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The Big Payoff. Lyndon Johnson's first four years as Democratic leader coincided with Dwight Eisenhower's first term as President. Johnson correctly judged that the Democrats could only lose by placing themselves in blind opposition to one of history's most popular Presidents. Harassed by the Adlai Stevenson wing, always faced with the threat that his own divided party would blow up in his face over civil rights, Johnson led Senate Democrats time and again in support of Administration programs, e.g., foreign aid, foreign trade, the Formosa and Middle East resolutions. The remarkable payoff came in 1956, when President Eisenhower was re-elected in a near-record landslide—along with a Democratic Congress.
Today, with his own State of the Union speeches and talk of his own "cabinet," Johnson has plainly thrown off his cloak as an Ike backer, but he remains on warm personal terms with the Republican at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. During a recent Johnson visit to the White House, the President pointed to the leather chair behind his desk. "Some day," he said, "you'll sit in that chair." Replied Johnson: "No, Mr. President, that's one chair I'll never sit in. I wouldn't trade desks with you for anything in the world." "Well, listen," said Dwight Eisenhower with a burst of laughter, "I'll trade with you any time."
"Get Him." Both publicly and privately, Lyndon Johnson insists that he does not want to be President, that he would not even respond to the unlikely event of a draft. He points to the formidable presidential handicap of being a Southerner. He cites his long history of illness (besides the 1932 pneumonia and the 1955 heart attack, he suffers chronic bronchial trouble, has undergone surgery for kidney stones). And he says that the U.S. Senate keeps him too busy to worry about anything else.
He is right about that, as any typical Johnson day will prove. By 8:15 one morning last week he had made a dozen telephone calls, was dictating notes to Lady Bird. At 8:45 he left their fashionable Rock Creek home in Washington (the Johnsons need not worry about money: Lady Bird comes from a wealthy family, owns 2,900 acres of Alabama cotton land, an Austin radio station and Austin's only television station). In his chauffeur-driven, Government-supplied Cadillac, he read the morning papers, dictated some more notes to a secretary.
Johnson's staff had been on the job since before 8 o'clock, but his arrival, as always, spurred the breakneck pace. "Get me Senator Stennis," he ordered. A few minutes passed—and no Stennis. Johnson buzzed a secretary. "Where is Senator Stennis?" he asked. He was told that Mississippi's Senator John Stennis was flying south. "Do you want me to give you a raise or do you want to give me your resignation?" cried Lyndon Johnson. "Get him in ten minutes!" Three minutes later John Stennis, caught between planes, was at the end of a telephone line in the Atlanta airport.