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Johnson sent orders ahead that, as a first order of business, he wished to meet with congressional leaders of both parties shortly after his arrival, that he wanted to see any members of the Cabinet present in Washington "to ask all of them to remain in their posts," that he would also convene members of the White House staff. Next, he advised Washington's Andrews Air Force Base that he would make a brief public statement upon arrival, turned his attention to what he could say.
When the aircraft landed at Andrews at dusk, the MATS terminal was blazing with floodlights. President and Mrs. Johnson waited inside while a yellow cargo lift lumbered out to the plane's rear door. Uniformed pallbearers struggled to shift the heavy casket from the plane to the lift. Robert Kennedy met Jackie at the door, helped her to the ground. Officials motioned Jackie toward a black Cadillac, but she insisted on staying with the casket. She got into a grey military ambulance, refused to sit in front, climbed in back near her husband's body. Bobby joined her, and they drove off behind closed grey curtains between two lines of a white-gloved honor guard.
The First Statement. Johnson and Lady Bird emerged from the plane and were quickly engulfed by the men Johnson has known best in his quarter-century of Government service: the leaders of Congress. There was little talk. Senate Majority whip Hubert Humphrey cried openly. Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and Majority Leader Mike Mansfield gripped Johnson's hands.
Johnson turned slowly, strode away from the cluster of friends, walked toward a bank of microphones. It must have seemed the loneliest, longest walk of his life. Motioning Lady Bird to his side, Johnson spoke publicly for the first time as President, expressed his feelings simply.
"This is a sad time for all people," he said. "We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me it is a deep personal tragedy. I know the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God's."
Moments later, Johnson took part in his first brief discussion of affairs of state. He and Lady Bird climbed into a helicopter with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Under Secretary of State George Ball. They conferred during the seven-minute flight to the White House.
The grey helicopter, its red lights blinking, swung past the floodlit Washington Monument, came down onto a steel landing pad on the south lawn of the White House, some 70 feet from Caroline and John Kennedy's treehouse, swing and jungle-gym set. Johnson walked through the flower garden into the oval presidential office. There secretaries had cleared Jack Kennedy's desk of personal mementos: a coconut shell on which he had carved a message of his survival after his PT boat sank in World War II, a silver calendar noting the dates of his confrontation with Nikita Khrushchev over Soviet missiles in Cuba, photos of Jackie and the children. Johnson lingered only briefly, decided to work out of his three-room vice-presidential suite in the adjacent Executive Office Building.