Building the Great Society

by Joshua Zeitz

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A book like this is inevitably the product of years of collaboration. In the process of researching and writing, I’ve benefited greatly from assistance, counsel, and critical feedback from friends and peers. The best parts of this book come from their influence; any shortcomings are all mine.

  I am deeply grateful to friends at Politico and Politico Magazine, where I serve as a contributing editor. Having left academia a decade ago, I’ve been fortunate to enjoy not just a home for my writing but also sharp substantive feedback from a group of talented editors who excel at the art of making big ideas accessible to a broader audience of nonspecialists. Past and current editors, including Blake Hounshell, Elizabeth Ralph, Susan Glasser, Garrett Graff, Margaret Slattery, Stephen Heuser, and Zack Stanton, have extended uncommon courtesy and encouragement. They afforded me the opportunity to road test some of my ideas and arguments in the magazine and provided critical advice that sharpened both the tone and substance of the finished manuscript.

  The challenge of writing a book like this while based in New York was made easier by the help of two highly capable research assistants, Shannon Hildenbrand and Max Scheinin. They did much more than locate and digitize thousands of pages of manuscript collections in the LBJ Library; they took the time and care to familiarize themselves with the project, to pore over finding guides with me, and to help me understand which documents would be of particular use.

  Doing so is no small task, especially given the seemingly bottomless bounty of primary source material in the LBJ archives. It’s a model presidential library, and I am grateful to the talented staff that have made it so accessible and relevant to researchers—especially remote researchers like me. Special thanks goes to archivist Jenna De Graffenried, who was always quick to steer me in the right direction by phone or email.

  At Viking, I am tremendously fortunate to work with the great Wendy Wolf, whose critical eye and proscriptive feedback are reflected in the book’s best passages. She is as rigorous an editor as she is a passionate advocate of her authors. Her team, including assistant editor, Georgia Bodnar, is a pure delight to work with. Special thanks are due to copy editor Ingrid Sterner; production editor Sharon Gonzalez; book designer Francesca Belanger; jacket designer Matthew Varga; and publicist Louise Braverman. They took my words and made them into a book that people might just read!

  I am also privileged to work with Andrew Wylie and Jacqueline Ko, agents extraordinaire. With the benefit of their care and attention, I’ve enjoyed unique opportunities to grow as an author and a historian.

  Last, though certainly not least, I am indebted in so many ways to my family. My father, Carl Zeitz, a former State House reporter, sparked my initial passion for history and politics many decades ago. He remains my most faithful reader and an important sounding board. My wife, Angela Zeitz, is my closest friend, stalwart champion, and partner in raising two smart, engaged, and beautiful girls. There’s not much that I can do without her love and support.

  Our girls, Naomi and Lillian, inspired this book. At ages four and (almost) seven, they’re too young, still, to know much about Lyndon Johnson. But they took an avid interest in the 2016 election. We shared their disappointment that they didn’t get to see a woman ascend to the presidency—not this time, in any event—and their concern that the new administration would not treat every American with equal respect and dignity. I wrote these pages for them, in the hope that one day—when they are old enough to read this book—they’ll feel inspired to do their part in finishing the work that Lyndon Johnson and his staff began.

  NOTES

  Preface

  “Why don’t you pack a bag”: Valenti, Very Human President, 33.

  “I knew few people”: Valenti OH, June 14, 1969, 4.

  “three, four, and five deep”: Valenti, Very Human President, 30.

  “his dress was natty”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 115.

  swept up in the moment: Valenti OH, Oct. 18, 1969, 7.

  “Is this trip necessary?”: Ibid., 6; Valenti, Very Human President, 33.

  “The motorcade went through Dallas”: Valenti OH, Oct. 18, 1969, 10–11.

  At the head of the official column: Caro, Passage of Power, 311.

  “It was a beautiful day”: Miller, Lyndon, 312.

  traveling aboard SAM 86972: Manchester, Death of a President, Digital.

  two news tickers: Ibid.

  a disconcerting bulletin: Telephone transcript: SAM 86972 (Pierre Salinger), WHSR (Oliver Hallett), Nov. 22, 1963, 12:45 p.m. central time, Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  “The President is dead”: Telephone transcript: SAM 86972 (Pierre Salinger), WHSR (Oliver Hallett), Nov. 22, 1963, 1:40 p.m. central time, Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  Horace Busby first intuited trouble: Busby, Thirty-first of March, 144–50.

