another president, another crisis

Hi all -


I've been listening to the tapes Lyndon Johnson kept, and I thought some of you might be interested as well. I've compiled some of the most timely conversations into one recording. In terms of humanity, intelligence, and grace, Bush suffers a hell of lot in comparison with the last central-Texas rancher president.


It's in RealAudio at http://www.mine-control.com/lbj.ram.


Yours,


Jim


ps - the sound quality is pretty bad at first, but gets better a couple of minutes in.

"Bush suffers a hell of lot in comparison with the last central-Texas rancher president.'


Yeah, Bush is still about 50 thousand dead boys short of that cowboy.

50,00 dead American boys. The number of dead Asian boys is in the millions.


"Grace" is not the first word that comes to mind in thinking about LBJ.

Well, apparantly the only reason I can understand any of this is because I have nice headphones. No one else can. So here's a transcript of the first two calls, from Air Force One.


Also, Mac users seem to need to follow this slightly different link: http://www.mine-control.com/lbj.ram


Call #1


GROUND RADIOMAN: Uh, AF One from Crown, Mrs. Kennedy on go ahead please.


STAFF MEMBER: Hello, Mrs. Kennedy, Hello, Mrs. Kennedy. We're talking from the airplane, can you hear us all right?


ROSE KENNEDY (JFK's mother): Hello.


STAFF MEMBER: Yes, Mrs. Kennedy. I have Mr. Johnson for you here.


LBJ: Mrs. Kennedy?


ROSE KENNEDY : Yes, Mr. President?


LBJ: I wish to God there was something that I could do. I wanted to tell you that we were grieving with you.


ROSE: Thank you very much, thank you very much. I know. I know you loved Jack and he loved you.


Ladybird Johnson: Mrs. Kennedy? We realize we (inaudible).


ROSE: All right, thank you very much. Goodbye. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.


Call #2


GROUND RADIOMAN: Volunteer would like a patch with Mrs. Connally, governor Connally's wife. Is that a Roger?


(Note: Volunteer is LBJ's code name. Mrs. Connally was the wife of Texas Governor John Connally, who was wounded along with JFK. He had also been LBJ's aid.)


AIR RADIOMAN: Roger.


GROUND RADIOMAN: Roger, roger, standby one.


GROUND RADIOMAN: AF One, would you put volunteer on the line please? Mrs. Kennedy is standing by for his call.


MRS. CONNALLY: Can you hear me, can you hear me?


LADYBIRD JOHNSON: Just heard some reassuring news, over the TV. We are up in the plane, but the surgeon, speaking about John, sounded so reassuring.


GROUND RADIOMAN: Mrs. Johnson?


LBJ: Bird can you hear me?


LADYBIRD JOHNSON: Yes.


LBJ: I love you darling. And I know that everything's going to be all right, isn't it?


LADYBIRD JOHNSON: Yes, it's going to be all right.


LBJ: God bless you darling.


LADYBIRD JOHNSON: The same to you.


LBJ: (inaudible) A hug and kiss for me.


LADYBIRD JOHNSON: Good luck.


Call 3 and 4 are from the ground and should be a little more audible.

Points well taken. Another thing that comes out from these tapes is that LBJ was much more conflicted about the Vietnam War than anyone guessed. He made a terrible, terrible decision, yes. But that doesn't he did handle the very difficult period after the assasination masterfully. And he did a great job on civil rights, in my opinion. His social programs may have been misguided but they came from an honest desire to help, in my opinion.


But then I wasn't born then, so what the hell do I know. I just thought the tapes were dramatic and wanted to share them.


Mashie

"

ROSE: Thank you very much, thank you very much. I know. I know you loved Jack and he loved you.

"


How else could a person in LBJ's shoes have behaved under those circumstances? But I'll bet he probably trembled with the excitement of assuming the Presidency.


I think it is commonly understood that LBJ had nothing but contempt and perhaps even hatred for the Kennedys. JFK treated his VP like a persona non grata.


LBJ's civil rights record is exceptional however.