(8 of 8)
Next came a call to Dick Russell about some business of the Armed Services Committee. Then in came Tennessee's Albert Gore to discuss plans for speeding up antirecession highway spending. New Mexico's Dennis Chavez, chairman of the Public Works Committee, joined Johnson and Gore, agreed to skip hearings on the highway bill and clear it for Senate consideration by this week. Lyndon Johnson left his office at a lope, looked in at a meeting of the Armed Services Committee, trotted back to his office, gulped down a cup of hot bouillon, greeted Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey for a discussion about farm supports.
For Whom the Bells Toll. By noon, Johnson was in the Senate chamber. No sooner had "Amen" sounded to the opening prayer than Johnson claimed the floor for his pretentious speech on recession. "I believe it is essential," he cried, "that responsible leaders prepare now to meet any eventuality. I should think that can be done without any foreboding prophecies of gloom or doom, or any Pollyanna predictions that prosperity is just around some ever-receding corner."
Whatever other leaders might do. Lyndon Johnson was already manning the pumps—the political pumps, that is. "I do not take any obscene delight in playing politics with human misery," he said. "I think that is what people do when they procrastinate or send up smoke screens. I have responsibilities as the majority leader of the Senate of the United States ... I plan not only to live up to my responsibilities, but to discharge them as effectively as I can." Three hours later he was back to offer his resolutions on military construction and public works. "I'd like to ring the bells and notify the Senators that I'm making a statement—it's rather important."
What was really important to Lyndon Johnson—and to the Democratic record —was the fact that Johnson had once again taken possession of a key issue, given it the full force of his energy and legislative skill. Perhaps, happily, the recession would pass swiftly, and the economy would no longer be an issue. In a U.S. of fast political change, only one thing is really predictable: when the next hot issue comes along, Lyndon Johnson will build it bigger and better—hoping that it will do the same for him.
* Named Claudia Alta Taylor, she was called Lady Bird by a Negro nurse, and Lady Bird she has been ever since. -By comparison, the rigid Republican seniority system has buried such able freshmen as Kentucky's John Sherman Cooper and Thruston Morton, and New York's Jack Javits.