Yes?

It’s President [Lyndon B.] Johnson, sir.[note 1] Lyndon B. Johnson was a U.S. representative [D–Texas] from April 1937 to January 1949; a U.S. senator [D–Texas] from January 1949 to January 1961; Senate Majority Whip from January 1951 to January 1953; Senate Minority Leader from January 1953 to January 1955; Senate Majority Leader from January 1955 to January 1961; vice president of the United States from January 1961 to November 1963, and president of the United States from November 1963 to January 1969.[note 2] The Presidential Recordings Program revised the following section of text in 2021 for inclusion in The LBJ Telephone Tapes, a project produced by the Miller Center in partnership with the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library to commemorate the library's 50th anniversary.

I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and tell you that you’re loved.

Thank you very much, and I hope you—everything goes all right for you.

It’s going—

And that you got all you want for Christmas.

It’s been going well for me ever since I met you, and [Lady] Bird [Johnson] and I were just thinking about what wonderful people you and Miss [Elizabeth V.] Bess [Truman] had been to us since we met you, and we wanted to thank you.[note 3] Lady Bird Johnson (née Claudia Alta Taylor) was the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson since 1934, and first lady of the United States from November 1963 to January 1969. Elizabeth V. “Bess” Truman was the wife of Harry S. Truman since 1919, and the first lady of the United States from April 1945 to January 1953.

Appreciate that very much, and I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed the book you sent me.

Oh, well, bless your heart. Well, you—

That’s the best thing that any president’s ever done. [Lady Bird Johnson chuckles.]

Well, you’re always in our hearts [Lady Bird attempts to interject] as is Mrs. Truman, and I wish you could see this pretty portrait of hers—

I do, too.

—hanging here in the White House. We take so much pride in pointing out to all of our guests this portrait because we think she’s a very unusual lady.

Well, I’d say that’s very true, and I’m in agreement with you. [All laugh.]

And oh, Mr. President, I hope you just have a happy, happy time. Did you have your grandchildren with you?

How’s that?

This is Lady Bird. I hope you had a happy Christmas [Truman acknowledges], and did you have your grandchildren with you?

No. No, they couldn’t come out this time.

[speaking over Truman] Well, I know you had a good visit with them in the summer, though.

Beg [your] pardon?

I know you had a good visit with them sometime in the summer, ʼcause I remember seeing some pictures and you looked so happy. [Chuckles.]

That’s right. That’s mighty nice.

Well, you give Mrs. Truman my love, and we just wanted to wish you both a happy Christmas and tell you that—

Thank you very much.

Is she there where we can say a word to her?

Yes, here. [speaking aside] Bess? Bess?

Hello?

We wanted to, Lady Bird and I, wanted to tell you and the President how loved you are and how admired you are and how grateful we are for all that you have done for us.

Oh, you’re just too nice, Mr. President. [Lady Bird Johnson chuckles.]

No, I’m not.

Much too nice.

No, I’m not.

I hope y’all have had a wonderful day with your family.

We have. We’re just so blessed. We had the sweetest daughters [Luci Baines Johnson Nugent and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb] here and we talked to the boys [Patrick J. “Pat” Nugent and Charles S. “Chuck” Robb] last night in Danang.

Oh, that’s wonderful.

One of them went up and met with the Mar—the air boy went up and met with the Marine, and we talked to them about nine o'clock. It was nine o'clock in the morning there.

Oh.

And we were so thrilled and we made both of them’s little bab[y]—one of them’s baby’s two months old [Lucinda Desha Robb], one’s a little less than two years [Patrick Lyndon Nugent], and we made them both squeal over the telephone so they could hear them.[note 4] Lucinda Desha Robb was the daughter of Lynda Byrd Johnson Robb and the granddaughter of Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson. Patrick Lyndon Nugent was the son of Luci Baines Johnson Nugent and the grandson of Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson. [Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson chuckle.]

Oh, that’s good.

We . . . think of you often and every time I go by your picture I see my favorite first lady except one. [Lady Bird Johnson chuckles.]

Oh, well, [unclear].

