Image of a Simple Man

THE PRESIDENCY

Plainly, Lyndon Johnson has been working hard to mold himself into a winning image for election day 1964. And never has he been so hard at it as he was during a chatty, 60-minute, nationwide television interview last week.

Carefully modulating his voice into a gentle low key, the President talked about his poverty program and how he proposes to deal with the fact that "illiteracy, and ignorance and disease cost this Government billions of dollars per year and make for much unhappiness." He spoke of the U.S.'s crying need for a civil rights bill: "I know of nothing more important for this Congress to do than to pass the civil rights act as the House passed it."

He mentioned with folksy pride his determination to save Government money: "We have tried to eliminate waste at every corner. I don't believe that we are going to make the Treasury over by cutting out a few automobiles or turning out a few lights. But I do think it is a good example when you walk through the corridor and you see the closets where lights burn all day and all night just because someone didn't turn them off." He spoke of the need to take a fresh view of U.S. relations with recalcitrant allies: "People feel that all we need to do is mash a button and determine everybody's foreign policy. But we are not living in that kind of world any more."

A Better Mousetrap. He declined to be drawn into the Bobby Baker mess: "I think every man is entitled to a fair trial, and I would like to see what conclusion is reached and what the evidence shows--with which I am not familiar--before I would make a judgment." And how would he label his

Administration--New Deal, Fair Deal, New Frontier? Johnson twinkled: "I haven't thought of any slogan, but I suppose all of us want a Better Deal, don't we?" Did he consider himself liberal, conservative, Southerner, Westerner, or what? Responding with an I'm -glad -you - asked -that -question glance, the President replied: "I have often said that I was proud that I was a free man first and an American second, and a public servant third, and a Democrat fourth--in that order."

Then, in an answer that he used as his peroration, he apostrophized the American free enterprise system in a way that few of his predecessors have done. "I am so happy to be a part of a system," he said, "where the average per capita income is in excess of $200 per month when there are only six nations in the entire world that have as much as $80 per month, and while the Soviet Union has three times as much tillable acres of land as we have and a population that's in excess of ours and a great many resources that we don't have that, if properly developed, would exceed our potential in water and oil, and so forth. Nevertheless, we have one thing they don't have, and that is our system of private enterprise--free enterprise--where the employer, hoping to make a little profit, the laborer, hoping to justify his wages, can get together and make a better mousetrap.

"I may not be a great President, but as long as I am here, I am going to try to be a good President and do my dead level best to see this system preserved."

Senatorial Quality. The response of those who saw the program seemed to be highly favorable (Walter Lippmann gave it a rave), and there was general satisfaction around the White House. "It didn't have the shine and glitter of a Kennedy performance," observed one adviser, "but I think it got across to the American people. Some people might call it a little corny, and there was a little corn in it. But that's his approach. He and I have talked about this several times since he took over. I believe--and I'm sure he believes--that the best image for him now and through the campaign is that of a serious, able, competent man who understands the office of the presidency, who is learning quickly and is mastering the job. Now is no time to be smart or humorous. It's a time to show sobriety and sincerity. Johnson comes across as a sincere and rather simple man, giving it the best he's got."

The President is already planning to give more. The Democratic National Committee is grinding out publicity about Lyndon's triumphs with the tax cut and the poverty program. And while party workers are available by the truckload, chances are that Lyndon himself will mastermind almost every detail of his 1964 campaign. "It's a senatorial quality," says one close friend. "He'll be his own politician, Democratic chairman and campaign manager. He'll try to blend together the experienced Kennedy and Johnson people."

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