LBJ’s Humor (re-run)

LBJ's presidency was marked by turbulent change. And while the longtime Texas-born politician is often remembered for his role in the war and in civil rights, few remember what Commentator WF Strong calls LBJ's ' secret weapon' -- his sense of humor.

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Episode Transcript

W.F. Strong (00:00):
When most people think of Lyndon Johnson they don’t envision

(00:04):
a man with a great sense of humor.
He was in power in turbulent times.
When I see his face in my mindI see a man who was troubled, an
unsmiling man with furrows in hisbrow accentuating unrelenting worries.
Yet even in those dark momentshis humor would surface

(00:24):
unexpectedly and lighten his mood.
He once said “When the burdensof the presidency seem unusually
heavy, I always remind myself itcould be worse. I could be a mayor.”
He also said, facetiously,  “There are nofavorites in my office. I treat everyone
with the same general inconsideration.”
Though he didn’t have the publiceloquence of Kennedy or King, he

(00:48):
was interpersonally charismatic.
He was a wonderful storyteller.
Last week, I had the pleasure, and thehonor I might add, of speaking with Doris
Kearns Goodwin for about 30 minutes.
As you may know, she worked closelywith LBJ for 7 years, and because of her
professional relationship with him, outof all the biographies about him, I would

(01:12):
argue that hers is the most humanizing.
No writer knew him better.
Dr. Goodwin told me that LBJ was afantastic storyteller and she never
tired of listening to him, thougheventually she came to realize that his
stories were not all completely true.
He might have used my tag line.

(01:32):
Some of his stories were apocryphal.
Goodwin told me that, like Lincoln,LBJ used stories to animate his
points, to skewer his adversaries, orsimply to amuse and entertain folks.
He learned his storytelling, shesaid, from his father and grandfather.
He listened at night as theytalked politics on the porch

(01:53):
with local power brokers.
That became LBJ’s unique power,too: interpersonal persuasion.
He could read people and package anargument, often in story form, so that
it was uniquely positioned for them.
Let me share a couple of LBJ storiesthat my father, a great admirer
of LBJ, shared with me long ago.

(02:14):
LBJ liked to refer to Barry Goldwater andNelson Rockefeller as Barry and Rocky.

He said (02:20):
“I understand that Barry and Rocky, in running for the GOP
nomination, are both cutting wayback on their visits to California.
Reminds me of a case in Texas where aman wanted to run for Sheriff against an
unpopular incumbent named Uncle Johnny.
Man asked his friend Dave ifhe thought he had a chance.

(02:43):
Dave said, ‘Well, I guess it depends onwho meets the most people.’ ‘Yeah, that’s
what I was thinking,’ said the man.
Dave explained further, ‘If hemeets the most people you’ll win
and if you meet the most peoplehe’ll win.’ That’s the situation
Barry and Rocky find themselves in.”

(03:04):
One last one is about a “boy in Texas whowas very poor and tired of seeing his mama
struggling so much to feed her family.
So he sent a letter to God askingfor 100 dollars for his mama.
The letter got forwarded eventually to thepostmaster general in Washington D.C. He

(03:25):
took pity on the boy and put 20 dollarsin an envelope and mailed it to him.
Two weeks later, the postmaster got aletter back from the boy that said, “Dear
God, thank you for sending the money,but next time don’t send it through
Washington cuz they took 80% of it.”

(03:46):
Doris Kearns Goodwin said thatit was LBJ’s time teaching in
Cotulla that inspired and shapedhis vision for the Great Society.
She’s happy to see that LBJ is gettinglong deserved credit now for the
progressive laws and policies he passedin his time, like Medicaid and Medicare,
and the Voting Rights Act, as well asthe institutions he helped to found,

(04:11):
like NASA and Public Broadcasting.
She just wishes he wasstill around to see it.
He would certainly smile.