Future President LBJ a/k/a "Landslide Lyndon" campaigning for the Senate by helicopter in 1948

By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.

LBJ won the 1948 Senate primary by 87 votes, which led to his nickname "Landslide Lyndon."  His rented helicopter, "The Johnson City Windmill," drew crowds to fairs across the state,

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President Lyndon Johnson: LBJ as a boy, circa 1915

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

This is a fascinating photo of LBJ as a youth.  As a wise man once said, "the child is the father to man. . ."

click to enlarge

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LBJ gives The Johnson Treatment to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, in 1968.

By Jack Brummet, 60's Ed.

LBJ gives the Johnson Treatment to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, in 1968.

Previous ATIT articles and photographs of The Johnson Treatment:

The Johnson Treatment

LBJ and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King meet up

LBJ howls like a dog

Another good LBJ photo

And another. . .

One of the heroes and villains paintings

LBJ In A Characteristic Pose

Running Mates: Senators Lyndon Johnson And JFK

The Johnson Treatment, Part 6: The Hump and Senator Russell get the treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 5: Senator Richard Russell (Dem., Georgia) Undergoes The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 4: President Johnson Gives The Treatment To Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas

The Johnson Treatment, Part 3: LBJ Gives Eartha Kitt The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 2: Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential Front-runner Gets The Treatment

He's Not Close Enough To Give Him The Johnson Treatment, But LBJ Appears To Be Answering A Pointed Question From Dan Rather

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LBJ drives his car into a lake

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

LBJ driving his amphibious car.  He liked to scare visitors to his ranch by driving them downhill in his Amphicar into his property’s lake, "while shouting that the brakes had broken.”

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The Johnson Treatment: LBJ appoints Richard Russell to the Warren Commission before telling him

By Jack Brummet, President's Editor

President Johnson with Senator Russell

In November, 1963, LBJ appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to head what became known as The Warren Commission.  He also wanted to appoint his Senate mentor, Georgia's Richard Russell. Russell, however, was no fan of Warren and told President Johnson that he wouldn't serve alongside him.

LBJ's solution?  He just announced Russell's appointment to the press.  And then he called Senator Russell to let him know (transcript from November 28, 1963 at 8:55):

LBJ: Dick...it has already been announced and you can serve with anybody for the good of America and this is a question that has a good many more ramifications than on the surface and we've got to take this out of the arena where they're testifying that Khrushchev and Castro did this and did that and kicking us into a war that can kill 40 million Americans in an hour.

Russell: I have never...

LBJ: You're my man on that commission. And you're going to do it. And don't tell me what you can do and what you can't, because I can't arrest you and I'm not going to put the FBI on you, but you're goddammed sure going to serve. I'll tell you that.

Russell: Mr. President, you ought to have told me you was gonna name me.

LBJ: I told you. I told you today I was gonna name the chief justice when I called you.

Russell: You did not...

LBJ: I did...

Russell: You didn't tell me you was gonna name him...

LBJ: I told you I was gonna name Warren and you said it would be better to name Harlan.

Russell: Well you ought not to be so persuasive.

LBJ: Well, I think I ought to.

Russell: I think you did wrong getting Warren and I know damned well you did wrong in getting me. But we'll both do the best we can.

LBJ: No. I think that's what you'll do. That's the kind of American both of you are. Good night.

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An uneasy, but productive partnership: Martin Luther King and LBJ

Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson had an uneasy partnership, with some mutual suspicion on both sides.  Nonetheless, they did work together, and accomplished much.  On his birthday,  many of us wonder what would have been different had Reverend King lived beyond 1968. 

LBJ hands a pen to MLK after signing the  Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Send The President a joint -- it just might chill him down?

By Jack Brummet, Social Mores Editor,
with research by Mona Goldwater. Wingnut and GOP affairs editor

As a long-time scholar of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, I loved stumbling onto this 1970 flyer.  In the end, I don't think sending marijuana to the White House had the desired effect.  LBJ kept the war running full-tilt, until he was replaced by Dick Nixon in January, 1969.  As it turned out, Nixon kept the war running at high levels as well, until he achieved "peace with honor," or, more correctly, we bugged out of the mess we created and left them to sort it out. . .

