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Into It. President Kennedy is tireless in his efforts to keep Lyndon busy—and happy. His White House business conferences are studded with the prefatory remark, "Lyndon and I think . . . " or "The Vice President says ..." Yet Lyndon Johnson still has his moments of frustration. He was indignant when the Secret Service denied him the right to travel on the same plane with the President on a political trip to the West Coast last November. He was privately furious when denied a dramatic return direct from Berlin to Hyannisport to report to the President; throughout the night, his plane kept requesting permission to land at Hyannis; the White House kept directing it to proceed to Washington.
More recently, when Secretary of State Dean Rusk returned from the Punta del Este conference, the White House hurriedly summoned congressional leaders to hear Rusk report. Johnson was inadvertently left off the invitation list. He heard of it, and within moments a Johnson aide was on the telephone to the White House: "Is it correct that Secretary Rusk is going to be there right away?" The heavyhanded hint got across; Johnson was promptly invited to attend the session.
In going out of his way to please and placate Johnson, the President is not merely trying to smooth ruffled feathers.
Ever since his own Senate days, Kennedy has had a professional respect for Johnson's aggressive, shrewd political ability (it was one good reason why Johnson was lassoed into the vice-presidential nomination). And the President knows that a contented Johnson is a political asset.
Said Kennedy, at a banquet last month: "The merger of Boston and Austin was one of the last that the Attorney General allowed, but it has been one of the most successful."