LBJ Memories

Harry McPherson, a former aide to LBJ who went on to serve as the widely hailed head of the Johnson Presidential Library, has a well-reasoned essay in today's Politico. He writes,

There is a line – clear, firm and unbroken – linking Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. That is a heavy part of the historic significance of this day.

But if Barack Obama recognizes that link – if he is in any way aware of the historic debt he owes to the president who forced open the door – he has yet to acknowledge it. Not once during his long campaign did Obama mention Johnson’s name. He accepted the nomination of his and Johnson’s party on the 100th anniversary of Johnson’s birth, and still was silent on the symbiotic relationship connecting the two.

For Barack Obama, it’s as if Lyndon Johnson had never existed.

Another Johnson memory from the latest release of LBJ tapes, this one regarding the President's criteria for a Supreme Court nominee. In a conversation with Abe Fortas, the man he wanted to elevate to the chief justice slot, Johnson went through the leading candidates to replace Fortas as associate justice. He concludes with commentary on Treasury Secretary Joe Fowler:

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: He just does everything. He comes through fine. He runs one of the tightest departments in the government.

FORTAS: Mm-hmm.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: He’s as logical as Clark Clifford—one, two, three. But he’s awfully boring listening to.

FORTAS: [Unclear.]

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Huh?!

FORTAS: He’ll drive Bill Douglas off the Court. [Chuckles.]

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Well, I think that might be . . .

FORTAS: Bill likes him, though. But he’s just so damn tedious.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Well, he is! He’s tedious and methodical.

I’ll tell you what he does, though, this: if you give him 10 minutes, he puts in 9½. I have never seen him run over what you tell him.

FORTAS: Is that right?

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: That’s right! But the way he says it, there’s something about it. It’s not—he has no intonation, no inflections, no “Goddamnits.”

FORTAS: Yeah, that’s right.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Well, I know you’ve got to go, and I just got to get some more . . .

How are you going to rate these people—one, two, three, four, five?

FORTAS: I—

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: From the standpoint of my practical problem, and what I may want to do here on all the other things. I’ve got geography, I’ve got the Senate, I’ve got these philosophies, I’ve got to have sure votes.

I want continuity, I want a little age—look at this not from your standpoint.

FORTAS: Well—

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Look at it from my standpoint, of knowing me as you know me, and what I want. I want somebody that I’ll always be proud of his vote. That’s the first thing. I may not be proud of his opinion, but I want to be proud of the side he was on. He may not be as eloquent as Hugo Black, or you, or somebody. But I want to be damn sure he votes right. That’s the first thing.