American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 36.1 Lyndon B Johnson

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

LBJ is not perhaps the most well known of the post war presidents. But why? Maybe if you dig deep down you will find a really good guy with a great character. Like, really deep. Bring some friends with shovels. 

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, Linda B. Johnson, part one. Hello, and welcome to American Presidents Totalus Rankium. I am Jamie. And I'm Rob Ranking all of the presidents from Washington to Biden. And this is episode 36.1. It's Lyndon B. Johnson. Yeah. New president. Yeah. Interesting name as well, Lyndon. Lyndon, yeah, it's an interesting name.

It's also a president, forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn here, but maybe one that you don't particularly know of that well. I know he's after Kennedy, obviously. Yeah. I know he took, there's a photograph of him standing next to Jackie, like a bloodstained dress on. Oh, God, right, okay. Brainstrain, probably, and he's taking the oath

um i think it's i don't know where it was it is either in a hospital or air force we will cover that at the start of next episode yeah of course not quite this episode um but yeah i've heard he's got he's quite negative that he's not looked on fondly oh well we will see uh we've had we've had quite a few big names haven't we we? Yeah. Yeah, we have. But now, maybe one of the lesser known ones of the post-war years. But anyway, let's just go in. Let's do this. Let's get an introduction.

A wooden floor. But really close up, you can almost see the grains. You can't tell it's a wooden floor. It looks like a plank of wood to start with. And then you zoom out. Yeah, okay. And you realise it's more polished than you thought. You keep zooming out. And it's a dark oak, possibly, wooden floor. It looks like a plank of wood to start with. And you zoom out. Yeah, okay. And you realise it's more polished than you thought. You keep zooming out.

And it's a dark oak, possibly, dance floor. Zoom out, zoom in. There's just people dancing in the middle of this dance floor. There you go. Have fun with that. Ah! Come on, you can do it. You can do it.

Look, we've had, like, luminous dinosaurs. We have, but this is this close something that happened real life and I'm trying to remember the detail yeah yeah I want my own yeah I mean the big bucks for Rob okay so I can do this I can do this right start on the grain of some wood it's uh did you say nicely polished yeah when you zoom areas it's more polished than you thought okay I know, you really zoomed in. I can see the grain through the lacquer kind of thing. Then you zoom out, oh, it's polished.

Oh, a bit light. When you say more polished than you thought, it's because originally you thought it was the least polished wood in the world ever. Yeah. It's now just slightly polished. It's still a bit rough around the edge. Yeah, that's fine. Anyway, you zoom out, pan out, I'm going to say. Pan out, and as you keep panning out, you realise as people come into shop,

they're all doing a dance. Yeah. And it's great. Great fun. Do you want to hear the music that's being played as they dance? Yeah. Do you? Is it WAP by Cardi B?

No. Oh. I can now hear it. I'll have to do some editing to make this work, but hopefully you'll hear it in a second. This will be far smoother in the actual recording because I'll just make editing magic happen. Right, through WhatsApp, I've just sent you a link.

Hillbilly boys, please pass the biscuits. Oh, dear. I'm not feeling good about this. So, as you're zooming out, this music starts to play. Yeah. And everyone's having a dance to this. I'm going to leave it quietly playing in the background

as you're narrating. I like it. Okay. Can you hear it right now? Yeah, I can hear it very faintly in the background as you're talking. It's great. You're louder.

Good, good. It's all a bit hootenanny, isn't it? This is a lovely experience, yeah. Yeah, okay can hear it very faintly in the background as you're talking. It's great. You're louder. Good, good. It's all a bit hooted now, isn't it? This is a lovely experience, yeah. Yeah, okay. So this is going on. Everyone's jumping around, slapping their thighs. There's a quite large man called Pappy on stage. He's doing a big song and a dance. He's singing. He's singing now, yeah. I can hear it.

Yeah, yeah. He's there with the hillbilly boys. And then slowly turn around so the camera's just revolving around the room, almost as if you're in the dance as well. But then, as it swings by, pans by, you could say, the door, you see staring in the door with a very grim face, a very grim-looking man. And he's not dancing. He's not smiling. And just keep zooming into his face, keep zooming into his face, keep zooming into his face,

keep zooming into his face, panning into his face, you could say. Is the music getting more distorted as it's moving in? Yes, yes, it definitely is. Like a personality black hole, kind of? Yeah, yeah, the music just becomes all sort of slowed down and sort of a bit more bassy. I hope you do this in the edit. And then as you zoom into the face of this

person, just, you hear the inner monologue just on the eyes. You just hear a voice saying, I'll get you, pappy. Oh, yes, I will. And then, Lyndon B. Johnson comes up on screen. Nice.

Okay, I like that. So, there you go. Interesting. Interesting. See? Got music. Got music in this one. Do you know what the effect of just having that really quietly in the background of your talk there? Did that work quite well?

We need to do that more often. We need to get some more sound effects so I can just have more in the background when you're talking. It's because I had a song lined up for this episode, you see. Yeah. So maybe I should always try and have a song lined up. Yes. Right.

Okay. Well, here we go. Who's Pappy? Who's the grim-faced man? Did that scene actually happen, or is it just something I've made up? Let's do this. Let's start, shall we? We're starting in 1908.

Why? Why? Because on the 27th of August in 1908, on a farm in rural Texas, a young boy was called. Was called? Was called? Was called Lyndon. He was born as well. There we go.

Yeah, we're rural Texas. Think this is very much a time of dirt roads, of horses and buggies. No one really had a car back then in this area. No electricity. Water came from wells, that kind of thing. Okay. Now, the Johnson family, Samuel and Rebecca, they were a good couple of days' journey from the nearest major city,

so we're talking fairly rural here. Wow. Yeah. I'm guessing farmland. Yes, yes, very much farmland. They're on a farm. Grow dust. Yes.

Tasty dust. Think poverty here. In fact, when Johnson grew up, he would say, when I was young, poverty was so common, it didn't have a name. Wow. It was just life. So you've got Sam and Rebecca on this farm. Life is poor.

But they think they're a cut above the rest of the farmers nearby because, actually, they weren't doing too badly. Sam had been elected to the Texas legislature and Rebecca, in a time that made this very rare for women, had a degree from an actual university. What? Like a real one, not a fake one? Yeah, not even a fake one. And also, to give you a bit more flavor of the area the nearest large city might have been two days travel away but johnson city was closer and this was a it's more of a town than a city it certainly didn't have paved roads or electricity but johnson city was named after a

cousin so like the family name johnson anyway so it's into this sort of environment that linden is born yeah if you got a sister goat is it a sister that went to university or a mum? What did you say? Mother. Mother. His mother went to university. So her parents probably paid for a university. Yeah.

And she married downwards. You know what? I didn't think to check, but let's just say yes. Yes, she did. Anyway, Lyndon's born. And then four more children soon follow. Not immediately I imagine some other things happened in between them

There was another boy and three daughters Now, Lyndon, as the older boy Already loved to be centre of attention This is something that he was known for from a very early age So much so, when his siblings start coming along Always not happy He's only about four at this point And he starts running away from home Wow So much so, when his siblings start coming along, oh, he's not happy. He's only about four at this point,

and he starts running away from home. Wow. Yeah, he does not like the fact that his parents are now paying attention to little brother and little sisters. So he just starts doing runners. Mommy and Daddy, I'm leaving here. There's nothing you can do about it. That's fine, son, but if you do, you're going to be dead with exposure within an hour.

Yeah, pretty much. That's pretty much how it happens. I mean, he's only four. There's only so far he can go. Running away probably just meant going to the other end of the farm. Yeah. But he wasn't happy. He likes attention. He's a bit of a jealous

sibling. Apart from his jealousy, life is fairly relaxed for young Lyndon on the farm. Just a nice easy upbringing. He's too young to realise how poor they are, so he just kind of gets on with life. Although his first memory is actually one of his mother and his father having an argument, because Rebecca really liked Lyndon's curly hair, so let it grow out quite a bit.

Lyndon remembers his father complaining, and I'll quote here, he's a boy and you're making a sissy out of him. You've got to cut those curls. Same thing I say to you every day. Yeah, yeah. Rebecca refused to do this, but no, I like the boy's hair. But next time she was at church, Lyndon's father took a pair of scissors to his hair. Apparently his parents didn't talk for a week.

Well, the last thing you want is a dad haircut. Yes. Get the feeling this was full-on bowl-on-head, trim-round-the-edge kind of thing. With the sheep-shearing scissors. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's whatever's close to hand.

Hatchet. Yes, hatchet. Right, semi as a wall. Full-on wood saw. Lyndon apparently seems to take his father's side in this argument, because a couple of years later, he refused to carry on the violin and dance lessons that his mother had arranged for him rebecca apparently didn't talk to her son for several days after this she wanted his her son to be a man of culture and learn things um lyndon was having none of this no i'm not gonna learn the stupid violin i'm not going to dance just gonna do whatever I want. I'm going to fight cattle and cut corn. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. And also he wants to go and follow his father because that's what he's really interested in. He wants to follow almost literally in his father's footsteps. In 1918, at the age of 10, Sam, so his father, was once more elected to the state legislature. And Lyndon starts going with him to Austin to witness what his father does. So he's already getting a taste of politics. Yes, and he is fascinated by it. He doesn't really care about school or anything and learning, but watching his dad do his political business with all the other important men in the important city

and the important building, this seems more interesting to young Lyndon. Daddy, you lie for a job? That sounds amazing! Why, yes, Lyndon. Is this whole episode going to be full of your amazing Texas accent? Definitely. Good. By the time he's done, because he's now working,

he puts on the posh English accent. Oh, yeah, definitely. Why, yes, son. They all had English accents back then. This is 1918. Apart from Lyndon, he was the first one to develop an American accent. Yes, why yes, son. They all had English accents back then. This is 1918. Apart from Lyndon, he was the first one to develop an American accent. Yes, exactly. It was seen as a peculiarity at the time, but it soon got on.

Anyway, Sam, he's an unbending politician. He's either always stood up straight, or he's just constantly bent over, and he can't bend it back up. I can't picture which. Always stood up straight, and if he wants to relax, he just leans against the wall. But not in a casual way.

In like a 45 degree angle way. Like a plank of wood. Like a plank of wood, yeah. Because unlike most, he refused to tow the party line. He also refused to be bought by lobbyists. He was his own man, dammit. He wasn't going to do what other people told him to do. Wow.

