Abstract
In November 1963, Lyndon Johnson had the presidency unexpectedly thrust upon him following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. He would go to be elected himself the following year. In his memoirs, Johnson’s press secretary George Reedy proclaimed that, “Lyndon B Johnson was a far better president in the period when he was filling out the Kennedy term than when he occupied the White House in his own right.” It is from this year that the foundations of Johnson’s campaigns and strategies were being built, and two of the most important aspects of this project saw their beginnings in 1964.
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Notes
- 1.
G Reedy, Lyndon B Johnson : A Memoir (New York: Andrews and McMeel, 1982), p. 135.
- 2.
K J Turner, Lyndon Johnson ’s Dual War: Vietnam and the Press (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 40.
- 3.
As recounted to biographer Doris Kearns in Kearns, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (London: Andre Deutsch, 1976), p. 170. This biography is an important primary source of material on Johnson’s thoughts, beliefs and explanations of his actions in office.
- 4.
This term has been used by multiple authors to describe Johnson’s political ascent in the Senate—most notably as the title of vol. 3 of Robert A Caro’s biographical series on Johnson. For more information, see R A Caro, Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon B Johnson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002).
- 5.
J Zeitz, Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House, (New York: Viking, 2018) p. 14.
- 6.
Telephone call from Johnson to Richard Maguire, 9.10 pm, 22 November 1963. Transcript from M R Beschloss, Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963–1964 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997), p. 21.
- 7.
Memorandum from Fred Panzer to B Marvel, 12 September 1967, Office Files of Frederick Panzer, box 405, p. 1, Lyndon B Johnson Library, Austin, Texas [hereafter referred to as LBJ Library].
- 8.
Oral history transcript, Carroll Kilpatrick, interview 1 (I), 5/5/1971, by Joe B. Frantz, LBJ Library Oral Histories, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed January 24, 2021, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/oh-kilpatrickc-19710505-1-78-100.
- 9.
Telephone call from Johnson to Walter Lippmann, 5.46 pm, 1 December 1963. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, p. 80.
- 10.
Telephone call from Johnson to Katherine Graham, 11.10 am, 2 December 1963. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, pp. 81–85.
- 11.
For an example, see Bernard D. Nossiter, Johnson Budget Expected to Go Over $100 Billion: Cuts Predicted in Deficit and Spending Rise, Washington Post , 4 December 1963, p. A1. Carrol Kilpatrick discusses his displeasure at feeling as though he had been had in an oral history interview from 1971; Oral history transcript, Carroll Kilpatrick, interview 2 (II), 5/24/1982, by Ted Gittinger, LBJ Library Oral Histories, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed January 24, 2021, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/oh-kilpatrickc-19820524-2-09-06.
- 12.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Annual Budget Message to the Congress, Fiscal Year 1965. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240227.
- 13.
Telephone conversation # 2251, sound recording, LBJ and BILL MOYERS, 2/8/1964, 11:25 AM, Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed December 12, 2020, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/tel-02251.
- 14.
Turner , Lyndon Johnson ’s Dual War, p. 70. Kathleen Turner has written extensively on LBJ’s relationship with the press, particularly in relation to Vietnam.
- 15.
Transcript, Helen Thomas Oral History Interview I, 19 April 1977, by Joe B Franz, Internet Copy, LBJ Library Online, p. 18.
- 16.
Halberstam ’s anecdote in The Powers That Be (1979), cited in Mitchell K Hall (ed.), Vietnam War Era: People and Perspectives (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009), p. 140.
- 17.
Telephone call from Johnson to Frank Stanton, 6 February 1964. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, pp. 222–26.
- 18.
Numerous authors have referred to Johnson’s Texan style of speech and language, and the president was known to be occasionally vulgar particularly in private or when discussing institutions such as the press. Ball’s description of Johnson’s earthy qualities is taken from The Past Has Another Pattern (New York: W. W. Norton, 1982), p. 319.
- 19.
