Lady Bird
Perhaps the most interesting experience for me in working with the LBJ tapes came not with listening to the President but getting to hear the person on the other end of the line. Sometimes, the figure would be far less impressive than his historical reputation--Hubert Humphrey comes to mind. Sometimes, especially in conversations with Southern members of Congress, the tapes provide a window into a political world that has passed.
But Lady Bird was easily the most impressive of any other person on the LBJ tapes. She was the only caller who consistently could say no to LBJ--and have her word stick. For instance, following the October 1964 arrest of Walter Jenkins on a morals charge, she called the President to inform him that she planned on issuing a statement expressing personal sympathy for Jenkins and his family. Johnson told her not to do so (the average farmer, he said, would be outraged by such a statement; city folks, the President continued, might not mind).
But Lady Bird was calling to inform, not to seek permission. She issued the statement, and it helped to defuse the potential political damage--just one of the many times when her political instincts would be superior to her husband's.