He also fought against the growing rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the region. So that's good. I'd say that's positive. He had a very strong sense of justice that he instilled in his young son. However, if Lyndon witnessed how his father was a straight arrow as a politician, he also would have witnessed, or at least got wind of the fact, that his father also used going to Austin as a way to heavily drink and pay for the company of the ladies. Like a drinking buddy. I can only assume so, yes. Something in which he would very much take after his father in later

life. Ah. Yes. Now, even at home, Lyndon became obsessed with politics and the job of his father. Obviously, Sam quite often had relatively important men coming around to the farm to discuss things, and whenever they did, Lyndon would hide outside the room and just listen to the political discourse, because there wasn't much to do in Texas in 1918, I can only assume. However, even more exciting than eavesdropping on his father or trips to austin was the campaign trail little lyndon loved this he would go along with his dad campaigning it was the best time he had as a child in fact i'll quote him here we were driving the model t fort from farm to farm up and

down the valley stopping at every door my father would do most of the talking he would bring neighbors up to date on the local gossip, talk about the crops and the bills he would introduce. Families all the way along opened up their homes to us. If it was hot outside, we were invited in

for homemade ice cream and if it was cold, we were given hot tea. Christ, sometimes I wished it would go on forever. So, I was having a good time. It was really nothing to do,

wasn't it? It really wasn't. I suppose it's either that or, I don't't know playing the dust yeah yeah so that's what he did i mean the only other thing he did really was uh go to school and he didn't particularly like it i mean he was described as a quick-witted student but he was also described as the kind of student who never really applied himself he was as we've seen before very much a. Mum was always putting tea mugs on him.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he got Bs, mostly. He never did particularly well, but he never particularly tried. He had no interest in school. He soon fell in with a group of like-minded friends, because by the time he was in his middle teens, he was regularly found driving around with his friends, completely blind drunk. Despite the fact that Prohibition obviously is coming at this time, time he was in his middle teens he was regularly found driving around with his friends completely blind drunk despite the fact that prohibition obviously has come in at this time it's like well no one's stopping people drinking in royal texas are they so yeah so him and his friends managed to get hold of some moonshine and just got blind drunk and uh rode around in a car sounds great yeah don't do that listeners don't get drunk and drive. Texas is very big.

Everything's very far apart. It's less likely you'll hit something. They would routinely taunt the local sheriff, apparently. Just mock him and then run away or drive away. One day they burnt down a farmer's barn. It was that kind of high drinks. Yeah. Right.

Less pranks, more actually just being... Arsonists. Yeah, damn right, arsonists. And drink driving. It's not ideal when you're in your mid-teens. Sam, remembering the keen follower of his political career from a few years ago, started to despair. His son seemed so promising a few years ago,

but that seems to be disappearing. Apparently one day he said to Rebecca, that boy of yours isn't worth a damn. That never amount to anything, that boy of yours isn't worth a damn. That never amount to anything, not a goddamn thing. So, not too pleased. He also voiced his fear that Lyndon would end up in the penitentiary. That's obviously where this is going.

I mean, it's looking quite likely at this point. Well, yeah. Despite this, however, Lyndon did graduate school and did reasonably well. I mean, well enough that his mother and father pressured him to go to college. Yeah. It's like, if you're going to make something out of your life, you've got to go to college. Now, because the school he graduated from wasn't accredited, he would have to do an extra year before he could apply. So he had to do an extra year of school and then go to college.

And by this time, Lyndon had had enough. He hated school he didn't want to be there there's no way he's going back to do a bonus year before going to something else that he didn't want to do also he was fed up of living in the middle of nowhere where there was nothing to do so he was going to do what he used to do when he was four years old run away yay yeah only this time he's now um he's now approaching adulthood so old, run away. Yay! Yeah, only this time he's now approaching adulthood, so he can run away further. He's got a car.

Well, it wasn't his car, as far as I'm aware. I think it was a car that was borrowed. Hmm. Yeah. But anyway, guess where he runs away to? The next farm? No, even further. He goes to California.

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. They head west, him and four other friends they've had enough of texas they're gonna go west they're gonna did did they crank on the tom waitson going out west yes they did that's exactly what they did full-on road trip along those long wide and very straight roads with no petrol stations for miles yes actually that must have been quite a risky thing to do back then.

Oh, yeah, yeah, it was. If you're going on a journey like that in a car, you had to have someone who knew how to fix a car. Yeah. Because your car was probably going to break down at some point. And you'd probably have to carry loads of petrol with you. Yeah, yeah. Or gas.

Yeah. I wouldn't want to drive from one end of America to the other today, let alone back then. It's like if your car breaks down and you can't fix it, there's a good chance you'd starve to death. I mean, you're going to be very far away from people. And the speed of the car as well. It probably took like eight months just to get across Texas. Probably, yeah.

But they do it. They head off. Sam told his son that if he dared leave, he'd yank him back by the ears but linden decided to give it a chance anyway so he hops in the car and off they go i'll quote him from later in life we thought we'd go out there and make a lot of easy money uh didn't work as you can imagine now there's actually very little evidence of what linden got up to in California at this time. He later described it as living a vagabond life. He appears to have reached the coast and then spent just over a year going up and down the coast, working any job that would pay him and scratching out a living.

He does that until eventually he realises he can do it no more. This is no way to live. So, with empty pockets and his tail between his legs, he returns home. And immediately, as you can imagine, the pressure is on for him to go to college yet again. But Lyndon's having none of this. No, I didn't come back to go to school. I'll get a job. Now, his father was

frustrated, but okay, rather than working than doing nothing. And by this point, his father was no longer in politics. And his father had a job in construction, road construction. There weren't many roads back then, so they were building them. Brilliant. Great.

So here you go. You can have this job. Job opened up. Lyndon hated it. He was miserable. He did not enjoy working building roads. He saw a life of boring work open out in front of him. So he went back to his rebellious teenage ways.

They never left. No. Yeah. So he went back to his rebellious teenage ways. They never left. Yeah. So he carried on with his rebellious teenage ways, shall I say. He made friends with a group who called themselves the Wild Bunch. That's not boding well. It's not boding well, is it? They drank. They got into fights.

They had drag races. Oh, they were actually wild then. You know when you meet someone and say, I'm a little bit crazy and they're the most dull person in the world i i think they possibly drank out of mugs that said you don't have to be wild to be in the wild bunch but it helps they did things like that yeah um they also stole dynamite from the construction sites they worked on and just set them off for fun things like that see that's kind of fun yeah as you can see it's escalating from setting barns on fire it's now blowing up buildings say so yeah yeah apparently it's quite hard to work with enjoying the construction work he didn't listen to his father um he got everyone into trouble one day because uh they were behind

schedule and everyone was trying to hide this from the boss and one day he just went up to the boss and went oh we're behind schedule and yeah so not not great quite a few people got fired uh yeah including including him after about a year he got fired along with his dad. Turnover and stuff, but yeah, you can get the feeling that Lyndon was top of the list. By this time, he's 18. Apparently, he thinks quite highly of himself. I mean, he's in the Wild Bunch now.

Apparently, he always wore brightly coloured silk shirts and had a strut that got him noticed. So he's basically hit the 70s already. Yes, very much so. Just imagine John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Oh, Bee Gees in the background. That is how he is looking. And everyone else in the Wild Bunch just looks like Rebel Without a Cause. So, I mean, it's a bit of a mismatch,

but that's what's going on right now so there he is in his silk shirts and his and his strut that he's got him having the strut works with him being john travolta as well because that is just the opening credits so yeah he used to walk around with a can of paint all the time who else wore silk shirts We've had another president who wore silk shirts, didn't we? I can't remember. Oh, who was it? It was someone who was in World War I and he came back and opened up a shop. Oh!

I can't remember. It would not surprise me if we've already said that someone looks like John Travolta with a silk shirt on. Yeah, it's the kind of thing we'd say. We probably are just repeating and recycling material now. Editing Rob here. It's Truman. It's obviously Truman.

I'm not sure why I drew a blank during the episode, but I did go back and check. We said he probably looked like Elvis, like Vegas Elvis. So therefore, the Saturday Night Fever thing, all good. Anyway, back to the show. But anyway, never mind. There there he is he's got his fancy shirts on um he's strutting around he did get quite a bit of attention apparently although just as often by other males who were also strutting around as he did by the females yeah

apparently he got into quite a few fights and then one night he managed to annoy a local farmhand who apparently had hands the size of shovels. Right. And he had the crap beaten out of him. Like, seriously, he apparently ruined the white silk shirt that he was wearing. He was just covered in blood. Again, this fits so well with Saturday Night Fever. It really does. Because he's now covered in the blood and everything.

So, yeah, he manages to get home the blood and everything. So, yeah. He manages to get home. He's a mess. Complete mess. His mother cries over his bloodied body and asked him, what on earth are you doing with your life? Are you really satisfied with this? And apparently something caved

and he goes, fine, I'll go to college. Something about him being beaten up made him realise he needs to change his life. However, was he good enough to go to college? It's not like he ever tried at school. Yeah, I mean, he was clever enough to still pass and get Bs and stuff. Yeah, I mean, he does get in.

Long story short there, he does manage to get into a college in San Marco. But once he's in, his grades are certainly no better than they were at school. Bs, mostly Cs, a few Ds, that kind of thing. He became very discouraged very quickly and started to talk about quitting. It did not help that in order to afford to be there, he had to work as the school janitor, which is not ideal. However, despite the fact he wasn't doing very well

academically, he soon realized that he did actually have a talent And that was the same talent that his father had He could ingratiate himself with people Very easily Soon enough The staff thought very well of this lanky boy Who was hanging around Out of the 700 boys enrolled Apparently he was the only one who'd ever stay after class

And then talk politics with the teachers Because of this he managed to get a new job. Instead of the janitor, he became the school messenger, essentially. But we're talking very primitive times in rural Texas. People couldn't just phone each other up back then. So how did the staff deliver messages to each other? Well, they got one of the boys to run notes. So that's what he did. So

obviously he gets to know all the staff quite well. However, he was less good at making friends with his peers, apparently. The Black Stars were the elite group of the school. They got to go to the best parties. They got to go first in the canteen queue. If you were a Black Star, you were cool. He wasn't allowed in because he was no good at sports ah yeah always the same always the same so yeah as much as quite a few of them in the black stars actually quite liked him he wasn't a sporty person so sorry nope so he wasn't allowed in the elite cool group he also got rejected by his first major crush so someone called carolies. Things started off quite well with Carol Davies, but eventually she goes,

nah, I'm not feeling it. Although, to be fair, he probably dodged a bullet here, because her father was a very prominent member of the Ku Klux Klan. Wow, yeah, I mean, that's not ideal. That's not ideal, is it? Anyway, in his senior year, in order to complete

the year, he needed more money, so he took some time off to go and get a job. What do you think he it? Wow. No. Anyway, in his senior year, in order to complete the year, he needed more money. So he took some time off to go and get a job. What do you think he does? Works in a political office, as in like a clerk or something, you know. Oh, you see that? He would have loved that. But no, that was a hard job to get. Instead, a nice easy job.