This issue made headlines in 1964—see, for example, J D Pomfret, “The Railroad Settlement: A Triumph for Mediation,” New York Times , 27 April 1964, accessed on 3 August 2017 at http://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/27/the-railroad-settlement-a-triumph-for-mediation.html?mcubz=0.
- 20.
G Gallup, The Gallup Poll , p. 1869—it is important to note that while the date of the poll’s publication is several weeks after the incident, polling took place within days of the address—between 28 February and 4 March.
- 21.
Associated Press, “Poll Shows Lodge Ahead of Nixon,” Minneapolis Star, 7 April 1964, p. 7.
- 22.
Time , 10 April, 1964, p. 24. With no vice president, following Johnson’s succession to the presidency, the speaker was next in line to the Presidency.
- 23.
Associated Press, “Chief Clowns With Newsmen and Cabinet,” La Crosse (WI) Tribune, 11 April 1964, p. 1.
- 24.
Crichton’s letter, reading simply, “Sir: Your statement that Governor Connally faces no meaningful Republican opposition [May 15] is in error,” was printed in Time , 29 May 1964, p. 15.
- 25.
Turner , Lyndon Johnson ’s Dual War, p. 68.
- 26.
Telephone call from Johnson to George Reedy, 7 April 1964, 11.50 am. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, pp. 307–308.
- 27.
Telephone call from Johnson to George Reedy, 28 April 1964, 7.07 pm. Transcript from M R Beschloss, Taking Charge, pp. 329–30.
- 28.
Oral history transcript, Carroll Kilpatrick, interview 1 (I), 5/5/1971, by Joe B. Frantz, LBJ Library Oral Histories, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed January 24, 2021, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/oh-kilpatrickc-19710505-1-78-100.
- 29.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , pp. 1879–80.
- 30.
L B Johnson, “Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union,” 8 January, 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26787.
- 31.
Significantly, Robert Kennedy had remained in his post as Attorney General and would do until he ran for Senate later in the year, and other figures such as Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had stayed on to assist the incoming president. Salinger would leave office in March 1964, to be replaced by George Reedy.
- 32.
Telephone call from Johnson to Drew Pearson, 8 January 1964. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, p. 153.
- 33.
W Lippmann, syndicated Washington Post column, in Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 January 1964, p. 27.
- 34.
L Harris, “The Harris Poll: Johnson Rates High With Negroes, Southern Whites,” Pocono Record [Stroudsburg], 28 January 1964.
- 35.
L B Johnson, “Remarks in Chicago at a Fundraising Dinner of the Democratic Club of Cook County,” 23 April, 1964. Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, eds., The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26184.
- 36.
Telephone call from Johnson to Robert Kennedy, 23 April 1964, 10.50 pm. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, pp. 326–27.
- 37.
L B Johnson, “Remarks in Athens at Ohio University,” 7 May, 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26225.
- 38.
LBJ’s campaign slogan in 1964 was spread throughout the country—a simple slogan which encouraged Americans to help him follow through on his intentions. Buttons were a strong example of this.
- 39.
I Unger, The Best of Intentions: The Triumphs and Failures of the Great Society Under Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon (New York: Doubleday, 1996), p. 17.
- 40.
P Taylor, Munitions of the Mind (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), p. 2.
- 41.
Memo from unnamed source to Jack Valenti, “Remarks at the University of Michigan” file, undated, Statements of Lyndon B Johnson, box 106, LBJ Library.
- 42.
This material referenced previous years’ speeches and activity at the University, none of which made it into the final draft. Memorandum from Michael Radock to Bill Moyers, 8 May 1964, “Remarks at the University of Michigan” file, Statements of Lyndon B Johnson, box 106, LBJ Library.
- 43.
Fitzpatrick’s contribution was to strongly urge the president to use the speech as a platform to promote Youth Volunteer provisions of the Poverty Bill. This was overlooked in favour of a more general call to arms against poverty. Memorandum to Jack Valenti and Bill Moyers from Jim Fitzpatrick, 12 May 1964, “Remarks at the University of Michigan” file, Statements of Lyndon B Johnson, box 106, LBJ Library.
- 44.