And the one that—the other one is on the phone and wants to say hello to you.

Oh, good.

[Chuckles.] Oh, Mrs. Truman, I’m just getting all packed and ready to go, and I’m just thinking in all my time here I’ve always just considered you such a strong, good help to Lyndon, and to . . . and you’ve both been a great reliance to us.

Oh, you’re so nice to say that.

We appreciate your friendship, and we’re just so fond of you.

[speaking under Lady Bird Johnson] Thank you. That gives us a big lift. [Lady Bird Johnson laughs.]

Did I tell you the other day—I told you this, but I want to tell you again: The other day my Cabinet gave me a silver blotter with a silver pen set on it, and they had the major acts that we had passed, more than a hundred.

Oh, is that true?

And the, you know, things like elementary education, and medical care and things of that kind, civil rights and conservation measures. And they listed each one of the major bills. And they said—they had a nice little statement about [Bess Truman acknowledges] how they were glad to serve in an administration [that] passed all of these.

Well, that was a lovely gift.

I took it and reviewed it on a trip that I was making home, and do you know that almost half of the bills that I had passed, President Truman had started 20 years ago?

Is that so? That’s very interesting.

So I thought that you would be interested in knowing that most of the good things like education and Medicare and civil rights, conservation, it took 20 years to get his ideas through, but they were finally passed and—

But you did it.

I’ve tried to say that to the country, but the papers don’t pay much attention to it.

Oh, no! [Lady Bird Johnson laughs.] The papers. You know what we all think of the papers.

Well, you have a healthy regard for them. [Lady Bird Johnson and Bess Truman laugh.] Well, we’ll let you go, and we hope we [speaking over Bess Truman] get to see you during the next year.[note 5] End of 2021 revisions.

We’re so proud of the book that you sent us.

[Laughs.] Thank you.

Mrs. Truman?

Yes?

The man that gives me the most pleasure is a corpsman that comes in and looks after me and watches me a little and lifts me around and gives me a massage once in a while. And I have one out in Kansas City that’s a Kansas City boy that’s as loyal and devoted, and I hope that—I hope he’s there and I hope that as long as you and the President are there, that he’ll look after you. He’s just a wonderful medical background, and anytime you need him please call him because you’re entitled to it.

You’re awfully nice to do that.

President Eisenhower has it, President Johnson has it, and I don’t know any day if something happened, if you slipped or if you’ve had a fall or something and I wished you’d come in, and if the President would let him—He rubbed me to sleep nearly every night.

Oh, that’s wonderful.

And he is there and he’s going to be there anyway and he’s stationed there. And we don’t want to send a doctor to keep there any time because you have your own, but anytime you want anything—you’ll never ask for it, but I do want you to know I wish you’d use him because your country wants you to.

Well, thank you so much. I just can’t tell you how much we appreciate that.

This boy’s name is [Don] Nauser.[note 6] Don Nauser was a hospital corpsman and medical aide to Lyndon B. Johnson. N-A-U-S-E-R. And he is as faithful as your husband.

[chuckling] Oh, that’s doing pretty well.

He’s just as good a boy as I ever met in my life, and the reason I sent him is because he is from Missouri.

Oh, I see.

He was here at the White House for years and I just told him one day to get out there, and I issued his orders, and sent him out there. And I said, “Now, you stay there and they’ll put you busy doing other things, but the first thing that you do is be available to the President. If you have to—if she wants you to go downtown and pick up something, why, you go do it. If she wants you to put an adhesive bandage on her wrist, why, you do it.”

[chuckling] That’s great to know that.

Well, he’s there and I wish you’d use him.

Well, thank you so much.

And we hope you have a good, good new year.

Well, I hope you will, too.

Thank you.

And I hope that you come this way, you’ll always stop over.

Oh, we’ll always love to.

We’re going to do that long as we live—

Good.

—because no one has done more to help us than you and the President.

Well, I don’t know about that, Mr. President.

Well, I do. I do.

We certainly wanted to. [Lady Bird Johnson laughs.]

I do. Thank you, ma’am.

Thank you so much for calling.

Bye.

Good night.

Good night.