Teaching. Yes. He found a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, which is like compared to where he was in the middle of nowhere. We're talking really in the middle of nowhere now, quite near the border with Mexico. OK. Yeah. Most of the town was made up of Mexican immigrants and he was shocked at what he saw. The town was fully segregated and the Mexican families were treated treated and I'll quote him here, worse than dogs. I mean, this is aware of it at this point. Well, yeah, he was aware

of it, which is good. What's less good is the Mexican children that he taught were literally starving. I mean, they would routinely go through the bins to try and just find scraps to try and eat. Yeah, this is not good. The job brought something out in Lyndon.

Apparently, the other five teachers in the school openly disliked the students, and at the end of the day, you would just get out of there as quickly as possible. But Lyndon stayed late to do extra activities with the kids. He'd use his own money to buy them sporting equipment and things like that. Yeah.

Don't get me wrong, he's still a product of his time. He taught the children in his class exactly why the United States were right to invade Mexico in the war. And he also taught them that English obviously was the superior language, so they should probably stop speaking Spanish. But apart from things like this, he generally did a good job. Eventually, he earned enough money to complete his final year at san marco which he did and he graduated with unremarkable grades which is nice by this time it's 1930 and linden goes back home to find a family on the poverty line sam still not able to get back into politics and was really struggling to make ends meet.

But 1930 also happened to be an election year. And Lyndon, by this point, had decided what he wanted to do with his life. There was only one thing he'd ever got passionate about, and that was politics. So he was going to get involved. If nothing else, he would do his best to campaign to get electricity in his hometown. Because after he got back, he watched his mother slaving away trying to get things in order in the house and realized how much easier it would be if they had electricity so that's what he wanted so he was able through connections with his dad to get a job working for welly hopkins yeah hopkins was running for state senate also he used another family connection to get another teaching job as well, just to make sure he had enough money to tide himself over. But it was definitely the politics

that interested him at this time. However, something then happened that would change his life. And this happened several times during his life. Someone dies. His dad. No, this was a congressman for his district. That means a special election was going to be held in 1931 to replace him. Now, a rich Texas man named Kleberg. Kleberg. Kleberg. K-L-E-B-E-R-G.

Kleberg. I think it'd probably be pronounced Kleberg, but it's obviously Kleberg. Kleberg. I mean, you've got to say it in a Texas accent for a start. Kleberg. Kleberg. Kleberg.

Kleberg. Damn you, Kleberg. Yeah, it's definitely Kleberg, isn't it? Anyway, Kleberg wins. And Kleberg was supported by Welly Hopkins and Linton's father. Now, Welly and Sam both knew Kleberg well enough that they were able to put a word in with the new congressman. You're going to need a private secretary when you go to Washington, the big city. So why not take young Lyndon?

No, his grades aren't great, but he's keen and he loves politics. So go on. Amazingly, this works. Kleberg agrees. The job was offered. A very excited Lyndon quits his teaching job i'd like to think it was done in a dramatic halfway through a mass lesson damn you and your calculations this is how you add frat you know what i don't care i don't care how you add fractions i'm off to washington so Denominator this. Gives a finger and walks out.

Kicks over one of the desks and just leaves. Tells one child that they're a mountain of nothing. And off he goes. Yeah, straight away, life changes. He travels to Washington with his new boss in a fancy Pullman train car. This is luxury that he'd

never seen before. And once he gets... There are windows! Well, once he gets to the capital, they stay in the Mayflower Hotel. Very fancy hotel. Now, he only stays there very briefly whilst other lodgings can be found for him

because, after all, he was just a young private secretary to a congressman. But, to begin with, that was very fancy. They did find a place for him to stay, though, and that was in the basement of Dodge Hotel, which doesn't sound quite as good as staying in the Mayflower, does it? I do have a picture of him turning up outside Dodge Hotel and the signs blinking neon and falling to the floor yeah it goes into the lobby

it's like oh make door suppose and then someone says this way sir and opens a door and it's just creaky stairs leading down to the basement it's not it's not a room it's literally just the basement bit of hay on the floor yeah so there's a leaky tap. So we strongly advise you do not drink from that tap. Because that's what Eric did. Look at him over there. We haven't moved him yet. Yeah. So anyway, he's in the basement at Dodge Hotel.

I'm perhaps being mean to Dodge Hotel here. It's not a hugely fancy hotel, but it was home to a lot of the staffers, to a lot of important people. It wasn't where the important people stayed, but it's where the people who worked for the important people stayed. And actually... Information gathering. Well, oh yeah, this could be very useful. I mean, Johnson was able to use his Texan charm to soon get to know many of those people staying there. And through these connections, he also started to be introduced to actual real congressmen as well. So he starts networking and this is something he can do well. He can press the flesh. He can go and chat to people, get to know people. On top of this, he joined what was known as Little Congress. This was just a social club, essentially made up of congressional aides. got together they drank

and talked about their jobs it wasn't really anything big but when he was elected speaker shortly afterwards he threw his effort behind it and soon enough it had over 200 members and regularly had key speakers turn up to meetings actually became a networking paradise something that people would actually look forward to It wasn't just an excuse to get together and drink. It was an excuse to get together, drink and actually do something that might help your career. So, yeah, that was good. By this time, the Great Depression's really

taken hold. Now, Johnson wasn't personally affected too much because he had a government salary. So, he actually was fairly secure. But as private secretary to a congressman, it was Johnson's job to answer many of the letters that were piling up begging for help. In 1932, veterans from World War I descended upon Washington,

asking for their bonuses that had been promised early. If you remember, we covered this in Hoover's episode. Yeah. Yeah, now, Kleberg originally was against the idea of paying these bonuses early, but Johnson convinced his boss that, actually, if you go for this, it will play well in your district. There are a lot of veterans in your district.

You'll come off well. You might not personally like the idea, but I think maybe you should support this. And also, it's not going to go anywhere. It's going to fail in the Senate anyway, so you might as well say, yes, I support this. And also, it's not going to go anywhere. It's going to fail in the Senate anyway, so you might as well say, yes, I support it, happy in the knowledge it's not actually going to get through. So we've got early suggestions here

that even though Kleberg is the actual person in Congress, his young aide is already thinking smartly politically. Now, if you remember as hoover was in charge he decided to send the troops out against campaigners in the capital and it's actually macarthur remember general macarthur yeah oh yeah yeah he he goes out on his white horse and rides them down yes yeah uh johnson horrified to see the marchers being driven down Pennsylvania and are, quote, like sheep led by a man on a white horse. That's almost exactly what it was.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Then in 1932, Roosevelt becomes president. Ah, Roosevelt. Yes. And Johnson was very impressed. The proposed New Deal was exactly what the country needed according to johnson not only would it help people uh but more importantly in johnson's eyes it was just damn

good politics oh yeah the president's come in and told the people what they want to hear and now has huge support yeah i guess as well it's quite anti-conservative as well. It's like government are meddling. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. People are desperate. This was very progressive politics for the time. And Johnson saw that, yeah, this is what needs to happen. This is what's going to be popular. So I'm going to support this.

So that's what's going on in his political life. But in his personal life, he meets a young lady at this point. Ooh. Yes, going back to Texas for a visit. He's in Austin. And a mutual friend introduced him to Claudia Taylor. No one called her Claudia Taylor, though everyone called her Lady Bird.

Lady Bird. Which is a very nice, formal-sounding name, isn't it? Yeah. I am Lady Bird. Yes, exactly. Because I'm a lady and I'm a bird yeah you know her well i see yeah he's read her autobiography um yeah johnson very impressed with lady bird uh he he went on the attack kill her well the very first time they met, he asked whether she wanted to have breakfast with him the following morning.

Very forward, especially for back then. Yeah. Yes. A few days later, he drove her 60 miles to go and meet his mother and then drove her to the Kleberg mansion to show off. Look at these rich people I know. Lady Bird apparently felt swept off her feet, almost like she was in a fairy tale. know ladybird apparently felt swept off her feet almost like she was in a fairy tale she was also understandably a little bit overwhelmed and was having doubts it's like this is a little bit full-on uh do i really like this guy or am i just being swept up i'm gonna have to take time and

think carefully about what i want to do at this point johnson cuts her off oh no no no and i'll quote here, let's get married. If you say no, it just proves you don't love me enough to dare to marry me. We either do it now or we never will. I mean, it kind of gets the just say no thing,

doesn't it? Because you can say yes to something, but not actually truly want to do it. Well, they got married the week after. Just general MacArthur on his horse. What? Death stroke, you know, because he's running over the thought, I'm going to get MacArthur on this.

She can, you know, make sure she goes through with it kind of thing. That is a terrifying image. It's still covered in the blood of the protesters from the previous year. I mean, but Johnson and MacArthur do meet again at some point. At the wedding. Possibly. Maybe, maybe, Maybe he was there Encouraging Lady Bird

To say yes Who knows Say yes Nay Well Just the horse They have a honeymoon In New Mexico

Which is nice And then they go To Washington together And they rent A two room apartment How nice Yeah Marriage bliss

Yeah However Bad news Kleberg then fires Johnson Oh Why Yeah How nice. Marriage bliss. However, bad news. Kleberg then fires Johnson. Oh, why? Well, it's not entirely clear. A couple of theories. One is that the congressman felt that Johnson was going too far with his vocal support for the New Deal.

Kleberg was not quite as progressive as that. He didn't want his private secretary constantly talking about how great the New Deal was. Yeah. Or, maybe, Kleberg just wanted a private secretary who didn't spend almost all his time on self-promotion. You're meant to be working for me, not just networking for yourself. Or, according to one rumour, it wasn't actually Kleberg who wanted to fire Johnson. It was his wife, Mrs. Kleberg. Oh.

