5
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AFTER SEEING “THE PLAYS”
1. Refer to your research on LBJ’s public stance on civil rights. Compare LBJ’s public statements on race and race relations to
his private comments in the play. To what extent do they coincide, and to what extent do they conflict? How strongly do you
feel President Johnson felt about the importance of equal rights for African Americans? To what extent, based on your
research and the evidence in the play, did he believe in complete equality of the races?
2. To what extent are J. Edgar Hoover’s tactics of wiretapping and of blackmailing people like James Harrison and Joe Alsop legal?
Ethical? How much leeway did the FBI have in 1964 in matters deemed to relate to national security? What is the status of these
issues concerning civilian surveillance today?
3. J. Edgar Hoover believed in keeping America safe. To that end, he broke laws that he was sworn to uphold. In what ways did
his breaking laws harm people’s lives?
4. President Johnson may have broken some laws early in his political career. He certainly bent the rules and used every tactic he
knew in the political playbook, ethical or not. The result was landmark and lasting civil rights legislation. Does the end ever justify
the means? Does your answer depend on whether you side with the “end” in question? If the end can sometimes justify the
means, where, exactly, does that line get drawn? Who gets to decide?
5. What characters in the play have their personal lives compromised in the name of public service? To what extent does a person’s
private life impact their ability to serve their country in public office? Does your opinion change if that person uses their public
office to try to legislate morality and public standards in ways that are not consistent with their private life?
6. Refer to your research on Dixiecrats. Discuss what Senator Russell means when he says “It’s high time the South rejoined the
rest of the country.” In what ways might the South have felt like a separate entity from the rest of the United States?
7. Describe the ideological rift that split the Democratic Party in 1964. How does that split still affect the party today? In what
ways might the Republican Party be dealing with a similar ideological split now?
8. Compare and contrast MLK with LB.J. How are the two men similar? Different? What motivates them? What strategies do they
use to get what they want? Describe their individual accomplishments throughout the play. Describe their failures.
9. Discuss LBJ’s character: his strengths and weaknesses, his hopes and fears, his ethics and immoralities. What type of President
was he? What type of leader? What in the play leads you to believe he should hold the most powerful office of the United States?
What leads you to doubt it?
10. When in the play is LBJ most vulnerable? When, of these moments, is Lady Bird present, and what do these scenes reveal about
the Johnsons’ relationship?
11. The final scene of the play, “It’s just getting started” is spoken by LBJ and George Wallace. What is just getting started for each
of these men?
Discussion questions on pages 5 and 7 from:
