The tapes also reveal the human side of LBJ.

Historians suggest between the years 1968 and 1969 was not only the last year of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson's presidency, but also the most difficult.

"The one ongoing theme throughout this period was President Johnson's attempt to bring the war to an honorable conclusion," archivist Regina Greenwell said. "We are anticipating an attack anytime … we are trying to abort it," Johnson said in a recording.

The tapes voice Johnson's struggle to stop bombings in North Vietnam and to bring both North and South Vietnam to the table for peace talks. As heard on the recently released tape, there were behind the scenes politics at work.

"The discovery that the Nixon campaign members of the Nixon campaign were interfering in this process," Greenwell said.

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"Are going to the Vietnamese embassy and saying, 'Please notify the president that if he'll hold out until Nov. 2, they can get a better deal … now I don't to want to bring this in to the campaign but this is wrong, this is treason," said Johnson.

But the other side of the new tapes show another side of Johnson. They reveal a human side as he celebrates the birth of his first two grandchildren.

"These family moments are a very important part of the whole historical picture," Johnson's daughter Luci Baines Johnson said.

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	Released tapes The newly released LBJ tapes reveal the human side of LBJ.

One family moment caught on tape was when the Johnson's called the Truman family to wish them a happy Christmas and send their kind regards.

"Lady Bird and I wanted to tell you and the president how loved you are and how admired you are and how much we appreciate what you've done for us," Johnson said.

Historians and Johnson's children say the tape is possibly the best window to the spirit of Johnson.

"I'm familiar with the documents in this library and I don't think you could find him in those," former president at LBJ Library Harry Middleton said.

It's not the way you'll find him in the tapes, still living and talking from a troubled time.

	A brief history, according to the LBJ Library
* 1968 was a watershed year in American history, and the final months of President Johnson's administration were filled with turbulence and crises. These events come to life in the recordings of his telephone conversations. * On March 31, 1968, President Johnson had announced to the nation that he would not seek re-election in order to devote his attention to the Vietnam War. His efforts to bring the war to an honorable conclusion dominate his conversations in these final months in office. The Vietnam War takes on even more personal significance for the President when the husbands of both of his daughters go to war. You will hear discussions of the negotiations with the North Vietnamese at the Paris peace talks, the fight within the Democratic Party among the candidates for the presidential nomination, and the decision on October 31, 1968--just days before the presidential election--to end all bombing of North Vietnam. Soon after the bombing halt begins, the Johnson administration discovers efforts by associates of Richard Nixon to influence the South Vietnamese government not to join in the Paris peace talks until after the election. * But other events occur in these months: the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy in June 1968; Chief Justice Earl Warren's intention to resign from the Supreme Court and Johnson's ill-fated nomination of Abe Fortas as his successor; the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968; dissension and rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and the presidential campaigns of Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and George Wallace. * Following the election of Richard Nixon, conversations turn to the transition of government to the new president and reorganization of the Democratic Party. Johnson resists efforts to impose new federal regulations and to reorganize the Labor Department in the final days of his administration but seeks to have the Senate ratify the Non-Proliferation Treaty which would limit the spread of nuclear weapons. In January 1969, he is consulted about Edward Kennedy's effort to replace Russell Long in the Senate Democratic Party leadership. * There are approximately 42 hours of recorded conversations from May 1968 through January 1969: 3 hours for May, 4 for June, 2 for July, 5 for August, 4 for September, 11 for October, 9 for November, 3 for December and 1 for January 1969. In addition, the Library will also release one conversation from June 1967 which had been dated June 1968 in error. In addition, President Johnson's staff prepared notes of 16 telephone conversations that were not recorded. Detailed information about individual conversations and a list of "Highlights" are available in the Library's Reading Room and on the Library's Web site (www.lbjlib.utexas.edu). * With this final release, the archivists at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library will have reviewed and released to the public approximately 642 hours of recordings of President Johnson's telephone conversations. (Source: Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Celebration Web site: www.lbj100.org.)