Mrs. Kleberg wanted Johnson fired because she found out that Johnson was organising Mr. Kleberg's, shall we say, social life. Right. Yes. Right. Yes. In the lower rooms of the Dodge Hotel. Yeah, quite possibly, yes. Is that what Kleberg referred to himself and his trouser region as?

The Dodge. The basement. However, you'll be pleased to know being fired wasn't actually that bad. Because as you can imagine, by this point, Johnson's made enough connections to secure another Washington job relatively easily. In fact, he does very well here because President Roosevelt had just started to roll out the National Youth Administration, or the NYA. This was a movement aimed at getting more young people educated and into work.

So each state would have their own branch of the NYA, and they'd just work on getting young people into jobs. That sounds good. Now, friends of Johnson, who also knew President Roosevelt, put in a word, and soon enough, Johnson was heading the N.Y.A. for Texas. Nice. This is quite the step up from private secretary to a congressman. Yeah. Yeah, this is a huge promotion. The networking he has been doing has worked perfectly.

He does not get this job because of his abilities. He gets it because he knows the right people. But to his credit, he throws himself into the work and to all accounts does very well. Many young people were helped apparently. It was noted that black and white people were helped roughly equally, which for Texas at this time was unusual. Bloody good. However, it must be said, the person who was helped most of all by the NYA in Texas was obviously Johnson himself. Yeah.

Yes. Not only did this open up even more networking, but he was also given a staff of about 40 people, and they soon became the engine for his future political successes. A lot of these 40 people stayed with him for a long time. Despite the fact that Johnson, now he was in charge of other people, developed a certain management style, shall we say. Did he hire lots of women? No, no, he was, well, we'll get to that. Not what I'm referring to right now though. No, no, he was, well, we'll get to that. Not what I'm referring to right now, though. No, his management style was to be a utter b****. Yeah, I mean, he would just bully people, cajole people.

He would not let things go. He expected people, if they were working for him, they were going to work. There'd be no slacking under him, damn it. He was a hard taskmaster, shall we say. He gained a reputation for being very sharp with people, for not suffering fools gladly. He would let you know if he wasn't happy with very cutting remarks. But it was all planned.

It wasn't that he was hugely hot-headed. It was a strategy to just make people work hard. This is later on in life, so it's obviously something he develops over time but uh by the time he's president there is a case where he rips into someone makes them feel utterly awful and then when they leave the office he then says to the people who stayed oh it's perfect time to give him his birthday present you should always give people things when they're at their lowest because they'll feel more grateful. Wow. Yeah, it's calculating. He decided the best way

to get things out of people was to drive them hard. So that's what he did. Anyway, it doesn't sound like working for him was particularly fun, but it must be said, apparently he did a good job. He was doing so well at heading up the Texan N.Y.A. that the president soon learned his name. Texan branch seemed to be doing the best in the entire country. And then, for the second time, something happens that changes his life. Someone dies again. JFK. No, no, again. Again, it's a congressman for the district that he's in. It's all dead man's shoes for him. Yeah, it really is.

Yeah, Johnson was not a forerunner whatsoever. He wasn't even a runner. No one was thinking of Johnson for this position at all, apart from Johnson. He contacted one of the congressmen that he had become friends with in Washington, a man named Alvin Wurtz. Now, Alvin Wurtz was 20 years his senior,

and the two had got on really well in a sort of father-son, mentor-mentee kind of relationship. And Wurtz decides, yeah, you know what, Johnson, go for it. I think you should give it a go. However, a slight problem. Like I say, no one's thinking of Johnson whatsoever. So how is he going to get ahead in this race? What can he do to stand out?

New hairstyle. Yes, Mohican. Yeah. Dyed pink. It was very good. But on top of that, they decide what Johnson's going to do is attach his horse to the Roosevelt wagon. I assume not literally, but maybe literally.

I think Roosevelt literally had a wagon. Yeah. Now, not everyone in the party was happy with the new deal uh and the way that roosevelt was taking the party to the left and more progressive wing so there are a lot of people who would not like the fact that johnson was going to very vocally become a roosevelt supporter but wirtz and and Johnson realised that you know what, the New Deal is going down very well with the public at the moment, so let's just do that.

Let's say I'm the candidate that is fully behind Roosevelt and Roosevelt loves me. Makes sense to do that. Yeah. Did it matter if Johnson agreed with all of the policies? No. No. He would just say whatever needs to be done to get in. Now, a slight problem with this it's all

very well saying roosevelt loves me but does roosevelt love him okay well what can we do about that how about we get roosevelt's son elliot to endorse johnson see if i was johnson i just asked for a hug result do you love me big public hug massive not even public just he just needs to know in himself oh right okay and then OK. And then he'll believe. No, well, they decide not to go. I mean, Roosevelt's a busy man. It's not going to work. So they go for his son instead.

If Roosevelt's son endorses me, that's essentially an endorsement from the president, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that'll do. How are we going to get Elliot Roosevelt to endorse Hugh Johnson? What does Elliot like? You find out what he likes? Elliot likes $5,000 it turns out.

That's cheaper than I'd have expected. I mean, this is back then. It's a lot of cash, don't get me wrong, but you could have asked for $20,000. This obviously also is highly illegal. I mean, you could argue that, yeah. Yeah, you can't just pay the Sons of Presidents

for endorsements. Well, it turns out you can. Oh yeah, no, no yeah you can't just pay the sons of presidents for endorsements well it turns out you can oh yeah no no yeah you can you can also just start giving out cash to people who are going to vote for you really yeah i mean it was dressed up slightly more than that it was dressed up as a payout to farmers uh that was right yeah let's just say a little bit dodgy shall we i'm a bit dodgy yeah anyway it works he gets 28 of the vote which doesn't sound like much but there were eight of his standings so he actually yeah he actually gets yeah he actually does very well here and he is elected he's just over the age of 30 he's in the House of Representatives. That's quite impressive.

Very impressive. Although, is that good democracy when only barely a quarter wanted you in? Yeah, and also you cheated to get in. Well, yeah. Let's not dwell on such minutia. Let's not dwell on that. We'll dwell on other things later instead. Anyway, he's in Congress now, but not as a typical first-termer, because obviously he already knows most of the people who work there. He's also got the attention of the president, who soon met him after this and was very impressed by the drive of the young man. He is not a normal first-termer. In fact, having such backers meant that he was able to push things

through that most first-termers would not usually manage. He was able to obtain more government money for his district than most thought possible. Some people claimed that he won more from Congress in that term than any other congressman. I couldn't find out whether that was true or not, but you get the impression he's doing well. Yeah. Now, amongst many other things, one of the things that he was most proud of himself for, that he made sure that some dams were built near his hometown. So, yay, they get electricity at last.

And we're getting flooded, like, every three months. We need a dam. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So no more flooding. Electricity. Lots of roads and things like that as well. So there we go. Because there's no flooding now, they can take the roads off stilts. Yay, which is great. Huzzah. flooding now they can take the roads off stilts yay which is great yeah so uh johnson's doing so well in fact that various backers start to take an interest in this rising star backers or people that want to give money well yes yes people want to give him money they want to give him a lot of

money in fact i'm listening yes i mean don't don't ask why uh just're going to give you all this cash. Who knows? Maybe sometime in the future, maybe. You could throw us a bone. Yeah. We're not paying for things. We live in a democracy, but, you know. It's a gift. It's just a gift. It's a gift, yeah.

One of the biggest ones was a construction firm called Brown and Root, who made sure he got a lot of money. This is a start of a partnership that would last his entire political career. And as we will see in the next episode, it will lead to some problems. But for now, Johnson's loving life. He found that what he liked more than anything was wielding power. Like I say, hard taskmaster still. Those working for him still were expected to work longer and harder than anyone else.

But he's having a great time. He's also really enjoying the booze. Drinking very heavily by this point. And he's also enjoying a love for the ladies. What about Lady Bird? Well, it is debatable who was the worst womanizer between John F. Kennedy and Albie Johnson. Wow. But just know that they were both at it all their lives. One day,

and we're going a bit into the future, so I'm jumping out of the chronology, but just so you get a sense here. One day later in life, when someone mentioned Kennedy's successes with the ladies, Johnson banged on a table and declared that he had had more women by accident than Kennedy had had on purpose. I can't say I know what that means, but... I just hope that was said on the Christmas dinner. Lady Bird next to him, family all around. Would not surprise me. Yeah, there's little concrete evidence as to when Johnson started

to have all the many, many affairs that he had. There's even less concrete evidence when he started to do things like groping all the women that worked for him. But that's just what he did back then. It's innocent, right? Yeah, of course it was. It was expected. Yeah, I think it's easy to assume that it started early if he hadn't been doing it his whole life. So I'm not going to stop the narrative every time that someone has since pointed out that they had witnessed Johnson sexually assault a staffer in a car or in the office. Because that's not fun, is it? No. But just know that going on in the background for the rest of this and the next episode, he is doing that.

Have you watched Mad Men? Not all of it, but yes. Yeah, no, I think I'm up series two with it, and I've now got that image in my head. See, interesting you say this, because obviously we're talking a similar time period here, and Johnson is compared to those who became really big

on, what street? No, what's the advertising street? Madison, Madison Avenue. Oh, that's why it's called Mad Men. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See? Yeah, he is compared to that, as we'll see another time. But yes, you're very much in the right kind of area there. We're not quite there yet, but we're touching. Yeah, we're getting there.

I'm guessing this is in the 40s? We're talking late 30s. Late 30s, okay. So, like I say, I'm not going to go into all the minutiae of the horribleness that was his attitude towards women. However, we do get a clear picture of his first major affair, which starts at this time. Because there was a wealthy Texan called Marsh. Marsh was one of Johnson's biggest financial backers at the time. And Marsh had a young secretary who caught his eye.

And she became his mistress. had a young secretary who caught his eye and she became his mistress now soon after this she also caught the eye of johnson and the two became involved this was a young lady called alice glass and apparently she was a very intelligent very sophisticated very beautiful johnson soon went beyond his usual fling and just apparently completely fell in love with her now two problems here obviously the first one fidelity to his wife, Lady Bird. Problem number one, yeah. But what Johnson probably found more worrisome, because this certainly isn't the first affair he would have had,

it's just the first one he was serious about. Yeah, what if Marsh found out? Because Alice Glass was Marsh's mistress. Oh, oh. Yeah, and also his financial backer. I mean, that's not good, is it? He could potentially lose a lot of financial backing here. His career would take a serious hit.

