The Passage of Power (158 page)

“Schlesinger declared”
:
Dungan OH.
“What do you want”
:
Goldman,
The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson,
p. 134.
“I must guard”
:
Schlesinger,
Journals,
p. 223.
“The new President; “found it”
;
“almost”
:
Schlesinger,
Journals,
pp. 216–19.
Johnson had begun:
Goldman, pp. 3–34.
“Accepted”
:
Schlesinger,
Journals,
p. 224.
Schlesinger’s opinion:
Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, p. 626.

“Johnson tried”
:
Sorensen interview.
“He was very very nice” to sons
:
Sorensen recalled the scene in the White House Mess during one of his interviews with the author. He also recalled that after Johnson had gotten up and left the table, “one of the three [boys] turned to me, and said, ‘He’s not very much like a President.’ ” After he repeated this remark to the author, Sorensen paused for a quite a long time. Then he said, “I think maybe I shared that feeling. Out of the mouths of babes.”

“Rather liked”
Galbraith’s draft:
Transcript, “10:10 P.M. to Ted Sorensen; preceded by Bill Moyers and Sorensen,”
TPR,
Vol. I, pp. 164–71.
Simply crossed out:
Sorensen interview. Sorensen writes in
Counselor
that “He [Johnson] understandably deleted” that line—one of Sorensen’s characteristic understatements (p. 382).
“Ninety percent”
:
Sorensen,
Counselor,
p. 383.
Katharine Graham call:
Transcript, “11:10 A.M. to Katharine Graham,” Dec. 2, 1963,
TPR,
Vol. II, p. 41.
“Are you?”
:
Sorensen interview; Sorensen,
Counselor,
p. 385.
Sorensen became accustomed:
Sorensen,
Counselor,
pp. 383, 385.
“Well, your man”
:
Sorensen interview.
“Had planned”
;
“You and I”
:
Sorensen,
Counselor,
pp. 388–89.

“Hopalong”
:
For example,
Abilene Reporter-News,
undated.
“Do you think?
:
WP,
Dec. 31, 1963; AP story,
Big Spring Herald,
Dec. 30, 1963; Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy,
p. 648; slightly different version in
NYT,
Dec. 30.
“Reporters felt”
:
Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy,
p. 648.
“For all”
:
Amrine,
This Awesome Challenge,
p. 105.
“A terrible”
;
“There is”
:
Schlesinger,
Journals,
p. 225.
“Adopted”
:
James Wechsler, “LBJ & Pierre,”
NYP,
March 24, 1964.

Rapport was gone:
Salinger was to say that Johnson had at first been “accessible to me, but that dried up around February or March.” Salinger OH, JFKL.
Reporters:
Amrine,
Awesome,
p. 103.
“It was impossible”
:
Salinger OH, JFKL.
“The White House press”
:
LAT,
March 22, 1964. For example,
WP,
March 15, 1964: “No one would be surprised to see him leave later in the year. Reporters recently were surprised when Valenti started monitoring Salinger’s press conferences.” Also see
WP,
March 20, 1964.
Salinger was determined:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
pp. 343–45; Guthman and Shulman, eds.,
Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words,
pp. 412–13.

“So abrupt”
:
Amrine,
Awesome,
p. 105.
Walking out of the restaurant; encountering:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 346.
“Almost fell out”
:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 346.
Went to the White House:
“Democrats: Senator Salinger,”
Time,
March 27, 1964;
NYT, WP,
March 22.
“As quickly”
;
“Startled”
:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 346.

Johnson’s self-possession; When he saw Salinger:
Salinger was to give this account of what happened. “I said, ‘Mr. President, goodbye. I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m going to California.’ ‘What are you going to do there?’ ‘I’m going to run for senator.’ ” Booknotes, Nov. 12, 1995. Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 346.
“The letters”
:
WES,
March 20, 1964.
“He must have heard”
:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 347.

“I had given LBJ very little time”
:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 347.
“effective immediately”
:
Newsweek,
March 30, 1964.
“Surprise” and “startling” resignation
:
“Surprise” is
WES,
March 20, 1964.
WP, WES,
March 22, 1964.

“Not disturbed”
:
NYT, WES,
March 22, 1964.

“At the same”
:
Salinger,
With Kennedy,
p. 346;
WP,
March 20, 1964.

A “bombshell”
:
Lady Bird Johnson,
A White House Diary,
p. 96.

“The nostalgic pretense”
:
James Reston,
NYT,
March 20, 1964.
“Do you approve?”
:
WP,
March 11, 1964.
March and April:
WP,
May 15, 1964.
“Two out of three”
:
LAT,
May 15, 1964.
“Every President”
:
WP,
July 1, 1945.
“Compare favorably”
:
WP,
May 15, 1964.
“In the few”
:
Joseph Alsop,
WP,
April 20, 1964.
“The most energetic”
:
Marquis Childs,
WP,
May 27, 1964.
“The same”
:
NYT,
May 3, 1964.
“The Johnson Administration”
:
Roscoe Drummond,
LAT,
May 14, 1964.
“In a good deal less”
:
Richard Rovere, “Letter from Washington,”
The New Yorker,
Feb. 15, 1964.

A hard man to beat:
Gallup Poll, March 1964,
“Poll Data Bank,”
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
“President Johnson’s”
:
“Republicans: The Man to Beat,”
Time,
May 8, 1964.

“History will record”
:
Sidey, quoted in Middleton,
LBJ: The White House Years,
p. 13.
“recognized rule”
:
Feerick,
From Failing Hands,
p. 20.
“Everything I had ever learned”
:
Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
p.178.
“Kennedy’s assassination touched”
:
Patterson,
Grand Expectations,
p. 531.

“A measure must be sent”
:
Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
pp. 226–27. Johnson also said: “In some ways Congress is like a dangerous animal that you’re trying to make work for you. You push him a little bit and he may go just as you want but you push him too much and he may balk and turn on you. You’ve got to sense just how much he’ll take and what kind of a mood he’s in every day. For if you don’t have a feel for him, he’s liable to turn around and go wild. And it all depends on your sense of timing.”

“Almost at once”
:
Reedy,
Lyndon B. Johnson,
p. 137.
“It is difficult”
:
Tom Wicker, “Hey, Hey, LBJ …,”
Esquire,
Dec. 1983.