His White House tapes if anything (I think) have enhanced his reputation to a great extent (while, so far the Nixon tapes, imho, diminishes his). With LBJ tapes you really get to see a man who was involved and truly concerned about Civil Rights and poverty. You also get to see a real political wheeler dealer at work--somebody who knew how to get votes. Even on Vietnam in the early tapes you see a skeptical LBJ (esp in March of 1965) asking all the right ?'s about Vietnam and it is actually the advisors he inherited from JFK (the so-called "Best and the Brightest" who are the ones who are the most hawkish. It's a shame that he didn't stand up to them if he did have ?'s about U.S. action or sought more outside information. Truly without Vietnam Johnson would be one of the five greatest presidents of all-time.