John [V. Lindsay]?[note 2] John V. Lindsay was a U.S. representative [R–New York] from January 1959 to December 1965, and mayor of New York from January 1966 to December 1973. In 1971, Lindsay became a Democrat.

Hello, Mr. President.

How are you?

I’m fine, thank you, sir.[note 3] 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.

John, you know what I think of you, don’t you?

I certainly do, Mr. President, and vice versa.

I’ve got to ask you now to act like the good American I believe you to be.

Mm-hmm.

I’m going to seriously consider appointing a small group of seven or nine tonight to look into the cause of these [civil] disorders.

Mm-hmm.

I want nothing but competence, and I want nothing but compassion, and I want nothing but patriotism. [reading aloud] “The commission will investigate the origins of the disorders in our cities. It will make recommendations to me, to the Congress, to the state governors, to the mayors for measures to prevent or contain such disasters in the future. In their work, the commission will have access to all the facts gathered by the federal government, including the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] . They will continue to exercise full authority in the Justice Department to investigate riots, search for evidences of conspiracy, and to present them, if available. To date, all the reports indicate no such evidence has ever been uncovered. But even before the commission begins its work, even before all the evidence is in, there’s some things we can tell about the outbreaks this summer.”

“First, make no mistake about it: the looting, the arson, the plunder, the pillage, which have occurred are not a civil rights protest. There is no right to loot stores, and to burn buildings, or to fire rifles. But innocent people—Negro and White—have been killed. Damage to property—property owned by Negroes and Whites—is disastrous. Worst of all is the fear and bitterness, which have been loosed, which will take long months to arrange,” and so forth.

“It would compound the tragedy if we should settle for order imposed by the muzzle of a gun. In America, we seek more than the uneasy calm of a martial law. We seek peace based on one man’s respect for another.”[note 4] End of 2021 revisions.

And then I’ll go into the conditions: the ignorance and discrimination in slums, and disease, and not enough jobs. “In the past three and a half years we’ve tried to direct effort at those ancient ills. Roll call of those laws reveal the depth of the nation’s concern—the Model Cities, the Economic Opportunity, the Civil Rights, the Rent Supplement, the education [Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Higher Education Act], the Head Starts, the Rat bill, the [National] Teachers Corps, the Safe Streets and Crime Control, the Gun Act.[note 5] Each of those pieces of legislation were vital parts of the Great Society. The final two had yet to be passed. The Crime Control Act was signed into law on 19 June 1968, and the Gun Control Act on 22 October 1968. Our work has just begun, yet there’s some who feel that this beginning’s too much.”

And then I go on to say, “The laws are not the only answer; another lies in our peoples’ response to these disturbances. There’s danger that the worst toll of this tragedy will be counted in the hearts of Americans in hatred and fear and heated words, which will not end the conflict, but prolong it. Let us acknowledge the tragedy, but let us not exaggerate it. Look about you tonight, and you’ll see these things.[note 6] 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. ”Most Americans, Negro and White, seek safety in their neighborhood and harmony with their neighbors. Nothing can destroy goodwill more quickly than a period of needless strife and suspicion between the races. Let us condemn the violent few, but let us remember that it’s law-abiding Negro families who have suffered most at the hands of rioters. It’s responsible Negro citizens who hope most fervently and need most urgently to share in America’s prosperity. This is no time to turn from that goal. To reach that goal will require more than laws and more than dollars. It’ll take the dedication and heart of every citizen,” and so on, and so forth. And I ask them to pray and ask them not to tear down—a few things like that.[note 7] End of 2021 revisions. [Stops reading from the document.]

