'LBJ': A RUSH TO NO DAYLIGHT.Byline: - David Kronke White House tapes have become a belated way of putting a president on the psychiatrist's couch. Richard Nixon's tapes underscored what a weasel weasel, name for certain small, lithe, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae (weasel family). Members of this family are generally characterized by long bodies and necks, short legs, small rounded ears, and medium to long tails. he was, while Lyndon Johnson's more recently released taped discussions, however, elicit something close to pity - he had backed himself into a corner where Vietnam was concerned and was tortured by his every decision. ``LBJ and Vietnam: In the Eye of the Storm,'' like Michael Beschloss' recent acclaimed book ``Reaching for Glory,'' soberly examines the no-win situation Johnson discovered the war to be. Original recordings of phone conversations Johnson had with Bobby Kennedy, Robert McNamara, and senators and congressmen are played over visual recreations of the discussions, shot on grainy grain·y adj. grain·i·er, grain·i·est 1. Made of or resembling grain; granular. 2. Resembling the grain of wood. 3. Having a granular appearance due to the clumping of particles in the emulsion. film stock, in black and white and in the saturated colors of movies and TV programs of the era. It seems a little corny corn·y adj. corn·i·er, corn·i·est Trite, dated, melodramatic, or mawkishly sentimental. [From corn1. and even more disingenuous of executive producers Nancy Dubuc and David Taylor to have gone to such lengths to create phony images, and the film's narrative seems a little patched together to fit the sound bites. But the occasional anguish and more frequent deadness of Johnson's voice as he hears about body counts, frets about information leaks and openly admits ``There ain't no daylight'' as far as getting results in the conflict makes for compelling history. Johnson feared impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow. if he pulled out of Vietnam, since he believed it would show weakness and would make U.S. commitments across the globe appear watery and tenuous. Even though he despised and Congress began to question the policy that mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. the United States in Vietnam, he had a paranoid belief that the domestic anti-war movement had been created by communist infiltrators. The ultimate irony was that by trying to save face in Vietnam, Johnson realized he had shamed himself and his country. ``LBJ AND VIETNAM: IN THE EYE OF THE STORM'' What: Documentary on Lyndon Johnson's anguish over the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. . Where: History Channel. When: 9 tonight. Our rating: Three stars CAPTION(S): photo Photo: President Lyndon Johnson, seen here in an undated un·dat·ed adj. 1. Not marked with or showing a date: an undated letter; an undated portrait. 2. file photo, is the subject of a History Channel documentary tonight. |
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