, a contributor to CNN, is a Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the author of nineteen books on American political history, including his latest, Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker and the Rise of the New Republican Party.  

Copies of Zelizer’s previous book, “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society,” are available for sale from The Store at LBJ.

First is an interview with one of our nation’s most powerful women, Nancy Pelosi, who made history in 2007 by becoming the first woman to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. The second conversation, moderated by former White House Press Secretary and Fox News host Dana Perino, features Condoleezza Rice, the first African American woman to serve as Secretary of State and the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor.

Speaker Pelosi and Dr. Rice talk about the women who inspired them, the trails they blazed, and their counsel to young women today to continue the fight for gender equity.

The conversations in this episode were part of a program co-hosted on August 6, 2020, by the LBJ Presidential Library, the National Archives, the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the National Constitution Center, The 19th and All in Together.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Begala talks about how Donald Trump won the White House in 2016, the state of the national electorate today, and what it will take for Joe Biden to defeat President Trump in November.

Copies of “You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump” are available to purchase from The Store at LBJ.

This conversation took place on April 9, 2019, at the LBJ Presidential Library as part of a three-day Summit on Race in America.

Signed copies of "Demagogue” are available to purchase from The Store at LBJ.

In this conversation, Barnes reflects on this moment in our nation's history as the promise of systemic reform toward racial equity looms; the striking comparisons between 2020 and 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. and others used the power of protest toward the power of the pen in bringing about transformational change; and the legacies of both Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama.

In this interview with his friend and fellow author Stephen Harrigan, Caro talks about his latest book, "Working," which provides a window into how Caro crafts his epic works.

This conversation took place on April 15, 2019, at the LBJ Presidential Library.

Caro's biographies on Lyndon Johnson are available for purchase in The Store at LBJ.

Molly Ball serves as the national political correspondent for TIME magazine and has spent years covering Nancy Pelosi.

Signed copies of "Pelosi" are available to purchase from The Store at LBJ.

Copies of "Countdown 1945" are available to purchase from The Store at LBJ.

Signed copies of "My Vanishing Country" are available to purchase from The Store at LBJ.

In this episode, Joseph looks at the lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., their markedly different backgrounds and influences, and their divergent but ultimately complementary roles in forging a civil rights "historic period."

*Like many of us, Rather is quarantined at home with family members, and some ambient noise can be heard in the background—but this is well worth a listen.

The conversation took place on Sept. 19, 2019, a week after the book's publication, at the LBJ Presidential Library as part of the Tom Johnson Lecture series.

Wright is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11," "God Save Texas," and "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," for which he co-produced HBO's Emmy award-winning documentary adaptation.

They share stories from Mrs. Bush's eventful life—from leaving a life of East Coast privilege to live next to a brothel in Odessa, Texas, as a young wife and mother, to becoming First Lady in the White House—and discuss the indelible imprint she made on the nation and on those who knew her best.

As the director of the Division of Medical Humanities at New York University, Oshinsky has a direct connection to the medical community in New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. And as the author of several books, including "Polio: An American Story," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2006, and "Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital," he shares additional insight into how this pandemic compares with those of the past including one of the greatest stories of modern medicine, the roll-out of the polio vaccine.

The conversation took place on April 27, 2017, at the LBJ Presidential Library, where Burns was honored with the LBJ Foundation's Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award.

The conversation took place on Jan. 30, 2020, at the Library of Congress, where Justice Ginsburg was honored with the LBJ Foundation's Liberty & Justice for All Award.

*Note on sound quality: While it's hard to beat the beautiful Library of Congress' Great Hall as a venue, the acoustics proved challenging. We hope the sound quality does not dissuade you from listening all the way through as Justice Ginsburg's insight lived up to her "Notorious RBG" moniker.