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Time off for Homework. Moyers, at 28, was one of the youngest officials ever presented to the Senate for confirmation. "If this trend continues," growled the Meridian (Miss.) Star, "appointees to high Administration posts will have to have time off to do their school homework." Louisiana Democrat Russell Long just could not believe that Moyers was not somehow related to Lyndon Johnson. "Any blood relationship?" he asked. "No, sir," replied Moyers. "Not through marriage or otherwise?" Long persisted. "Only political," said Moyers. Some Senators considered his proposed $19,500 salary outrageous; few were aware that he had in his pocket a $30,000 offer from private industry. In the end, he was overwhelmingly confirmed by voice vote.
Moyers flourished in the deputy director's job. "We were able to take an idealistic dream and develop it into an effective program," he recalls. "Few things in life can be as satisfying as that." He handled day-to-day administration, oversaw personnel programs, supervised overseas logistics. He dined occasionally at the White House, was even asked to Bobby Kennedy's Hickory Hill, a rare honor for a Johnson man. A less pleasant task fell to him when he took over Peace Corps recruiting. He found the operation a mess, immediately fired 17 people.
An Icy Piety. That toughness stood Moyers in good stead when he took over the press job last July. One of the first things he did was ask Ike's press secretary for his advice. Said Hagerty, now an ABC vice president: "Speak only when the President can't speak for himself." Moyers has done so with impressive authority, thanks to Johnson's carte blanche: "My desk is your beat." When in doubt, he says, he tries to heed his father's axiom: "Tell the truth when you can, and when you can't, don't tell a lie." Though he is himself a highly competent reporter, he is not without critics. As Reedy warned him, "This is one job where you can't make everybody happy." Says one reporter: "He's Mr. Snow in my book." There is an "icy piety" about him, complains another. Says a third, with grudging admiration: "He can shave the truth until it is as thin as a razor blade. Nevertheless, it is the truth."
Moyers rises at 6:15 a.m. in his five-bedroom brick home in McLean, Va., tries to squeeze in at least an hour with the children. Sometimes he frolics with them, and on special occasions performs his "magic" stunt of pulling a nickel out of an ear or a nose. More often he reads to them; he has just finished the legend of Paul Bunyan for six-year-old Cope (named after the Marshall publisher).