Daddy & Al

There was Texas' own Lyndon Johnson, majority leader of the U.S. Senate and favorite son of a nearly solid South, campaigning unofficially for the Presidency deep in the heart of New York City. Technically his three-day invasion of the North began with rounds of luncheons, speeches and conferences in Chicago, but Johnson did not really hit his stride until he got to New York, center of what he sometimes calls "Northern bigotry." There, in a 40-hour whirlwind, he shook the hands of all Democratic factotums and factions, talked tactical politics with New York State Chairman Michael Prendergast and Tammany Chief Carmine De Sapio. He rubbed shoulders with Negro and white officials in a reception thrown by New York's Mayor Wagner, made a speech to the largest Roman Catholic men's club in Brooklyn, conferred with wealthy Wall Streeters, and in total, stomped a path that would have done credit to Jeb Stuart.

Never at a loss for words. Lyndon Johnson was ready with the right words. In the course of his trip he:

P: Reminded a press conference that neither Franklin Roosevelt nor Harry Truman had been able to get a meaningful civil rights bill through Congress, but that the best bill in 85 years was passed in 1957, and "I'm proud that I was majority leader of the Senate when it was done."

P: Promised that Congress would pass a "good" civil rights bill this session that "would protect every citizen," promised more boldly that if such a bill did not come from the House he would have it introduced in the Senate.

P: Told the bankers and financiers in private session that he knew they were for Vice President Nixon for President, but reminded them that Senate Leader Johnson would have to play the major role if interest-rate ceilings are to be lifted on long-term Government bonds, as President Eisenhower has requested.

P: Fended off a suggestion that Jack Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, the only avowed candidates on the Democratic side, had pre-emptive rights on the nomination: "The Democratic Party doesn't practice political birth control."

P: Remembered that "my Daddy, looking down upon us from heaven, fought the Ku Klux Klan in Texas, and in 1928 fought for Al Smith's election."

Johnson's best moment came during a press conference, when he paraphrased Al Smith's remark that he wanted nobody to vote for him because he was a Catholic, but wanted nobody to vote against him because he was a Catholic either. Said Lyndon simply: "I don't want any of you to vote for me as a Southerner. But I don't want any of you to vote against me because I am a Southerner either."

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