I know liberals long for the good old days of the Great Society and the man who truly freed the slave! President Johnson was a very good politician, but a very lousy president!
Born: August 27, 1908, in the vicinity of Johnson City, Tex.
Died: January 22, 1973, at the LBJ Ranch, the 360-acre retreat not far from his birthplace.
His Person: An imposing 6'3", massive bone structure, slightly paunchy in middle age. Long nose, enormous fleshy ears, and leathery skin. Liked to relax every day with Cutty Sark Scotch stirred into watery highballs. Smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, then quit after suffering a severe heart attack at age 47. Boundless energy; as President, he worked every day from 6:30 A.M. till one or 2 the next morning, with a brief break for a nap after lunch.
Little-Known Facts:
After he became President, LBJ briefly considered firing FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, but eventually changed his mind. "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in," the President reasoned. Hoover developed a close relationship with Lyndon B. Johnson. The two men shared information that they had on senior politicians. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Hoover helped Johnson to cover-up the assassination and the Bobby Baker scandal.
Once, as Johnson prepared to leave an airport after a speech, an army staff sergeant noticed that the President was heading for the wrong helicopter. He came up to LBJ, pointing: "Mr. President, that is your helicopter over there." Johnson threw one of his huge arms over the sergeant's shoulders and smiled: "Son, they are all my helicopters."
Quotes from Johnson:
"Never trust a man whose eyes are too close to his nose."
"I wake up at 5 A.M. some mornings and hear the planes coming in at National Airport and I think they are bombing me."
"Just like the Alamo, somebody damn well needed to go to their aid. Well, by God, I'm going to Vietnam's aid."
"If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we'll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we'll have to fight in San Francisco."
"I can't trust anybody! What are you trying to do to me? Everybody is trying to cut me down, destroy me!"--To an aide, 1967
Quotes about Him:
"When all the returns are in, perhaps President Johnson will have to settle for being recognized as the greatest American President for the poor and for the Negroes, but that, as I see it, is a very great honor indeed."--Ralph Ellison
"He doesn't like cold intellectuals around him. He wants people who will cry when an old lady falls down in the street."--Jack Valenti
"Can it be that this President, so competent and masterful and overwhelming, is plagued and eaten and driven to immoderation by some inward insecurity?"--John Osborne
And historians today don't understand why America had such great hope for Richard Nixon!
sources: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhooverE.htm
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