But apparently he was so smitten by Alice that he was willing to take this risk. And it would appear that the risk paid off. According to Marsh's daughter later in life, Marsh did indeed find out about this, and the two men had a huge argument, but then Johnson apologised, and they just decided to put the whole thing behind them.

And Johnson continued to see Alice for several years after this. Right. So there you go. So that's what his personal life is looking like at the moment. Just a big mess. Well, sort of, but he seems to be having a good time because he obviously doesn't have things like scruples. And then something happened that changed the course of his life.

Somebody died. Someone dies. JFK. No, this time it's the senator. One day I'll get that right. You'll get that right one day, you will. Yeah, it was the senator this time. And once again, Johnson decides to run.

He's not going to be in the House. I mean, who wants to be a congressman? You want to be a senator. That's where the real action is. So he's going to go to become a senator. Yet again, he is not a forerunner. He is not being considered. Now, the forerunner was a bombastic outsider.

This was the current governor of Texas, a man named Pappy O'Daniel. Oh, was he also a singer? He was also a singer. He was not a politician. He was a man who had come to prominence in Texas after writing music for his job advertising flower. Yeah. As in, like, buy plane. advertising flower.

Yeah. As in like, buy plane. Well, I think that's what was happening before, but Papio Daniel and his very outgoing personality decided he was just going to sing with his band, the Hillbilly Band, and just sing lots of nice, happy songs such as Pass the Biscuit, Pappy. And then people will go,

oh, biscuits, flower, yeah, let's buy some. This is obviously the song that I played right at the start and I was going to play it to you now so you could hear some of it, but you've already heard it. Yes, you know. I mean, I can pretend I haven't heard it. No, no, it's fine. Wow, that song's great, Rob. That's amazing. That's good. I mean, I'll put a little bit on

again for the listeners so they know what this music is like. So, here it is. Mountain music, good old mountain music played by the real hillbilly band i like bread and biscuits big white fluffy biscuits my dear old ma just make some grand we like to sing and play and try to make folks happy With old music Please pass the biscuits, Pappy I like mountain music Good old mountain music Played by the real Hillbilly man There it was.

Nice. Yeah. So Pappy O'Daniel loved nothing more than being famous. He'd become relatively wealthy because of his success with his work. So he used that money to campaign to become the Texan governor in a way that completely stomped the Democratic Party that he claimed to be part of. I mean, he wasn't part of the Democratic Party.

He just needed to say he was a member of one of the parties to run. And he chose the Democratic Party. And the Democrats didn't really know what to do about this because he kept riding up and down Texas on the back of a truck singing songs and saying he'd make a great governor. He had no interest in politics. He preferred campaigning to running the actual office when he was in the office.

I don't know if this is reminding you of anyone. He would give speeches where he would just, every now and again, just start singing. Why not? Very popular songs at the time was, obviously, Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy, but another one, I couldn't find this one, The Boy Who Never Gets Too Big to Comb His Mother's Hair.

It's a classic. It's a classic. It doesn't sound creepy at all. No, not at all. No, no. You're the best. So, Papio Daniel's going for it. And he is very popular in Texas.

Because if you're going to choose between someone who can represent your state in the Senate because they know the ins and outs of political life, or someone who knows how to sing a good song, I mean, it's an obvious choice, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So Johnson and those around him who decide Johnson's going to go for Senate,

they have a meeting. They decide once again, how on earth can we beat this opponent who is far more popular? By the way, Johnson's only got 5% in a poll they did at the start of this. Ah, right. Yeah, he's not doing well.

So how is he going to beat Papio Daniel? Write his own song. Oh, he totally should have done. He totally should have done. I'm better than Papio Daniel. I'm better than Papio Daniel. I'm better than Papio Daniel. I'm better...

He just did that for like an hour. Until someone said, O'Daniel? Are you talking about Papio Daniel? I'm better. He just did that for like an hour. Until someone said, O'Daniel? Are you talking about Papio Daniel? Oh, damn it. That's how it went. Yeah.

So, no, they're not going to change the strategy from last time. He's just going to keep talking about how the New Deal is great and how brilliant

Roosevelt is. By this point, Roosevelt was willing to endorse him personally, although not officially because he shouldn't be getting involved in this kind of thing. But when reporters said things like, do you think Johnson would make a good senator for Texas? Roosevelt said things like, I couldn't possibly comment, but yes. Oh, don't make me choose. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yeah. Paraphrasing slightly there, but essentially that was what was going on. Now, with the right backing, including the subtle notes from the president, Johnson was indeed soon a forerunner, along with Pappy, and the election goes down to the wire. On the night of the election, with 96% of the votes counted,

Johnson was declared winner by 5,000 votes, which is not many. No, that's quite a narrow margin. That's incredibly narrow. However, the Pappy side controlled enough counties that they had purposely withheld the count in those counties until the very end. Now remember, 96% of the count was counted when Johnson was declared the winner because they could see which way the trend was going. So it was obvious that there's no way Pappy's going to catch up.

However, once Johnson's team had declared that they had won, I mean, this is clearly happening. We've sent in all our votes now. There's no way he's going to catch up with that last 4%. This is an obvious Johnson win. Wow, yeah. Pappy's team then went about finding the 5,000 votes that would need it in the last 4%.

Weird, that. Now, in other words, making up votes obviously is bad. So if you're going to do it, you want to make up the smallest number possible. Yeah. If you're going to cheat an election, you don't want to cheat big. You want to cheat just enough. Yeah. So it's handy to know how many votes you're going to need to fabricate.

So therefore, they kept some of the counties that they controlled behind. So once they knew how many votes Johnson had, they could find the votes. I'm getting flashbacks to Arkansas, Alabama. What was 2020? With Trump, who went to a state and said, you need to find me these votes. Oh, yes. Oh, which state was it? The states completely escaped me.

But yes, yes, exactly. It's the whole find the votes thing. Yeah, so days after Johnson had been declared victor, Pappy's count suddenly came out on top. Johnson loses. Oh, that's okay. Yeah. Pappy wins because democracy.

Now, Johnson apparently takes this in his stride. I mean, he knew his time would come. It was a long shot winning this anyway. He'd done actually really quite well. I mean, arguably, he won. Because he probably won. But, never mind, let's

go back to Washington. Most importantly, he's learnt a thing or two about campaigning. Let's see if that comes back. Now, by this time, World War II was hotting up, and Pearl Harbour happened. Short version of that. Johnson had been on the side of Congress that was pushing to build up troops and get involved in the war. And Pearl Harbor meant that the isolationist movement collapsed.

Johnson was able to pull the I told you so, which is always good. It also meant that he had to act in a way that he had promised during the campaign that he'd been on recently. Because he told everyone that if the United States entered the war, he would sign up for active duty. So he's got to sign up for war duty. Oh, yes. Due to connections, he was given a position. What position do you think he was given? The highest position possible for his job choice. Pretty much. He became a lieutenant

commander in the naval reserve. Excellent. Now, because he said he was going to sign up for active duty, he then formally asked to be placed on active duty with his own fleet. After all, he was a lieutenant commander. Well, of course. Now, obviously this was never going to happen. Johnson hadn't got a clue at all what to do leading a fleet. I mean, it just wasn't going to happen. Instead, he was given an office job. He was put in charge of expanding war production on the West Coast and in Texas. That's more his speed. That's probably the best outcome for him. Yes, definitely. He's good at managing and good at organising. Well, exactly. And a lot of this job actually meant going to parties and hobnobbing with businessmen and film stars

and quite often sleeping with those film stars. So he was having a good time. Yeah. Lady Bird less so, but he was having a good time. Yeah. After a while, however, he worried that this might not look quite like active duty during the war. I mean, he did say active duty.

He didn't say, don't worry if we fight the Nazis, I'm just going to sleep around Hollywood instead of going on active duty. So he decides he needs, for the good of his future career, he needs to make sure he gets some active service done during the war. Otherwise, it's not going to look good afterwards. So he asks the president for a favor. Yes, that's how high he's risen so quickly he's now able to just contact the president and ask for a favor and say hey prez yeah yeah i'm getting a bit tired of having sex with all the film stars

can you send me off to the war please um now roosevelt understood of course fair enough here have a um have a cushy job that puts you in the active war zone Will that do? That will do nicely Says Johnson What do I need to do? Well, you need to go to Australia And you need to visit General MacArthur And let me know what he's up to

Because General MacArthur's in charge of the Pacific Theatre of War And Roosevelt just wants some eyes on the ground. I'll be great, he's in my wedding. Yes, exactly. So, Johnson hops on a plane, goes off to Pearl Harbour, then off to New Zealand, and then arrives in Australia. Quite the adventure for him.

Once there, he gets a very frosty reception from MacArthur, who assumed that Johnson was just a spy for Roosevelt, because he was a spy for Roosevelt. Yeah. Still, by this point, Johnson's charms had really honed themselves into a brash, larger-than-life persona. One person later said that he wasn't just vulgar,

but he was barnyard. Oh, that's nice. Apparently, he was just as likely to grab you by the shoulder roughly and shake you then give you a handshake by this point it's just yeah um and apparently macarthur was soon run around by johnson johnson very openly is like yeah i'm here to see what's going on but you know what macarthur i when i get back to washington will be your advocate for prioritizing prioritizing the pacific theater over the european one why are you getting all the good stuff and not you yes i'm reporting back to roosevelt of course i'm reporting back to roosevelt but i'm willing to say what you want me to say so by doing that macarthur was suddenly

more than happy for Johnson to be around. However, Johnson needed one thing whilst he was over there, because it's not really good enough just to go to Australia and have a chat with MacArthur. No. He really needs to see some action. So he pestered MacArthur until eventually he was allowed to ride along in a squadron of bombers who were heading to a Japanese air base on the north coast of New Guinea. So this is an actual bombing raid and he's going to go along. Wow that's quite um that's quite a big thing. Yeah I mean this certainly is not without risks. The average survival rate on these

missions was around 75 percent. Oh yeah yeah yeah I mean not a Oh, well, I'll just see something from a distance This is, like, it's really rolling the dice here Ooh, it really was Because on June the 9th in 1942 He was led across the tarmac And he got on a B-26 bomber Ooh He was just about to strap himself in

When nerves got to him slightly So he announced that he needed to go to the toilet first. So he gets off the bomber, heads off to the toilet, relieves himself, calms himself down. He's got to do this. He heads back to the plane. When he gets on the plane, though, there's another person in the seat. Someone else who's along for the ride.

