National Affairs: Notes from the Hill

In the chambers, cloakrooms and corridors of Capitol Hill last week, these congressional names made conversation:

¶ To Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson from wife Lady Bird Johnson came bad news on the L.B.J. front: Little Beagle Johnson, 7, pet of Lucy Baines Johnson, 11, had not come home for dinner. Alert reporters sounded alarms all over Washington, carried the stray's description into New Hampshire Avenue Animal Hospital, where an unidentified motorist had left a slightly battered beagle. Sure enough, it was the Johnson dog. The good word, couriered to the head...