V D Bornet, The Presidency of Lyndon B Johnson (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1983), p. 102.
- 45.
Unger, The Best of Intentions, p. 19.
- 46.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , pp. 1879–80.
- 47.
Memo to Fred Panzer from B Marvel, 12 September 1967, Office Files of Frederick Panzer, box 405, LBJ Library, p. 1.
- 48.
Ibid.
- 49.
L Harris, “Decline of Johnson’s Popularity,” New York Times , 8 October 1967, copy in Office Files of Frederick Panzer, box 403, LBJ Library.
- 50.
B H Sparrow, “Who Speaks for the People? The President, the Press, and Public Opinion in the United States,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4 (December 2008), p. 589.
- 51.
Several commentators have noted the difficulty that often beset the president in his public appearances. His aides spent a lot of time beseeching him to show more of himself and less of what he thought the public wanted. Drew Pearson, a columnist and newspaperman active since 1925, noted in 1969, “He was trying too hard. On television if you’re not able to relax you’re no good at it. He was better at it when he carried the microphone around on a neck chain.” See Transcript, Drew Pearson Oral History Interview I, 10 April 1969, by Joe B. Frantz, Internet Copy, LBJ Library Online, p. 14. This will be discussed in further detail in later chapters.
- 52.
There is more precedent for presidents who endure tragedy remaining popular with the polling public—George W. Bush saw a spike in approval after the 9/11 attacks as his rating jumped from 51% to 90%. It would not sink back to 51% for several years, and he averaged a Gallup approval rating of 62% in his first term. See Gallup, Presidential Approval Ratings—George W. Bush, Gallup Company, https://news.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx.
- 53.
A Gallup Poll published on 26 November 1967 showed Johnson’s approval rating at 41%. His popularity in the East was all that kept him above an overall sub-40% rating at this time. Gallup, The Gallup Poll, p. 2091.
- 54.
Ball, The Past Has A Pattern, p. 379.
- 55.
Department of State Bulletin , 24 August 1964, p. 259.
- 56.
M A Ball, “Revisiting the Gulf of Tonkin Crisis: An Analysis of the Private Communication of President Johnson and his Advisors,” Discourse and Society, vol. 2, no. 3 (July 1991), p. 286.
- 57.
Ibid., p. 288.
- 58.
Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense (McNamara ), Foreign Relations of the United States [FRUS], 1964–1968, Volume I, Vietnam , 1964, doc. 275, 4 August 1964.
- 59.
L B Johnson, “Radio and Television Report to the American People Following Renewed Aggression in the Gulf of Tonkin,” 4 August 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26418.
- 60.
L B Johnson, “Remarks on Vietnam at Syracuse University,” 5 August 1965, Recording accessed online on 1 October 2017 from the Miller Center at https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/august-5-1964-remarks-vietnam-syracuse-university.
- 61.
M Lerner, “Vietnam and the 1964 Election: A Defense of Lyndon Johnson,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 4, (Fall 1995), p. 764.
- 62.
E Gruening and H Beaser, Vietnam Folly (New York: National Press, 1968), p. 250.
- 63.
Turner , Lyndon Johnson ’s Dual War, p. 84.
- 64.
Gruening and Beaser, Vietnam Folly, p. 240.
- 65.
T Powers, The War At Home (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973), p. 14.
- 66.
H R McMaster, Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson , Robert McNamara , the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies That Led to Vietnam (London: Harper Collins, 1997), p. 326. A general in the United States Army who has since served as an advisor to President Donald Trump, McMaster also levels harsh criticism at the ranking Joint Chiefs of Staff for not providing a successful or decisive plan of action for Vietnam, either to pacify the Viet Cong or to win the conflict against the North Vietnamese.
- 67.
F. M. Kail, What Washington Said (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 184.
- 68.
This is described in detail in B Rottinghaus, “Following the “Mail Hawks”: Alternative Measures of Public Opinion on Vietnam in the Johnson White House,” Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 3 (Autumn 2007), p. 370.
- 69.
See J Galloway, The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970), p. 69.
- 70.