Now, what I’m hoping for, I can have a seven- or nine-man commission. I’m going to ask Governor [Otto] Kerner [Jr.], who is a former judge, who is a former attorney general, who is a governor of a Midwestern state, to be chairman.[note 8] Otto Kerner Jr. was the Democratic governor of Illinois from January 1961 to May 1968; chair of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (later referred to as the Kerner Commission); and a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from April 1968 to July 1974. I want you to be vice chairman. I want to ask [Charles] Tex Thornton, a prominent businessman of Litton Industries of California to be on it.[note 9] A native of Texas who helped turn Litton Industries into a massive conglomerate in the 1950s, Charles B. “Tex” Thornton was a pioneer in systems management. During World War II, in his early 30s, Thornton held the rank of colonel in the Army Air Force and oversaw a group of mathematicians and systems analysts—with Robert S. McNamara as one of the stars—that became known as the Whiz Kids. In 1946, these young men migrated to the Ford Motor Company. By 1955, several of them ran the company. Thornton served on the Commission. See Charles B. Thornton Bio, “Commission on Civil Disorders (2)” folder, White House Aides – Califano, Box 11, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library; and John A. Byrne, The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers of American Business—and the Legacy They Left Us (New York: Doubleday, 1993). I haven’t asked him yet, but I’m hoping that I can get Senator [Edward W.] Brooke [III] [R–Massachusetts] from Massachusetts for a Republican, and maybe [Edmund S.] Muskie [D–Maine] or Fred Harris [D–Oklahoma], young men from the—who’ve been interested in this field in the Senate.[note 10] Edward W. Brooke III was a U.S. senator [R–Massachusetts] from January 1967 to January 1979. He was the only African American member of the Senate. Edmund S. Muskie was a U.S. senator [D–Maine] from January 1959 to May 1980, and Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.‘s U.S. vice presidential running mate in 1968. Fred R. Harris was a U.S. senator [D–Oklahoma] from November 1964 to January 1973; a commissioner on the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known popularly as the Kerner Commission, from 1967 to 1968; and chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1969 to 1970. Brooke and Harris both served on the Commission. I would think I’d try to get [James C. “Jim”] Corman [D–California] from California, Los Angeles, who’s young and able on the Judiciary Committee, for the Democrats, and maybe [William M. “Bill”] McCulloch [R–Ohio].[note 11] James C. “Jim” Corman was a U.S. representative [D–California] from January 1961 to January 1981. He served on the Commission. William M. “Bill” McCulloch was a U.S. representative [R–Ohio] from November 1947 to January 1973, and the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. McCulloch was one of the principal authors of the Republican version of the 1964 civil rights bill and 1965 voting rights bill. He, too, served on the Commission. I would like to get the chief of police of Atlanta, Georgia, from the police. So I’d have a governor, I’d have a mayor, I’d have a businessman, I’d have a Negro—maybe Roy O. Wilkins—I’d have Brooke, I’d have Harris, and so forth.[note 12] Roy O. Wilkins was executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1955 to 1964; executive director of the NAACP from 1965 to 1977; and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1967. Wilkins served on the Commission. In addition to the individuals listed by President Johnson above, U.S. Steelworkers president I. W. Abel, Kentucky commerce commissioner Katherine Graham Peden, and Atlanta police chief Herbert Jenkins also served on the Commission.

Mm-hmm.[note 13] 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.

And I don’t want you to even consider thinking about it; I just want you to say, “Yes, sir.”

Yes, sir. I will.

OK. Good.

You asked me; I’ll do it.

I know it. Now, don’t say a word about it until I make up my mind I’m going to do it. I’ve got to talk to the Attorney General [W. Ramsey Clark].[note 14] W. Ramsey Clark was U.S. assistant attorney general from 1961 to 1965; U.S. deputy attorney general from January 1965 to March 1967; acting U.S. attorney general from November 1966 to March 1967; and U.S. attorney general from March 1967 to January 1969. But what I want to come out of this—what’s good for America—and I think you represent everything that is good, and I’m awfully grateful that you’ll go as quick on this as you would Vietnam if I had to have you.

Well . . . Mr. President, this country's in trouble at the moment, and when you ask for help, you’re entitled to get it.

All right. I’ve always had it from you. Thank you.

Bye, Mr. President.

Bye.[note 15] End of 2021 revisions.