  Upon reaching the Trade Mart: Valenti, Very Human President, 43–44; Valenti OH, Oct. 18, 1969, 12–13.

  “Am I going to shoot this”: Stoughton OH, March 21, 1971, 21–27.

  Kodacolor or Ektachrome: Ibid., 28.

  Inside Air Force One: Caro, Passage of Power, 323–31.

  “not quite sure precisely”: Valenti, Very Human President, 6.

  “never saw any of the so-called friction”: Valenti OH, Oct. 18, 1969, 15–16.

  “he was surrounded by men whom he trusted”: Valenti, Very Human President, 9.

  “You know, when I went into that office”: Bornet, Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, 9.

  Introduction

  “He was cruel and kind”: Updegrove, Indomitable Will, 3.

  “you were constantly treated”: Samuelson, “How Our American Dream Unraveled.”

  “may have had a negative impact”: Reedy, Twilight of the Presidency, 167.

  conservative criticism of the Great Society: “Reagan Blames ‘Great Society’ for Economic Woes,” New York Times, May 10, 1983.

  so sweeping a list: Bailey and Danziger, Legacies of the War on Poverty, 12–14.

  in the Yellow Oval Room: Hardesty, Johnson Years, 65.

  “He felt entitled”: Califano, Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 11.

  Chapter 1: Put the Ball Through the Hoop

  “Tonight, on this Thanksgiving”: “Transcript of President Johnson’s Thanksgiving Day Address,” New York Times, Nov. 29, 1963.

  “no memorial oration”: “Johnson Bids Congress Enact Civil Rights Bill with Speed,” New York Times, Nov. 28, 1963.

  “for His divine wisdom”: “Johnson’s Thanksgiving Address Asks Nation to ‘Banish Rancor’ and Move On to ‘New Greatness,’” New York Times, Nov. 29, 1963.

  “the South’s unending revenge”: Zelizer, Fierce Urgency of Now, 4, 20.

  “scandal of drift and inefficiency”: Caro, Passage of Power, 347, 461.

  “a vague feeling of doubt”: McPherson, Political Education, 246.

  asked the former Treasury secretary Robert Anderson: Telephone transcript: Johnson, Anderson, Nov. 30, 1963, 1:30 p.m., Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  “Wish you’d feel Byrd out”: “Lyndon Johnson and George Smathers on 30 November 1963,” tape K6311.07, PNO 1, in Presidential Recordings Digital Edition.

  The president’s approval ratings: Caro, Passage of Power, 595.

  “strange amalgam of Austin”: Roberts, LBJ’s Inner Circle, 37.

  “We are like a basketball team”: Ibid., 81.

  the value of staff: Caro, Master of the Senate, 311.

  staff numbering 250: Roberts, LBJ’s Inner Circle, 35.

  “must be completely devoted to the man”: Ibid., 14.

  “the key staff member”: Reedy OH, Dec. 20, 1968, 36.

  “stabilizing force”: Ibid., 37.

  “the door opened”: Caro, Master of the Senate, 129.

  “brains, ability and politica
l savvy”: “Johnson Creating Team of Advisors,” Hartford Courant, Nov. 29, 1963.

  “the senior staff man”: “Johnson’s Men: ‘Valuable Hunks of Humanity,’” New York Times, May 3, 1964.

  “satirized as the man”: “The President’s Closest Shadow,” South China Sunday Post-Herald, May 17, 1964.

  “Above all, Walter Jenkins”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 105.

  guests at the home of Walter: “Stroll Begins Moving Day for President,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 8, 1963.

  “It is difficult for a man”: Sinclair OH, Oct. 5, 1970, 28.

  “always felt talking to Walter”: Rowe OH, Sept. 16, 1969, 52.

  “With no expression of liberal doctrine”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 107.

  “I had a very sick feeling”: Jenkins OH, Aug. 24, 1971, 39–42.

  “sat in his big office”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 104.

  untitled chief of staff: “LBJ’s Texans Now Hold the Reins,” Boston Globe, March 15, 1964.

  “seeming every inch the all-American boy”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 122.

  since the age of eight: Busby OH, April 23, 1981, 4–5, 12, 29.

