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In this episode, we look at the former First Lady and her impact on the Clinton Administration. I don't think there is any debate on the powerful role Hillary Rodham Clinton had on the administration of her husband, for good and for bad. She was his tip advisor and a full partner throughout his entire political career. She would lead the efforts on Healthcare and while proving ultimately unsuccessful, she proved she was a powerful intellect and formidable person. 

She also was instrumental in what, I believe, was actually the worst scandal of the Clinton years. Unlike, an Arkansas land deal, or an affair with a White House Intern, the White House Travel Office, actually involved career civil servants who had come to work everyday just to do their jobs. They were not millionaire donors, or active political people, but just ordinary Federal Employees, totally ill equipped to be dragged into a legal morass that threatened to bankrupt them and destroy their lives. In the end, they were all found not guilty, and vindicated, but not before being humiliated and fired. 

It would be Bob Dole who would put in legislation to reimburse these folk's for the massive legal bills they wracked up defending themselves from the Clinton machine. It was the low bar moment in the years of Bill and Hillary Clinton. 

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Bill Clinton will have a town hall in Chillicothe , Ohio, to answer questions and roll out his economic plan to the nation. We are presenting it to you here in its entirety. 

You will get the chance to see Bill Clinton do what he does best, connect with people. He puts on his full salesman pitch to try and sell this plan to the American People. 

He does well in person, as you can tell with this crowd, but he has a rival across Pennsylvania Avenue, in Bob Dole who knows how to sell people too. As we will learn in our episodes to come. 

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In this episode, we will listen to the efforts by Bill Moyers to aid his President to build both a Great Society here at home all while protecting the civil rights of its citizens at the same time. 

You will hear Lyndon Johnson talk about what he expects in his anti poverty programs, his education programs, and how he intends to deal with industry. You will hear Johnson as he struggles with his own demons, and the effects some of them have had on his relationship with Bobby Kennedy, his immediate predecessors brother. 

You will also hear Moyers update Johnson on the events in Selma, Alabama on the eve of the march there. A march that led LBJ to place before Congress a Voter Rights Bill that would guarantee the right to vote for all Americans regardless of race. 

Then in a poignant call in February of 1967 , we will hear Bill Moyers say his farewells to President Johnson as he leaves his role at the White House to become a Journalist at a national publication. This was the move that would lead Bill Moyers to the career most of us remember him having, as an award winning journalist that told the story of our nation as few have ever been able to do. 

We will end the broadcast with one of his stories about a little church vandalized by racists, but in the wake of its rebuilding and reinvigoration, brought the small Lexington County , South Carolina town of Dixie Anna together. It is in that piece for CBS Sunday Morning , that we say our final farewell to Bill Moyers. 

Bill Moyers was 91 years old. 

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In this episode, we concentrate mostly on the Vietnam War and watch the decisions unfold that led us into a full scale land war in Asia. Bill Moyers was there and honestly offers both his opinions in real time to the President and gives historians an ear full of why he thinks things happened the way they did. 

This is an extraordinary look inside the inner workings of a White House at a historic moment and one we will most likely never have the opportunity to have again. 

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This is our first of three special edition episodes looking back at the life and career of Bill Moyers. He was a legendary journalist who worked for PBS for many years. As a young man one of the earliest documentaries I owned was one he did on Hitler and Roosevelt comparing their life stories. He did amazing work. 

He is no stranger to our broadcast either, having appeared in several of our episodes when we were chronicling the years of Lyndon B. Johnson. He served as an aide to the former President during most of his years as President. 

In this episode we will look back at his journalism career mostly and hear him talk about many of the issues gripping the nation. Then in our next two episodes we will hear him on the phone with President Johnson. He was one of Johnson's few aides that he completely trusted. Bill Moyers was like family to the President. As you will see he seemed to be everywhere from the Great Society, to Civil Rights, to the War in Vietnam. 

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In this episode we look back at the roll out for the Clinton Economic Plan. It is to this day a source of some level of controversy as to how much credit it deserves for the extraordinary boom that happened after it passed. The question is how much did help spur the economy, or was it the budget deal that Bush signed that raised some tax rates and cut some spending, or was it the simple fact that the Cold War was over and the enormous amount of money we had been spending in defense had simply gotten a lot smaller. 

Or could it have simply been the combination of all three. That is the scenario that I think is most likely. But in this opening battle we see both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue as they prepare to debate the questions, and address the problems of getting the nation back on the right fiscal track. 

It will be the first of many battles where we get to see President Bill Clinton do battle with Bob Dole.  In the end , the economic plan will pass with no support from any Republicans and the plan will lay the foundation for the Republican Revolution that would overwhelm Bill Clinton in 1994. 

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COMING THIS WEEK a three part tribute and retrospective to Journalism Giant Bill Moyers who began his career as an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. First we look back at his life and career and then in two more episodes wie listen in on his calls with President Johnson as they figure out how to build a Great Society, usher in an era of Civil Rights, and fight the War in Vietnam. 

Relive it here this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. 

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This special edition honors three figures we lost in May of 2025. Two political figures who loomed large on the national scene, Charlie Rangel and Gerry Connelly, and one of the stars of our hosts second favorite show of all time "CHEERS" , George Wendt aka "Norm!!" 

Charlie Rangel served in Congress for 40 years out of Harlem in New York. He was a major player in Watergate on the House Judiciary Committee, and later served as the Chairman of Ways and Means. He was a lot of things through out his tenure on the National stage but boring was not one of them. We will look back on this great character of politics , his impact, and some of his ethical troubles too. But one thing was for sure he was a tough partisan with guts and we will show his famous moment on the House floor when he told his investigators to put up or shut up in their long winding investigation. 

Gerry Connelly, was as quiet and reserved as Charlie Rangel was not but still Connelly had an impact on a variety of issues our nation faced through out his many years in Congress. His Obituary wrote : "He spent a decade working as a staffer for then-Senator Joe Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he developed his deeply-honed knowledge of foreign policy before entering the private sector. His elected life of service spanned 13 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including 5 as Chairman, and 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. While serving in Congress, he was elected as the Ranking Member of the Oversight Government Reform Committee, and President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly twice."

He also held a special friendship with his Republican Counterpart on his Committee , Representative James Comer, and here we will hear Comer honor his friend. 

Finally, we will shift gears and leave the world of politics to honor a comedic actor, and huge part of our childhood, as we also lost "Norm Petersen" in May. The lovable barfly accountant, that helped make the TV Show "CHEERS" a hit for 11 years on NBC. Actor George Wendt passed away in his sleep in May but he left an enormous body of work that will keep us smiling for decades to come. We wanted to honor him here on this podcast too. 

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In this episode we tune in as Terrorism makes its first big appearance on our shores as Islamic extremist bomb the World Trade Center. In this episode we relive that terrible day. It would foreshadow the dominant issue of the next decade. 

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In this special edition episode we hear Bob Dole address the National Association of Counties. It is the organization that works for the nations county governments and it shares similar issues with cities which is where I spent my time as an elected official. 

In this speech you will come away getting a full dose of Bob Dole's legendary sense of humor and his amazing grasp of the issues facing local government in that era. It is funny how those issues stay fairly consistent through time. This is a chance to see Bob Dole at work and I think you will admire what you hear. 

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