The Harry Middleton Lectureship was established by Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1994 to honor the career and contributions of Harry Middleton. Until his recent retirement, Mr. Middleton was the Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum for thirty years, almost since its inception, and concurrently the Executive Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation. Prior to holding those positions, he had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York, news editor for Architectural Forum (a Time, Inc. Publication), and as a freelance writer and consultant for Reader's Digest, Sports Illustrated, Collier's, Cosmopolitan, and LIFE. Middleton served as staff assistant to President Johnson from 1967 to 1969, and assisted the President in the preparation of his memoirs. His published works include PAX (1958), The Compact History of the Korean War (1962), LBJ: The White House Years (1990), and Lady Bird Johnson: A Life Well-Lived (1992). Middleton received the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive in 1991, the Anti-Defamation League's Torch of Liberty Award in 1992, and The University of Texas Presidential Citation in 2003.
Mrs. Johnson’s desire was to create a lectureship series to honor Mr. Middleton, and in doing so, to make renowned speakers available to students and the public free of charge. Past Middleton Lecturers include former Presidents Ford and Carter, journalist Brian Williams, Bill Moyers, Lawrence Luckinbill, actor Michael York, and in 2007, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg and film director David Mamet. The Harry Middleton Lectureship series is sponsored by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.
On April 13, 2009, the Harry Middleton Lecture featured best-selling author and respected journalist Tom Brokaw on Lessons from the Greatest Generation. The lecture was held in the LBJ Auditorium in Austin, Texas.