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The Johnsons took other precautions against criticism. A special account was set up, for instance, so that bills for invitations, food, extra help and other items would clearly be paid from their own resources rather than public funds. When it developed that Priscilla Kidder of Boston, who designed the bridesmaids' and bridal gowns, has a nonunion workshop, the job of making the dresses was transferred to a plant in Lowell, Mass., so that the garments would carry union labels. When family friends in Milwaukee planned a dinner party, word got around that champagne would be served, although the legal drinking age there is 21. The hosts served apple cider instead.
Pacifist Protest. Virtually ignoring the torrent of expensive wedding gifts, White House handouts played up the sentimental, homey and offbeat: from Uncle Tony Taylor in Texas, a set of six silver syllabub cups that had belonged to Grandmother Minnie Lee Patillo Taylor; Texas-shaped cookie cutters from Mrs. Jake Pickle, wife of the Congressman who holds L.B.J.'s old seat; from Mrs. Orville Freeman, a jeweled Pakistani nose ring, symbolizing female submission to her mate (who, vows the bride, will never become "Mister Luci Johnson"). The bipartisan House leadership took up a collection for a congressional gift, but Iowa Republican H. R. Gross grouched that he was not going to contribute $5 for an "heiress" he did not know, and Luci gracefully requested that the idea be dropped. Other well-wishers sent the bride enough frilly garters to outfit the Folies-Bergère.
Some unpleasantness was inevitable. After Aug. 6 was set as the date, the Hiroshima World Friendship Center, an organization of Japanese and American pacifists, protested that this was the anniversary of the first A-bomb raid. Luci's rumored reaction may be apocryphal, but it is not atypical: "O.K., how about December 7?" Another outfit, calling itself the Ad Hoc Committee for the August 6 Protest Against the War in Viet Nam, announced its intention to picket the National Shrine and the White House throughout the wedding celebration.
Most unpleasant of all were the digs in Congress and newspaper columns about Pat Nugent's rather minimal military service in the Air National Guard,* at a time when hundreds of thousands of young Americans were serving in Viet Nam. (Lynda's beau, Actor George Hamilton, has not helped in the image department either with his deferment as his mother's sole source of support.) After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Airman Third Class Nugent became vulnerable to further criticism by arranging a transfer to Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, to serve the balance of his four-month active-duty tour less than an hour's drive from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Pentagon explained that such transfers are granted routinely when feasible.