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W hether you like him or not, i’ve often said, lyndon B. Johnson was one of the most interesting presidents we’ve ever had. he could be a dignified gentleman, a crude guy, a friendly fellow and a sadistic person, a big talker but a good absorber, too, a workaholic but also a hilarious fun-maker, and, above all, a hard-working political leader who would fight as hard as he had to in order to get legislation passed that he thought would make the united states a better country. “My father was naughty,” admitted his daughter, luci, in an interview with ken herman, a writer for the Austin American Statesman , on april 3, 2011. “i’m sure his mother sent him to the corner on more than one occasion. and for good reason, too.” H H H lyndon Johnson was eager to learn what people thought about the issues when he was president. sometimes, when entertaining guests at the White house, he turned the meeting after dinner into a kind of classroom with himself as the instructor. he started things off by passing a basket around containing slips of paper marked either “speaker” or “writer” for his guests to pick out. the people who got the papers marked “speaker” were expected to tell him what was on their minds that evening. those who happened to take out the papers marked “writer” were expected to write him letters discussing the issues that concerned them the most, to which he would respond by phone or mail. once the papers were distributed, he called on the “speakers,” from one table after another, and listened quietly to what they said about the economy, education, civil rights, medical programs, and foreign policy. The Diversions of Lyndon B. Johnson CHAPTER 21 169 170 The Diversions of Lyndon B. Johnson one evening, a business executive came up with some criticism of Johnson’s style. “Mr. President,” he said, “we’ve heard these briefings and we’ve seen the people in your cabinet. they are very talented, very bright, very wise people. But they all look very tired. Mr. President, in business in our company we require that our top executives each go away and take at least a month of vacation a year. i suggest that you insist on that for your people.” Johnson frowned fiercely as the man was talking, for he didn’t like to be lectured. When the man finished giving the president his advice, the room remained quiet until Johnson motioned for the next speaker to say something. the businessman had hit a sore spot on Johnson. he was irritated when people told him that he overworked the people on his staff. he worked hard himself—he was a workaholic—and he saw no reason why the people working for him shouldn’t work hard too. Zephyr Wright, his cook, once told him, “anybody who works for you for a long time has to love you, because you kill yourself and everybody else too.” in november 1963, when Johnson became president after the assassination of President kennedy, reporters preparing stories about Johnson for their newspapers found it almost impossible to dig up anything about his hobbies. Johnson “has no daily routine of relaxation,” concluded the associated Press, “but at the end of the day, he liked to sit and talk.” once, when someone mentioned hobbies to Johnson, he exclaimed: “hobbies!!! What in hell are hobbies? i’ve got too much work to do to have hobbies!” he did, to be sure, take time off now and then to board the presidential yacht, the Honey Fitz, with his wife and friends, and cruise down to Mount Vernon and back. he also liked spending vacations at the Johnson ranch in texas. But his work as president was usually on his mind when he was supposed to be relaxing. he talked politics when he was playing golf with various congressmen. and when he went to a baseball game, he had presidential problems on his mind so much that he hardly paid any attention to the game going on. “on such days,” recalled George reedy, one of his press secretaries, “i sat at home praying that television cameras would not catch him with his back turned to the field in deep conversation about a tax bill or an upcoming election while a triple play was in process or when a cleanup hitter had just knocked a home run with the bases loaded.” one of Johnson...

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