Another observer. Oh, damn it. Oh, I was so hoping. But my seat's taken. There right another observer oh damn it oh i was so hoping like but my seat's taken there's another one here so no no i couldn't possibly well that was my chair i bought that seat paid good money for i'm i'm off well it's not quite that because the other observer grins at johnson and says well you're just gonna have to get in another plane aren't you which johnson then does. He gets off the plane and finds another bomber.

Oh, wow. Goes to the pilot. Don't suppose you've got space in your plane? They did. So on he goes. Damn it. Yeah. The planes all take off and the raid very quickly starts going very wrong.

Oh. The Japanese were far more prepared than the United States thought they were to be. the Japanese were far more prepared than the United States thought they were to be and the plane that Johnson had originally got on to but then got off just because his bladder was full was hit very early on burst into a ball of flames killing all on board if Johnson hadn't gone to the toilet he would be dead

Johnson's plane was hit by a strafe of bullets and one of the engines was lost so it was forced to drop its load early turn back being riddled with bullets as it goes so dangerous stuff um apparently johnson was very calm throughout all this he kept a cool head but obviously he's just there as an observer he He's not doing anything. He has just sat in the plane, but it must have been terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, the plane lands, and Johnson meets with MacArthur.

And MacArthur promises Johnson a silver star for courage under fire. What? Something that really annoys most of the other men, because Johnson's the only person to get a medal. Hmm. Hmm. Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to be in that plane.

No. I'm not saying he... I would put myself in that position. I'm not saying he wasn't brave under fire, because that sounds terrifying. No. But the men who were actually doing this job day in, day out, they got nothing. Johnson went on one flight. His plane banked out early

and he gets the medal. A few people were not best pleased about this. No. No. Still, Johnson's got his war story, so there you go. You figured it's probably time to go home now. Right, done. Coincidentally, Roosevelt

asked for all members of Congress on extended leave to return home. Perfect. Fantastic. Four members of Congress on extended leave to return home. Perfect. Fantastic. Four members of Congress resigned and stayed to fight. Johnson and three others headed straight back home. Yes, of course, Mr. President. Yes, duty calls. He arrived back in the United States to find a very annoyed Lady Bird. Apparently some idiot with a camera

in Australia had been filming Johnson for a news reel and had caught him with a very attractive lady on his arm. When Lady Bird asked who was that woman you were with in Australia, Johnson just refused to talk about it. He'd certainly

managed to find some time to entertain himself whilst he was in the pacific theater of war maybe in the plane maybe yeah things are not going well for lady bird at this point because she has her second miscarriage at this time and she also is very angry that johnson had vetoed the purchase of a house she wanted a new house it was her money that was going to buy the house because she's the one who comes from a rich family. But Johnson said, no, waste of money. We don't need it.

Fair enough. Yeah. However, after being caught having a fling with someone in Australia. Of course, my dear. What could have you on the bedroom? Pretty much, yes. The house is bought. There you go.

He caves. Lady Bird is moderately happy for a while, but obviously not happy because he is an awful cursement. Right. Anyway, the war progresses. Things eventually start to go well. It looks increasingly like the Allies are going to win. And then Roosevelt dies.

This was a big blow to Johnson. After all, he had hitched his horse on the Roosevelt wagon so firmly that he feared that losing Roosevelt would damage him politically. So he had hitched his horse on the Roosevelt wagon so firmly that he feared that losing Roosevelt would damage him politically. So he had to decide what to do. Now, looking at the political climate, especially in Texas, Johnson decided that maybe it was time to move more to the right of the party, or at least to the moderate centre of the party. Truman, the new president, was doing that, as were a number in the Democrats. He figured that this would keep him relevant. He didn't want to be on the progressive fringe that was losing traction anymore.

No. No. So to make sure people got the message, he started coming down very hard on the strikes that were starting to pop up. He voted against a bill that would help give equal rights to black people in a move to appeal to the growing segregationist in his district. Yeah. He's very rapidly moving away from this progressive stance that he had before because he decided this would make him more popular. This was in the post-war era full of red scare,

race riots and strikes. And it's in this era that johnson decides again to run for senate he's determined to become a senator now this time he's up against a man called coke stevenson name matches his addiction it's cool i coke is a brilliant name uh now johnson yes had moved to the right from where he was, but like I say, that more made him a moderate in the party. Coke Stevenson was far right conservative in the party. Right. Full on card carrying racist who once remarked about lynchings that, and I quote here,

Negroes sometimes do things which provoke whites to such violence. Blame the victims. Yeah, nice man was Coke. Yeah. Yeah, Coke Stevenson had helped Papio Daniel in the last campaign, so the fight was bitter once again. Now, Johnson realised that he needed to do something different this time. He couldn't use rules of ultimate new deal anymore.

That ship had sailed. So what can I do to fight against someone like Coke Johnson? Well, let's appeal to the racists. So at this time, he gives several speeches supporting white supremacy because he knows it's going to go down well. Yeah. Despite this, however,

Johnson loses. Really? He came second out of three people running. However, no one had won an out-and-out majority. Coke Stevenson came first, Johnson second, the third person. Third, obviously. Now, under the rules in Texas here, that meant a runoff election had to happen. Top two went head-to-head.

So, just went to head. So, just went to the next round, basically. It's Koch versus Johnson. And this time, Johnson had learned his lesson. In the counties that he controlled, they kept the count back. And in a mirror of last time,

Koch was declared the winner by a mere 322 votes out of nearly a million votes cast. And then all of a sudden, days later... Oh, look what we found. What's this under this rock here? Oh, it's 449 votes for Johnson. Including 202 votes from just one county, where all the votes had been written down using the same pen with the same handwriting and all the names were in alphabetical order.

I mean, this was flagrant cheating. It's complete electoral fraud. But Johnson wins. Because again, democracy. Yes. Now, obviously, Koch's not going to take this lying down. So he goes to the Democratic Executive Committee and goes, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's cheated.

This is obvious fraud. A long meeting takes place, and it was decided that Johnson had indeed won by 87 votes out of nearly a million. Wow. Yeah. They struck off some of the more obvious fraudulent ones but apparently had just enough see even though it's the same handwriting different colored pen yes and they're clearly clearly different names there's a smith b smith c smith B. Smith C. Smith A. A. Smith A. B. Smith Yeah Anyways Coke Stevenson still appeals this

And it goes all the way to the Supreme Court Oh wow But Johnson had friends in high places by this time Words were had in corridors And in meeting words over brandy And sure enough The decision was made to uphold the obvious fraudulent results because again and i can't stress this enough democracy so there you go johnson's in the senate

well done johnson he cheated his way into the congress he cheats his way into the senate excellent excellent there we go so So how does a vice president? Well, we'll find out. Now, once in the Senate, Johnson may have found that he was in a little pond, or a smaller pond anyway, but he was now surrounded by big fish. First thing he tries to do is get some big offices by doing his usual being very bossy. But he's just told to get lost. So I don't know who you think you are, first term senator. You're a very young person still.

So he realises, oh no, he's become a bit too big for his boots. He needs to pull back a bit and think what did he do when he first started Congress? He sucked up. He went on the charm offensive. So that's what to do again. Let's just start that again.

And he soon finds the perfect senator. This was a very prominent bachelor named Richard Russell of Georgia. Johnson and Lady Bird made sure to shower Richard Russell with praise every time they saw him, invited him round for dinner. Soon enough, Richard Russell, huge supporter of Johnson. So there you go, he's got a prominent senator as a friend. That's good. But he didn't stop there, though.

He spent most of his spare time learning about the other senators, cozying up to them, getting to know what they liked. Yeah. But that was not the only person Johnson was cozying up to, because this second major affair in his life is now up and running. This is Helen Douglas, who was an ex-film star and opera singer, and now was a congresswoman from california that's right a woman jamie being a politician what i know crazy isn't it they'll be driving next we're finally

finally starting to get somewhere jamie um yeah now apparently helen douglas was uh infatuating johnson could not help but brag about this affair, because apparently she was so great he just wanted everyone to know that he'd managed to get with Helen Douglas. So this was soon an open secret in Washington. Everyone knew it. This did nothing to hinder his career, obviously, because why would it? He was soon put in an important position on the Senate Armed Service Committee, which was an important committee. But then he was selected to be the majority whip. Now, that means his job was to know exactly

where all the votes would fall and make sure that certain senators voted the right way. Is that what a whip does? Yes, they crack the whip. As in people tell you how they're going to vote yes what if they tell you a lie so yeah i don't go over this well the the whole point behind a whip is to get the party to work in unison so they've got more power as if everyone in your party is just doing what they want you lose power so the idea behind the whip is to keep everyone in control

yeah but is it done with threats or is it done with encouragement or I'm going to ask you both. That's a stupid question. I know it's stupid. Well, it depends who the whip is. I mean, some whips use the carrots, some use the stick. Johnson beat people with carrots by the sounds of it.

Whole donkeys. Yeah. This is the perfect job for him. He could use his charm to convince people to vote a certain way and failing that he could just bully them into submission he knew everything about everyone and he was not afraid to get up into people's faces and make sure they did the right thing um yeah he is perfect at this job he does does very well at it. Then in 1952, the Democrats lose the Senate, which is very irresponsible of them. Took the majors to find again.

Was it under the fridge? Sofa. Yeah, the current Democratic leader in the Senate lost his seat. That's how badly they did. So the Democrats need a new Senate leader. Well, who better than the person who's doing the whip job incredibly well? So Johnson's chosen. Now, obviously, I'm rushing through this a bit.

Several years have gone by here. As you can see, we're already in 52. But as per usual, when they're sitting in Washington doing jobs in the Senate, there's not that many interesting stories. But just know he's doing very well. Now, obviously, he is the minority leader because the democrats don't control the senate but yeah minority leader is a good stepping stone uh johnson does the job well but it's two years after this when the democrats win the senate back that things really start to hot up for him because now he's the senate majority leader

that means he is the most powerful person in the legislative branch of government so he's the Senate majority leader. That means he is the most powerful person in the legislative branch of government. So he's the Nancy Pelosi? Yes, that's exactly what he is. There we go. Now, once again, Johnson in his element. He was soon seen as a poppet master, pushing and pulling the Senate to his will. This is where, often in the papers, he was compared to those on Madison Avenue, of just being able to completely dominate his field.

