Audio slideshow: Paralysis of a President

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By the end of his presidency in 1968, Lyndon Johnson - the man thrust into the Oval Office after the murder of John F Kennedy - was troubled in his sleep by nightmares in which he felt paralysed.

At the time, US troops were making little progress in Vietnam and the anti-war movement at home was growing. Then two prominent figures - the civil rights leader Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy - were shot dead.

Here, Professor of International History David Reynolds - from the BBC Radio 4 series America, Empire of Liberty - looks at President Johnson's last days in the White House.

Photos courtesy Getty Images and AP.Includes music by Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tom Paxton, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Lemon Pipers.

Slideshow by Paul Kerley. Publication date 18 June 2009.

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Professor David Reynolds presents <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/america/">America, Empire of Liberty</a> - a landmark series on the history of the United States.

This slideshow features extracts from the episode '1968 - Paralysis of a President'. The full programme will be available until Wednesday 24 June on the BBC iPlayer.

More audio slideshows in the series: <a class="bodl" href="/2/hi/in_depth/8072165.stm">Houses and highways </a> <a class="bodl" href="/2/hi/in_depth/7858777.stm">America's early skyscrapers </a> <a class="bodl" href="/2/hi/in_depth/7896380.stm">The jazz age hits Main Street</a> <a class="bodl" href="/2/hi/in_depth/7900122.stm">The road to Hooverville</a>