(2 of 2)
Lyndon Johnson, 51. readily admits that his 1955 coronary came within an ace of being fatal. While medical bulletins called it "moderately severe," Johnson now insists that it was "moderate"—though it required six months of convalescence. Johnson has forsaken cigarettes (he had been a three-pack-a-day man) and cut his weight from 226 to 202 (his doctor wants him to shed another twelve pounds). He likes to pull out of his pocket a card-sized, celluloid-encased copy of his last (November) electrocardiogram, which his doctors interpret as normal. His blood pressure, at 115 over 75 as of last May, was on the low side for a man of his age; his pulse was 78. He follows no post-coronary regimen, takes no anticoagulants, rarely naps, drives himself brutally. Says his physician (and longtime friend), Dr. James Cain of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.: "He at least should slow down and live a 48-hour day instead of a 72-hour one."
Stuart Symington, 59, developed hypertension during World War II (1943 blood pressure reading: 175 over 110). He probably aggravated the condition by overworking as president of Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co., which had rush orders for gun turrets. He usually slept at the office, sometimes got up at 3 a.m. to work. In 1945 he began to develop headaches; steadily they grew worse, prevented him from sleeping. In 1947 he underwent a "sympathectomy"—the severing of some sympathetic nerves near the spine. Chances then for full success: 33%. He recovered so quickly (three months) and fully that his case has become something of a medical classic. His blood pressure has been normal ever since (currently: 125 over 80). The headaches are gone. He follows no special diet. His only medication is an occasional sleeping pill. His health, says Dr. Samuel Grant of St. Louis, is "excellent."
Results of Vice President Richard Nixon's most recent physical exam, taken last April at Walter Reed Hospital: Chest X ray, electrocardiogram and blood count normal; blood pressure, which has always been normal, was 108 over 76, pulse 72. Nixon's worst apparent ailments are hay fever and an allergy to wool.