"Love Me in November"

Lyndon Johnson is quite fond of asking White House guests if they happen to have any criticism of his Administration. Whether the guests are Republican or Democratic, the criticisms are few and far between. But whenever one comes, Lyndon is likely to lower his head and allow 'as how: "Maybe you're right. Maybe, for the good of the country, I shouldn't even run for President this year."

In perfect sincerity, Johnson thinks of himself as being President of all Americans-- which he is. He would also love to see himself regarded as a bi-partisan leader, and he insists that all of his speeches, his travels, his handshakings are "nonpolitical." This is some thing much akin to Arnold Palmer's claiming that he plays golf just for the exercise.

Pep Talk. Last week, under a scorching noon sun, Lyndon nonpolitically cultivated a group of businessmen in the White House Rose Garden. The guests were gathered for a presidential pep talk about the proposed new International Executive Service Corps, a kind of bluechip, button-down Peace Corps. "The program we are launching today," said Lyndon, "is an inspiring example of sane and sensible, responsible and constructive cooperation between Government and private enterprise."

Next day the President made a jet flight to New York City for an event so nonpolitical that it was practically a secret. It was a dinner for Jackie Kennedy and trustees of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library. Perhaps never before have so many celebrities gathered with so little fanfare. The President's route from the airport was not made public, and most of his companions all but hid their faces behind newspapers as they rushed into the St. Regis Hotel. Among them were Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Arthur Goldberg, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, Commerce Secretary Luther Hodges, Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman, Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Anthony Celebrezze. Also on hand was a galaxy of diversified doers: International Ladies Garment Workers Union President David Dubinsky, Department Store Magnate Bernard Gimbel, Mrs. Ernest Hemingway, N.A.A.C.P. Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins, Writer-Pundit Theodore White, Actor Fredric March, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Artist William Walton. The President sat next to Jackie at the dinner, visited with Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, but made no speeches and left town barely five hours after he arrived.

Sounding the Trumpet. Next day Johnson was in Ohio, still nonpoliticking. In Cleveland he sent his Secret Service escorts into nervous tremors during the ride from the airport by stopping again and again to plunge into the crowds to shake hands. At the Public Auditorium, Johnson delivered a peach of a noncampaign speech to a convention of the Communications Workers of America. "And when the roll is called, and when the trumpet sounds, and when the strong of heart and the stout of spirit stand up to be counted," thundered Johnson, "I have not the slightest doubt where this union will be or where American labor in the U.S. will be. You will be where you have always been: on the side of compassion. You will be on the side of progress. You will be on the side of human rights. You will be on the side of the future."

Lyndon brought the whole auditorium audience to its feet when he declared: "You are no longer alone. Most of the American people have joined with you. Most of your old adversaries are with you. And the President of the United States is with you!"

At week's end the President went to California--and now there was no pretense in the slightest about his political purpose. At a party fund-raising dinner in San Francisco, Lyndon cried: "Let us resolve here tonight that in California and in the nation the Democratic Party will be the party that worked for the people, the party that journeyed with the people across the New Frontiers toward a richer and better life for all human beings."

Would he run this year? Of course he would. Said he at a San Francisco building dedication: "A government which can get things done and knows where it is going is the kind of government you have had for the past four years--and that is the kind of government you are going to get for the next four years!" Later he shouted to cheering Democrats: "I hope you love me in November as you did in May."

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