Lyndon Johnson's presidency has long been viewed in the shadow of the Vietnam War, a conflict that saw American soldiers die in jungles half a world away while anti-war demonstrators chanted in the streets back home.
Johnson's library is trying to change the focus of future conversations and scholarly work surrounding his time in office by shifting toward the landmark civil rights legislation Johnson signed into law.
The LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas is hosting a three-day Civil Rights Summit this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which banned widespread discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities and against women.
At the time, laws discriminating against African-Americans were still common throughout the South. President Barack Obama, the first black US president, is scheduled to give the keynote address on Thursday, and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W Bush also will speak during the week.
"I'm hopeful Lyndon Johnson gets recognition for the remarkable legislation he ushered in," library director Mark Updegrove said. "In 100 years, we will be studying the civil rights movement of the 1960s. That will be of far greater historical consequence than the war in Vietnam."
Lyndon Nugent, Johnson's only grandson, said that while Johnson took responsibility for the Vietnam War and the nation should learn from the experience, it'll become less relevant to Americans as time passes. But the civil rights legislation, he said, will continue to guarantee equality and be Johnson's lasting contribution.
"Civil rights was the reason that LBJ got into politics to begin with, to help people," Nugent said. "What he was focused on, and what he always wanted his presidency to be about, was trying to make America a better place for everybody."
The summit will both look back at the civil rights movement and address issues still lingering in the US and globally. Panel discussions will feature political and civil rights leaders and academics discussing topics from immigration and gay marriage to the role of sports in the civil rights movement.