  “I knew those kinds of nuances”: Ibid., 38–42.

  minister without portfolio: Ibid., 21–22.

  “several angry separations”: “Two White House Aides Resigning Their Posts,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 16, 1965.

  “reputation of having become”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 124.

  “Kennedy’s ‘thinkers’”: “LBJ Adviser Horace ‘Buzz’ Busby Jr., 76, Dies,” Washington Post, June 1, 2000.

  “remained open and freewheeling”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 124.

  Gettysburg National Cemetery: Caro, Passage of Power, 255–66.

  “one hell of a nice guy”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 122.

  Bill Don Moyers: “Johnson’s Men: ‘Valuable Hunks of Humanity.’”

  “John Connally is a really tough man”: “Bill Moyers, a Gentle Gale,” Austin American, July 12, 1964.

  “an authentic Johnson man”: “Johnson’s Men: ‘Valuable Hunks of Humanity.’”

  “a slight, bespectacled”: Roberts, LBJ’s Inner Circle, 53.

  “he began building an empire”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 111.

  “get your Bible”: Johnson and Moyers, April 28, 1964, WH6404.14, no. 3171.

  “tended to lull people”: Valenti OH, July 12, 1972, 14.

  back channel to Shriver: Telephone transcript: Whitney Young to LBJ, Nov. 24, 1963, 6:23 p.m., Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  “As molder of the President’s legislative program”: Roberts, LBJ’s Inner Circle, 53.

  “exciting, interesting, mysterious person”: “A White House Adviser,” New York Times, Nov. 30, 1963.

  “Six feet two inches tall”: Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 118–19.

  “George lived a life”: McPherson OH, Sept. 19, 1985, 10–11.

  “George was a mirror”: Rowe OH, Sept. 16, 1969, 2.

  “I remember one time standing”: McPherson OH, Sept. 19, 1985, 12.

  Such abuse was typical: Reedy OH, Dec. 19, 1968, 27–28.

  lavished expensive gifts: Reedy OH, Dec. 20, 1969, 25–26.

  “grey hair en brosse”: “They’ve Never Had It So Hard,” Observer, Jan. 26, 1964.

  “large, rumpled man”: “Johnson’s Men: ‘Valuable Hunks of Humanity.’”

  “You ask him what that tree”: Ibid.

  “Both Walter and I took the position”: Reedy OH, Dec. 19, 1968, 24–25.

  Kennedy’s core White House aides: Caro, Passage of Power, 334; O’Brien OH, Feb. 11, 1986, 50.

  O’Brien, who directed: Robert Dallek, Camelot’s Court, 212–14.

  pulled out all the stops: O’Brien OH, Dec. 5, 1985, 42.

  “He would be interested”: O’Brien OH, Feb. 11, 1986, 7.

  Johnson was a careful student: Ibid., 10.

  a more natural rapport with LBJ: Ibid., 10–11.

  “very much a New Dealer”: O’Brien OH, April 8, 1986, 43.

  Jim Rowe: Rowe OH, Sept. 9, 1969, 1–16.

  “I can’t afford it”: Caro, Master of the Senate, 656–57.

  “My God, Mr. President”: McPherson OH, Dec. 5, 1968, tape 2, 20–21.

  “touching all his old bases”: Rowe OH, Sept. 16, 1969, 29.

  “this curly-haired fellow, Clifford”: Busby OH, July 2, 1982, 3.

  after he left government service: Clifford OH, Mar. 17, 1969, 3–4, 8–9, 19.

  committed advocate of liberal reform: Kalman, Abe Fortas, 133–50.

  Gideon v. Wainwright: Ibid., 180–83.

  Days after Kennedy’s assassination: “Lyndon Johnson and Katharine Graham on 2 December 1963,” tape K6312.01, PNO 19, in Johnson and Shreve, Presidential Recordings Digital Edition, vol. 2, Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power.

  Johnson repeatedly pressed him: Kalman, Abe Fortas, 228–29.

  LBJ telephoned Larry O’Brien: Telephone transcript: LBJ to O’Brien, Nov. 25, 1963, 4:04 p.m., Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  “grim, cryptic wit”: Salinger, With Kennedy, 64.

  “bleary-eyed and unshaven”: Jenkins OH, Aug. 24, 1971, 44.