“Wider War,” New York Times , 6 August 1964, p. 28.
- 71.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , pp. 1898–99.
- 72.
Ibid., p. 1899.
- 73.
Unnamed Johnson advisor, quoted in Galloway, The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, p. 99.
- 74.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , pp. 1880–2010.
- 75.
Telephone call from Johnson to Richard Goodwin, 5 June 1964, 12.58 pm. Transcript in Beschloss, Taking Charge, p. 384.
- 76.
Lyndon B Johnson, “Remarks in New York City to Members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union,” 6 June, 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26296.
- 77.
See Powers, The War At Home, p. 19.
- 78.
The story of Clifford’s meeting with Johnson is recounted in some detail in A J Langguth, Our Vietnam: The War 1954–1975 (New York: Simon and Schuster; 2000) pp. 297–99 and R Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Time 1961–1975, (Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1998) p. 142.
- 79.
Dallek, Flawed Giant, p. 142.
- 80.
Langguth, Our Vietnam, p. 297.
- 81.
Telephone conversation # 4268, sound recording, LBJ and BILL MOYERS, 7/17/1964, 6:26 PM, Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed February 04, 2021, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/tel-04268.
- 82.
See advertisement on YouTube, accessed on 3 August 2017, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Id_r6pNsus. In the poem, September 1, 1939, Auden wrote, “…We must love one another or die. …”
- 83.
J Ellul, Propaganda (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1965), pp. 165–66.
- 84.
Transcript in W L Benoit, Seeing Spots: A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television Advertisements (New York: Praeger, 1999), p. 41.
- 85.
Transcripts of several Johnson advertisements, each ending with this slogan, ibid., pp. 35–51.
- 86.
W Lippmann, “Goldwater Runs Against His Own Party,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), 9 January, 1964, p. 6.
- 87.
J J Matthews, “To Defeat A Maverick: The Goldwater Candidacy Revisited, 1963–1964,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 4, (Fall 1997), p. 673.
- 88.
Lyndon B Johnson, “Remarks in Memorial Hall, Akron University,” 21 October, 1964. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26635.
- 89.
See Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant For National Security Affairs (Bundy) to the President, FRUS, 1964–1968, Volume I, Vietnam , 1964, doc. 313, 13 August 1964, p. 673 and T Powers, The War At Home (New York: Grossman, 1973), p. 316.
- 90.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , p. 1906.
- 91.
Ibid., p. 1907.
- 92.
The polling for the final survey carried out several days after Johnson’s proclamation of 21 October provides a barometer of the effect that this had on his already abnormally high poll ratings.
- 93.
Stanley Karnow notes that Ball later resigned. See Karnow, Vietnam : A History (London: Century, 1983, p. 506.
- 94.
Ball, The Past Has A Pattern, p. 379.
- 95.
C L Cooper, The Lost Crusade: The Full Story of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam , From Roosevelt to Nixon (London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1971), p. 285.
- 96.
McNamara further discusses the reasons for his support of gradualisation and escalation in an oral history interview with the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. Transcript, R McNamara Oral History Interview I, 8 January 1975, by Walt R Rostow, p. 27, Internet Copy, LBJ Library.
- 97.
C Brown, “Nonlinear Transformation in a Landslide: Johnson and Goldwater in 1964,” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 37, no. 2 (May 1993), p. 609.
- 98.
W Berman, America’s Right Turn: From Nixon to Clinton (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998 [1994]), p. 5.
- 99.
For an interesting and informative view on the transformation of anti-communist though during the immediate postwar era, see J L Himmelstein, To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), pp. 33–38.
- 100.
E Black & M Black, The Rise of Southern Republicans (Cambridge [MA]: Harvard University Press, 2003), p. 205.
- 101.
Gallup, The Gallup Poll , p. 1911.
- 102.
Ibid., p. 1912.
- 103.
McNamara oral history interview 1, p. 22.
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Quail, B.W. (2021). 1963–1964: Assuming and Consolidating Power, Campaigning for Election. In: Media Management in the Age of Lyndon B. Johnson. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84946-7_3
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