jumbojohnson

[jumbojohnson]

Most people say if your enemy is about to make a mistake don't stop him, but LBJ says if your enemy is about to make a mistake make sure as many people are watching as possible

[jumbojohnson]

It's interesting that the south has always faced a certain kind of prejudice in mainstream America, but I guess Texas is/was excluded from that. It's not the first time I've seen people insist LBJ wasn't a southern president.

[jumbojohnson]

Hubert Humphrey was trying to use him, just as he was trying to use Hubert Humphrey. Lyndon Johnson knew that. But he knew something else, too. If two men were each trying to use the other, the tougher one would win -- and he, Lyndon Johnson, was the tougher.

Master of the Senate p459

[jumbojohnson]

Runner ups are Quill Littlefield, Truman Fawcett, Westwood Bird and Welly Hopkins, with Cactus Jack being disqualified as it wasn't his legal name.

[jumbojohnson]

To those who say we are rushing this issue of civil rights -- I say to them, we are one hundred and seventy-two years late.

Hubert Humphrey

[jumbojohnson]

Yeah you really get a sense of how horrible that home must have been that almost all the children produced by it had crippling emotional problems in adulthood, and at least two were serious alcoholics. Not to mention the family matriarch was so desperate to be physically out of the house that she drove straight from her husband's funeral to the next town over and never came back.

I was wondering why Lyndon's siblings and mother hadn't really figured into the book, but it makes a LOT of sense that he would want to leave that childhood and the people who remind him of it behind. Caro is actually incredibly gentle and understanding about that.

[jumbojohnson]

I was wondering why Lyndon's siblings and mother hadn't really figured into the book, but it makes a LOT of sense that he would want to leave that childhood and the people who remind him of it behind. Caro is actually incredibly gentle and understanding about that.

[jumbojohnson]

I'm not sure what it says about me that the first page I actually bothered to bookmark is the one with all of Lyndon's dirty jokes, but holy shit they're actually funny

[jumbojohnson]

Lyndon was the guy to see if you wanted to get a bill off the Calendar, Lyndon was the guy to see if you were having trouble getting it passed in the House, Lyndon was the guy to see for campaign funds. There wasn't anything Lyndon was using these facts for as yet. But in ways not yet visible, power was starting to accumulate around him-- ready to be used.

Master of the Senate p 413

[jumbojohnson]

Okay but Rayburn and Johnson talking shit behind each other's backs about the same stupid problems over and over again just means they really were a father and his adult son

[jumbojohnson]

I want someone to figure out how often Caro uses "stride" in connection with Lyndon Johnson because I'm starting to picture him as an ostrich

[jumbojohnson]

No hate to Bobby Barker but can you imagine what Caro would say about Lyndon if he did even half that shit?

[jumbojohnson]

LANDSLIDE LYNDON. I would give so much for even a fraction of the confidence it requires to invent and then demand people use an obsequious nickname for you. Though I'm still on the fence about whether Lyndon had an enormous ego, or if he actually had a very realistic self-assessment and just also happened to be missing the part of the brain that feels shame.

[jumbojohnson]

'his mind can follow another mind...' - not 100% the same thing, but it reminded me of the book 1 story (paraphrasing) of someone talking about how lyndon never read, so we told him what the book said and he gave us a solution.

quite a random ask, i do apologize. personally, i'm on book 4 right now and it's such a journey of a read. i'm not from the US and i so wish i could visit the lbj library, damn!

That's a really good point!! It's fascinating to me how people who knew Lyndon in very different contexts -- personal, professional, as an employee, as a peer, etc -- still describe him with similar language. He just had such an enormous, undeniable personality, and I guess his analytical skills and problem-solving was very noticeable.

Thanks for the ask!! I haven't made it to four yet, still working through Master of the Senate, but omg it really is such a ride. I wish you could visit it too!! It was a great trip, it inspired me to try to go to the Lincoln Museum which is in my own state and yet I've somehow never been lol.

[jumbojohnson]

Ken Alexander

[jumbojohnson]

A smattering of pictures from the LBJ library. The note he wrote to his student -- "your words are a clear indication to your beautiful character" -- was a highlight, as well as the Johnson Juice.

[jumbojohnson]

The story about Lyndon grabbing onto the one single negative sign in a sea of thousands of supporters just reminds me too much of Conan saying if there's one single person in the crowd who's not laughing he'll spend the rest of the show playing straight to them. It's like Conan has a much more benign version of "it has to be unanimous."