  “There is nothing more dangerous”: Schlesinger, Journals, 225.

  “For all his striped shirts”: Caro, Passage of Power, 591.

  “declared war, I guess”: Schlesinger, Journals, 210.

  Katharine Graham: Telephone transcript: LBJ, Graham, Dec. 2, 1963, 11:10 a.m., Johnson, Presidential Recordings.

  LBJ reluctantly accepted: Caro, Passage of Power, 590.

  “the mingling of Boston Brahmins”: “Johnson Herd Blends Two,” Newsday, Aug. 22, 1964.

  “We all have one common goal”: Roberts, LBJ’s Inner Circle, 81.

  Chapter 2: Participation in Prosperity

  “The five of us had a long, long seminar”: Heller OH, Feb. 20, 1970, 13–15.

  Heller was arguably: Lemann, Promised Land, 129–30.

  three days before the assassination: Heller OH, Feb. 20, 1970, 17–20.

  “the President gently pushed”: Lemann, Promised Land, 141.

  “my kind of program”: Gillette, Launching the War on Poverty, 15.

  Median family income: Patterson, Grand Expectations, 312, 451. This growth was felt across the board, with the bottom two quintiles increasing their share of national income by 4 percent. See Historical Statistics of the United States, table Be 39-46, table Be 1-18.

  renter to homeowner: Patterson, Grand Expectations, 312. Between 1936 and 1972, the portion of families living in owner-occupied homes increased from 44 percent to 63 percent. See Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 205.

  blue-collar to white-collar: Between 1950 and 1970, the portion of the workforce engaged in what qualified as white-collar work increased from 30.5 percent to 41 percent. See Janowitz, Last Half-Century, 127.

  average American family: Zeitz, “Back to the Barricades,” 70–75.

  consumer luxuries: Patterson, Grand Expectations, 10.

  In 1950, only 3 percent: Marty, Daily Life in the United States, 9.

  “sick recoveries which die”: Hansen, “Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth,” 4.

  “full production, full employment”: “Reuther Challenges ‘Our Fear of Abundance,’” New York Times, Sept. 16, 1945.

  capitalism “works”: Davies, From Opportunity to Entitlement, 20.

  “many frustrated economists”: Collins, More, 17–18.

  “a large part of the New Deal public”: Hofstadter, Paranoid Style in American Politics, 42.

  Over 7.8 million Americans: Patterson, Grand Expectations, 68.

  David Riesman and Nathan Glazer:
Matusow, Unraveling of America, 7.

  liberal writers in the 1950s: Patterson, Grand Expectations, 337, 345.

  “buys the right car”: Gillon, Boomer Nation, 141.

  “production, distribution, and consumption”: Unger, Best of Intentions, 18.

  liberal intellectuals and policy makers: Matusow, Unraveling of America, 391.

  “With the supermarket as our temple”: “The National Purpose,” Time, May 30, 1960.

  “not all the roots of American life”: Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermart,” Esquire, Nov. 1960.

  “cornucopias”: Collins, More, 41.

  Galbraith wrote: Patterson, America’s Struggle Against Poverty, 95–96.

  “system designed to be impervious”: Harrington, Other America, 10.

  It shocked the liberal conscience: Patterson, America’s Struggle Against Poverty, 129.

  “Some people would say poverty”: Gillette, Launching the War on Poverty, 6.

  “full employment at a time”: Unger, Best of Intentions, 28.

  “warmed-over revisions”: Gillette, Launching the War on Poverty, 12.

  “misfit”: Hackett OH, July 22, 1970, 3.

  “a very hard-driving, effective, caring person”: Gillette, Launching the War on Poverty, 16.

  “The good society”: Patterson, America’s Struggle Against Poverty, 138.

  summons to brief Walter Heller: Gillette, Launching the War on Poverty, 16.

  Lampman cautioned his boss: Lemann, Promised Land, 131.

  “An attack on ignorance”: Ibid., 132.

  Wilbur Cohen: Patterson, America’s Struggle Against Poverty, 136–37.

  ad hoc committee: Unger, Best of Intentions, 92–93.

  “leave the roots of poverty”: Ibid., 87.

  “a generation ago”: Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant, 75.

  “hard, bedrock content”: Caro, Passage of Power, 541.