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Photograph: Lyndon Johnson and S.O.D. Robert McNamara have an "Oh S**t!" moment

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor


Lyndon Johnson and S.O.D. Robert McNamara have an "Oh S**t!" moment.  They had a lot of those.

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The Johnson Treatment: LBJ's version of persuasion and coercion, with photos and links to 15 previous stories on LBJ and "The Johnson Treatment"

by Jack Brummet

Presidents Editor

 

Here, LBJ, the Majority Leader, puts the strong-arm on Theodore Green, a 90 year old Senator

The Johnson Treatment has been described as having 'a large St. Bernard licking your face and pawing you all over.'   LBJ was a big man, and the original "close talker."  The Johnson Treatment was a singular combination of physical intimidation and coercion, and it was one of his most effective tools as he mastered the Senate, and later, to a far lesser degree, the Presidency.   The phrase "The Johnson Treatment" is sometimes also used to describe being violated by unwanted company.  LBJ would paw you, lean into you, get right up in your grill and ask you for a favor.  Except it wasn't really asking.  Here are a few of our favorite photographs of LBJ giving the Treatment, along with links to fifteen previous article on LBJ, LBJ's War, and, of course, The Johnson Treatment.

Here, LBJ leans on Hubert Humphrey, who would later become his VP

LBJ leaning on his friend Abe Fortas, whom he would later name

to the Supreme Court, and even later attempt to elevate to Chief Justice.

Fortas eventually resigned after four years on the court, due to ethical issues.

LBJ putting the screws to Dan Rather, who had asked an impertinent question

Putting The Johnson Treatment on Richard Russell

LBJ gives soon to be President Dick Nixon the treatment

Whitney Young gets a taste of The Treatment

Eartha Kitt gets a frosty dose of the treatment after she questioned his war

One person to whom he couldn't give the treatment...his boss, Jack Kennedy

The Johnson Treatment

LBJ and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King meet up

LBJ howls like a dog

Another good LBJ photo

And another. . .

One of the heroes and villains paintings

LBJ In A Characteristic Pose

Running Mates: Senators Lyndon Johnson And JFK

The Johnson Treatment, Part 6: The Hump and Senator Russell get the treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 5: Senator Richard Russell (Dem., Georgia) Undergoes The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 4: President Johnson Gives The Treatment To Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas

The Johnson Treatment, Part 3: LBJ Gives Eartha Kitt The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 2: Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential Front-runner Gets The Treatment

He's Not Close Enough To Give Him The Johnson Treatment, But LBJ Appears To Be Answering A Pointed Question From Dan Rather

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POTUS 36 - President Lyndon B. Johnson, originator of The Johnson Treatment

click to enlarge LBJ

I've written many times about Lyndon Johnson, the civil rights hero, and Lyndon Johnson, the paranoid and bellicose monster. When I did my series on Heroes And Villains, I considered using a picture of him as both the hero and the villain. I don't subscribe to the theory he was one of the JFK assassination conspirators (if there was indeed a conspiracy to begin with).

LBJ had a unique style of coercion and persuasion. It is known as the Johnson Treatment. Check out this link for dozens of photos and stories on The Treatment:

Some of my favorite political books have been Lyndon Johnson biographies and studies. Recently, the movie Fog of War was an fascinating rehash of LBJ, the unwitting inheritor of an unwinnable (as he seemed to know from the get-go) war.

If you get a chance, the LBJ museum in Austin, TX, is worth an afternoon visit.

If you want to hear an audio tape of LBJ in action jump here.

Earlier articles on LBJ appearing on All This Is That:

The Johnson Treatment
LBJ and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King meet up
LBJ howls like a dog
Another good LBJ photo
And another. . .
One of the heroes and villains paintings
LBJ In A Characteristic Pose
Running Mates: Senators Lyndon Johnson And JFK
The Johnson Treatment, Part 6: The Hump and Senator Russell get the treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 5: Senator Richard Russell (Dem., Georgia) Undergoes The Treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 4: President Johnson Gives The Treatment To Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas
The Johnson Treatment, Part 3: LBJ Gives Eartha Kitt The Treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 2: Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential Front-runner Gets The Treatment
He's Not Close Enough To Give Him The Johnson Treatment, But LBJ Appears To Be Answering A Pointed Question From Dan Rather
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