He was very active as a majority leader, ruling the Democrats with brute force as well as brash charm. He literally shook people. He put his arms around people. He stuck his face in other people's faces. He even kicked people in the shins when he was convincing other senators which way to vote there are reports of senators going to other senators lifting up their trousers going look what he's just done to me i need to vote this way i've just been johnson oh well yeah no this was called the johnson treatment awesome yeah apparently according to one person,

the Johnson treatment could last anywhere between ten minutes and four hours. Oh. And he would do anything that would get you to agree with him. He would just berate you for hours on end, or he'd cozy up to you. He would tell stories. He would shout

at you. He'd joke with you. Anything he thought would work, he would just relentlessly just'd joke with you anything he thought would work he would just relentlessly just keep going and apparently if you were there you you weren't able to speak because it was just a non-stop barrage of whatever methods being used it was just non-stop in your face and he'd literally get right up into people's faces and you just know if you turn over the bag of carrots you're screwed. Yeah, exactly. So he's doing a very good job. I mean... Well, good is relative.

People are a bit nervous to be around the guy, but he was seen to be doing a very good job as a majority leader. The Democrats were forced to be rascund with in the Senate because of this. One of the major battles in his time as majority leader was against the far right wing of the Republican Party, increasingly being led by McCarthy, because obviously we've hit the McCarthy era here. Yeah, we have. Now, I'm not going to go into this detail because obviously we've covered it before, but most of the senators were too scared to go up against McCarthy. But as it became clear

to the public that McCarthy was just a lying bully, Johnson was able to get the Senate to move against the populist. So this was chalked up as a win for Johnson. But just as he seemed to be doing so well that people started using the word presidential whilst talking about him, he had a heart attack. Oh, that's a bugger. Yeah, now to begin with, Johnson just ignored the warning signs and just carried on with his day. It's a bit hard burn. Not, not, well, yes, essentially, yeah. Eventually, though, a friend noticed how much he was sweating and exclaimed, My God, man, you're having a heart attack. No, no, no, my left arm is numb.

And my heartbeat's a regular, that's not a heart attack, it's just right arm that's an O. O, yeah. His friend called the doctor. Johnson obviously didn't want news of this to get out. He didn't want this to be happening. If he has a heart attack, people will think he's weak and therefore not presidential. But he was overruled. It's like, seriously,

man, you're going to die unless we call the doctor. We're calling the doctor. So, the doctor arrives. A annoyed Johnson asks whether he would be able to smoke again. Well, yeah, even in Mad Men, when one of them had a heart attack, they'd probably smoke less. So I guess at this point it was seen as a negative.

Yes, exactly. The doctor replied, no, you can't smoke, seriously. To which Johnson replied, I'd rather have my pecker cut off, which obviously means a lot to Johnson. Not sure if he was being serious there uh what was serious though was the heart attack i mean johnson was not treating it seriously to begin with but the doctor soon convinced him no no this is we're talking survival rate is 50 50 here it is a toss of a coin whether you're going to die stop stop moving about get in bed this is serious lie down yeah yeah so over

four days in hospital things would touch and go but johnson pulls through eventually being well enough to head back to his ranch in texas to recover i mean i mean we kind of know that because i mean spoiler warning he may become president well exactly so it's not that much suspense there but i wonder what kills him though we'll find out um anyway johnson spends the rest of the year uh just falling into a pit of despair really it's like his career's over he was doing so well but no one's gonna vote for someone who had a heart attack surely however not everything was awful his depression was relieved slightly when a new secretary came to work for him on the ranch She was given a room inside the house

One that Johnson regularly snuck off to During the night Played dominoes right She lived in the attic And he was told no uncertain terms You do not climb the stairs Your heart's weak So sure enough most nights

He'd climb all the stairs up into the attic And I can only assume Play played some vigorous Scrabble. Yeah. Yeah. But this didn't kill him, so I can only make him stronger, I suppose. Lady Bird, obviously also living in the same house, was apparently not happy. As you can imagine. Eventually, though, Johnson

decided, actually, you know what, maybe this wasn't the end of his career. I mean, by this point, like, presidents had had heart attacks. And carried on. It's like, actually, maybe this isn't a career death sentence. Somehow passed their jaw removed

on a rickety boat. Well, exactly. Although no one knew that at this point That was still a secret But still, supporters of Johnson would turn up in the House And they'd soon hatch a plan in the upcoming primaries Let's see if you can get elected as President, shall we? Here's the idea Supporters of Johnson would run in the primaries

In an attempt to create a deadlock. And then Johnson would be a compromise candidate like we've seen before. Yeah. So that was their plan. However, long story short, this falls apart almost immediately. It just doesn't work. But it does show that Johnson is already looking to become president at this point. So because that doesn't work,

he soon decides he is well enough to return as majority leader in the Senate. So it's back to work he goes. Now, by this time, the civil rights movement is really hotting up. Martin Luther King has become a prominent figure. And there's really a real push starting for better, if not equal rights for black people. Johnson, ever the weathervane, realized that actually maybe this is time to move away from the segregationists and start pushing for civil rights because they seem to be quite popular. Let's pretend I didn't do those white supremacy speeches before. Do you remember when I was a progressive? Oh yes, definitely. Now, obviously, him starting to loudly say things like, maybe we should have a civil rights bill, upset a lot in his party from

the South. They were going to refuse to budge on anything that forced desegregation. So when a bill is proposed, Johnson decides to abandon anything in the bill that talks about desegregation. Obviously, this is a main component of the bill. People pushing for civil rights wanted there to be no segregation anymore. Johnson takes one look at it and goes, no, there's no way we're getting this through the Senate. Let's not even try. So he gets rid of that. However, there was one area where he thinks he can make a compromise that might actually get a bill through.

This will be the first civil rights bill since the Civil War. So, yeah. So let's try and get this through. This will be the first civil rights bill since the Civil War. So yeah, so let's let's try and get this through. What he realized is that there was one section of the bill all about ensuring black people had the right to vote. Now, obviously, black people had the right to vote. That was part of the law. But by this point, there were many loopholes and many states were using those loopholes to make sure black people can vote. So this bill would just close up all the loopholes. Now, the conservative faction of the Democrats did not want this to happen.

They feared what would happen if black people could actually vote fairly. I mean, they might not get in anymore. So Johnson suggested an amendment to this part of the bill. amendment to this part of the bill those found breaking the law and denying black people the vote would be put on trial by a jury of their peers not just by a judge now obviously southern conservatives realized that this could actually work they could support the bill and avoid being called racist and anti-democratic but ultimately they could carry on stopping black people voting safe in the knowledge that no southern jury made up obviously of whites would convict anyone yeah yeah so great things johnson we're gonna get a civil rights bill through

however obviously this angers all the northern liberal wing of the party and anyone back in the civil rights movement because what's the point of this bill you've got rid of all the segregation stuff and now you're you're making the rest of it completely toothless we might as well not bother but then one senator a man named church suggests that maybe here's an idea we do the whole jury thing but we desegregate the juries. So we won't talk about desegregation anywhere else, but in this one instance, juries will be made up of whites and blacks. Compromise. Compromise. Johnson liked this idea and starts thinking it through, and he puts a plan in place. On the day of the debate over the jury amendment, one senator stands up to introduce it, starts talking about this amendment. The idea is that anyone find breaking the law in this area will be tried by a jury of

their peers. At this point, another senator stood up and asked to speak, and the original person gave way. This second senator suggested, how about we desegregate the jury to make it fairer? Then a third senator stood up, expressing doubts. Oh no, this doesn't sound very sensible. And then a full debate, full of logic and very reasonable arguments on all sides took place. And very quickly the Senate was persuaded the jury amendment would go through with desegregated juries. the Senate was persuaded. The jury amendment would go through with desegregated juries.

The debate, however, had been completely orchestrated from scratch by Johnson. The three senators all knew what each other were going to say. It was a performance put on to say, let's do this. Oh, but I disagree.

Well, actually, this is why you're wrong. I like the idea that they were handling scripts before they went in. Pretty much, yeah. And pretty much one standing up reading from the script, I disagree that this should happen because...

I can't read that word. Yeah, pretty much. Start reading the stage directions. Exit, fill it in. That's me. Sorry, I'm going to go. Sit down, look defeated. Right, okay.

Yeah, things like that. Stand up with confidence. Am I confident of Johnson? Thumbs up from behind the curtain. Well, this is it. This is exactly the kind of puppets pulling that Johnson is doing here. He controls that Senate.

And a civil rights bill goes through i mean it's largely toothless it's a let's face it it's not a good civil rights act it's it's a bit pathetic many black leading public figures were not at all happy they felt like this bill had just been ripped to shreds and there was no point in it. It didn't go anywhere near far enough to confront the awful racism that ran throughout the country. But Johnson argued, well, to be fair, this is a first step. He talked about the Senate losing its virginity on civil rights. That's a bit forward. This is Johnson. This is the way he talked. That's that's a good point yeah this is destroying the flower of segregation oh yeah that's the kind of thing johnson would say

and then probably burp in your face scratch his ass and walk off that's the kind of thing johnson did um anyway uh he he argued that this was the thin end of the wedge that once we've got this through well there we go now we can start wedge, that once we've got this through, well, there we go, now we can start pushing for other stuff, but we got something through. This was, by some prominent black figures, seen as a good argument, and okay, maybe he's got a point here. A lot of people still weren't happy, though,

and thought Johnson had destroyed the bill. In retrospect, we can kind of look back and go okay this did start to usher through quite a lot of reform so maybe johnson had a point but equally you can see the other side of the argument if the civil rights movement had fallen on its face at this point we could be pointing at johnson now, well, he ruined it when there was a bit of momentum. So either way, however, he's seen as a political wizard. He really is managing to get things done in the Senate that not many people have managed to do before. I mean, the Senate is always it's tough to get things through the Senate. Always has been. But things are going through.

So by this time, Johnson was seen as a political wizard. And he hoped that this meant that he'd soon be able to secure the nomination for the next presidential election. However, as covered in Kennedy's episode, the political machine of the Kennedys was in full swing by this point. Johnson struggled, even though he was a political wizard, to compete against the money and connections of the Kennedys. Now, desperate to stand out against the young charismatic Kennedy, Johnson challenged JFK to a debate. Do you know what? That's a really good idea for him

because, you know, he's good at the old talk. I'm guessing John F. Kennedy said no. No, Kennedy goes for it. Oh, right. And it does not go well for Johnson. Oh, really? Oh, wow. Yeah, much to Johnson's surprise.

