Here we are in the third episode of our 4 episode season looking at how Lyndon Johnson, by passing the civil rights bill on July 2nd, 1964, and The Economic Opportunity Act on Aug. 20th, 1964, is continuing the work of Franklin Roosevelt, and doing it as a sort of interim president before he is elected in his own right in November of 1964.

An election he’s nervous about, an election that could find him out of politics altogether with an enormous amount of work undone and with no clear path to power within reach. One of the biggest goals left undone by FDR and through the terms of Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, is that of passing a comprehensive healthcare bill for the poor and elderly. 

In this episode, we explore Medicare’s tenuous, and little-known road to realization and the masterminds behind its conception. 

Special thanks to our guests for this episode, Erine Gray, Guian McKee, Melody Barnes, Julian Zelizer, Mark Updegrove, and Robert Caro.

Thank you as well to The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, The American Presidency Project at The University of California Santa Barbara, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, and The LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin Texas for their consultation and use of archived materials. 

Michael Zapruder arranged and composed the music for this show, and played guitar, with Jeff Olsen on drums, Mike St. Clair on bass, and Sam Lipman on keyboards.

Executive Producer, Rebecca McInroy. 

Advising Editor, Jim Tuttle

Intern, Frances Cutter