He thought he had this in the bag. But Kennedy very cleverly heaped praise upon his opponent, saying that Johnson was a brilliant politician. Fantastic. He is perfect to be the Senate majority leader. Backhanded compliment.

Why on earth would we take him out of that role? He's done great things for our party. That's a brilliant strategy. Yeah. at least he didn't say he'd be an amazing president vote for oh crap well just the rest of kennedy's head in hansel yeah you see this is a bit later on in kennedy's uh political career where he was actually getting quite good at delivering the speeches not like at the start when his family were mouthing along the words with him um which, no, he's actually done quite well at this point.

If you remember that, that's true. That did actually happen. Yeah, that's really funny. I thought about that. Anyway, yeah, Johnson's seething. He was not expecting to lose this debate, and most people said that he had. And then later on in the year,

he was visited by none other than Bobby Kennedy. Bobby wanted to know, look, Johnson, are you running or not? Cards on the table time here. he was visited by none other than Bobby Kennedy. Hmm. Bobby wanted to know, look, Johnson, are you running or not? Cards on the table time here. We want to know. Johnson lied. No, I've decided not to run.

So the two then go out shooting. Johnson gave Bobby a massive shotgun. There you go. Have a massive shotgun. The recoil was so much that apparently Bobby ended on the floor with a cut eye. Johnson then turned and remarked, Son, you've got to learn to handle a gun like a man. Oh, that's just demasculating, isn't it? Bobby left this not happy with Johnson whatsoever.

However, he managed to kill, like, 18 deer. Oh, yeah, it was a very big... Like, cut down 14 trees. Yeah, it's a very big shotgun. Half a farmhouse was gone. Yeah, so, yeah, no love lost between Bobby and Johnson. By the time the convention finally comes round, as we've covered already, Kennedy wins this decisively.

It's all sewn up thanks to daddy's money, essentially. But Kennedy decides, well, actually, why not offer the vice president role to Johnson? I'm seen as a northern liberal, whereas Johnson, I mean, who knows what he is, but he's southern for a start. And yeah, so that'll bring the Southerners along. So that will work. And he is very good. So yeah, he could be vice president. Johnson thought about the offer.

And even though vice president's not really a real job, it could be a stepping stone. Vice presidents were more likely to become presidents than majority leaders were certainly if the president gets assassinated so uh through back channels he accepts this is all happening um during the convention where the kennedys are staying in the hotel and so is Johnson. They're just a few floors apart. After he has said, yes, if you offer it to me, I'll accept, Bobby turns up and says, well, how about if you just become the head of the Democratic Party instead? Johnson was fuming at this.

It's like, no, you've just offered me vice presidency. What are you doing now? John Kennedy then has to phone Johnson and go, oh, no, no, no, ignore my brother. I didn't know he was going to do that. And he's not up to date with events. He's an idiot. I'll deal with him in a plane crash.

It's fine. But this isn't, this is obviously not true. There's no way Bobby went with that offer without John F. Kennedy knowing. Seems to suggest that the Kennedys were having second thoughts almost immediately about Johnson being the vice president. But the offer's in now, so you know what, let's keep him. That's fine. It's almost as if JK is playing with his Johnson.

Exactly, and you don't want to do that. No. Not when it's so close to an election, anyway. So, yeah. As we have covered, Kennedy scrapes a victory against nixon and johnson is sworn in as the vice president and he did his best to gain some power in a role that has none he attempted to increase his role of the vice president in the senate by introducing a new law but to no avail his former colleagues in the Senate just voted against it.

Fair enough. Leading Johnson to say, I now know the difference between a cactus and a corcus. On a cactus, all the pricks are on the outside. Nice. Which I quite like. That's quite cool. Yeah.

He also sent a memo to the President Kennedy at this point, asking for more power over the government departments, asking that the departments report to him as well as Kennedy. Kennedy just ignored this. And then someone in the White House leaked that memo to the press. Really embarrassing, Johnson. Because obviously now everyone knew that he'd asked for something and Kennedy had just ignored him.

Yeah, not great. So to try and cheer Johnson up, Kennedy says, how about, because when you were, like, the leader of the Senate, you were really pushing for this new NASA thing. So why don't you head that up now? You can be in charge of NASA. Yeah? Is that a little smile I see, Johnson? Yeah? There you go.

You can run NASA. But also, go abroad. Anywhere. Just get out of the city. Just go. Just go, go, go. By this point, tensions were rising between Johnson's men and Kennedy's men.

The two camps did not see eye to eye and Kennedy just wanted Johnson out the way for a bit. So quite often would just send him to different places. Now I'm not going to cover all the places he visited at this point. He went to many places, but the two most important visits, the first one was to Berlin. and when he was in Berlin,

the wall had just gone up, and Johnson reassured West Germans that the United States were not going to abandon them. It was very firm. The United States were going to be there to help. Oh, yeah, and there's a bit of the Berlin Wall you're holding up. Probably. Probably. Who knows whether that's a lie or not.

No. No. Only cost me $15,000. And I'm not going to reveal whether that's a lie or not because people can listen to our Would I Lie To You episode. Yeah, exactly. Because it features in that. Anyway, the second important visit

was South Vietnam. Ooh. Yeah, well, if visit was South Vietnam. Ooh. Yeah, well, if you remember Kennedy's episode, things are starting to begin in Vietnam. Kennedy's approach is, I really don't want to get bogged down and involved in Vietnam, but yes, it is important. We will send advisors, lots of advisors with guns.

We're not joining in. We're not, no. One or two might be in tanks. Yeah, maybe. Who knows? But no. That one there, he's got like 85 barrels of napalm. Yes, fine.

He's an advisor. He's an advisor. Yeah. When Johnson's in Vietnam to have a look at how the advisors are doing, he really starts to form an opinion. The United States either need to throw in the towel in this region, or they need to throw themselves into this region. They need to make a decision here.

He was not a fan of Kennedy's attempt to have one foot in, one foot out. Yeah, fair enough. Obviously, this is going to have ramifications later. But apart from this, Johnson did very little as vice president, as expected vice presidents um he was in the room when the other decision makers were making decisions during the cuban missile crisis but by all accounts he didn't really contribute to much apart from to point one thing out which was that when he was a boy in texas and a rattlesnake

reared its head up i'll quote the only thing you could do was to take a stick and chop its head off. Oh, okay. So you get the feeling Johnson was a bit more hardline than Kennedy was. But apart from that little anecdote, apparently he did very little. Yeah. And then something happened that changed the course of Johnson's life. Somebody died. JFK! JFK!

JFK! There we go, we got there in the end. Yes, as Kennedy was campaigning in Johnson's home state, whilst Johnson was in the car behind, Kennedy was shot fatally. In the head, twice. Well, once in the neck, once in the head. Yeah.

So we all know what that means. So I'm more interested in thinking, head twice well once the neck once in the head yeah so we all know what that means so what is it i'm more interested in thinking like johnson must genuinely have a few conflicting emotions here because this is his dream yeah but at the same time it's again actually oh i just saw that oh i mean yeah i mean that's not gonna be good it? No. Do I really want to put that man's suit on? Not literally. Yeah. But there you go.

I'm a silly old man. Obviously, he needs to become president, and we'll cover that next episode. So there we go. That's the start of Johnson. What are your thoughts? Pre- Not a fan?

He's not coming across well. He's a liar. he's a cheater um he's a womanizer he's uh yeah yeah he has no political beliefs he is a weather by him no he reminds me of boris johnson yes yeah well we'll see how he is as president. If you remember, we finished the Kennedy episode one with feelings pretty much this negative for different reasons. True. But we did finish very negatively, and Kennedy managed to get Americans. But there's a reason for that.

He prevented nuclear war. Yeah, well, who knows? Maybe. Maybe Johnson does. I'll climb up to my shelter in the sea. Maybe he prevents nuclear war or maybe he just gets bogged down in a war in Vietnam. Who knows? Who knows?

Who could say? But that is for next time. So thank you very much for listening, everyone. Yeah. And if you want some for next episode, if you'd like to watch Apocalypse Now. Good morning, Vietnam. Oh, Forrest Gump. Yes. for next episode if you'd like to watch Apocalypse Now um Good Morning Vietnam um oh um Forrest Gump yes that'd be good

yeah good homework watch all the buzz alright okay thanks for listening and thank you for following us on Facebook and Twitter yes

and Instagram if you bother there's no point we rarely use it but you know yeah that's all good every now and again

great until next time then goodbye goodbye senator mahoney senator oh mahoney Senator Mahoney. Senator O'Mahoney. Thank you. Thank you. Now, obviously, this bill is a very important bill. And I must say that I fully believe that an amendment should be put in place that allows anyone to break the law in this case to be tried by a jury of their peers.

Judge? Yeah? I said, by a jury of their peers. Judge? Yeah. I said, by a jury of their peers. Yes. Stand up. Will you yield? Yes. I will yield,

nod, but look sceptical. Stand in a confident manner. Okay. I believe that Negroes being part of a jury is terrible.

Turn page. Lee important for the What does it say? Democratic. Democratic use of our procedures and abilities as a nation to succeed in the modern world. Sit down. Look happy.

Look convinced. Thank you, Senator Church, for your input. This is very interesting. I will certainly be taking this into consideration. Sharon, remind me I need to get milk on the way home. You don't need to write this bit down, Sharon. In fact, Sharon, put the pen down. I've got something else for you to hold. Psst, psst, I'm Oney. Yes, yes, church. I'm not

100% sure what he's trying to get us to say here. Ooh, ooh, yes. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Oh, I'm just making weird sounds. I'm not convinced this is meant to be part of the script. Abandon script. Abandon script. Linda B. Johnson, part one. Oh, my God god He sure be Ah to be sure To be sure

He's now Irish He is Irish Right we good? Yeah Hello and welcome Sorry I got a message It's alright It's alright

It's alright Yeah it's fine It's all right i mean just go go start without me no no no i'll be there i'll be there i'll be there catching up well you said you were gonna be there before but you weren't well that was a long time ago jamie i just want you to blend and be there for me i'll be johnson for you i have to last i don't know what any of this means anyway let's do a card come on let's start let's do this