Transcript
Edited by Kent B. Germany and Robert David Johnson, with Ashley Havard High and Patricia Dunn
See the daily introduction for 1964-01-18 [from the Norton edition]
Johnson phoned the NASA administrator to find money for projects in Charlie Halleck’s home state of Indiana. Halleck was the House minority leader and a crucial person in Johnson’s struggle to attract Republican support for the civil rights bill. Johnson took great care to ensure that Webb understood that he was to look after Halleck’s interests. Johnson had begun a meeting with Halleck five minutes earlier.
Jim, I got this stuff that looks largely about what we have done. I’m sitting here with Charlie Halleck now, and he’s breathing down my neck. Our report out there shows that the last year we had about 27.8 [percent] federal supported research, in that general area. This year, it’s 21.3. I’m showing him what we have done, and what is going to companies and all that kind of stuff, but that’s not what he’s interested in. He wants to know what he can tell his people when he’s running for reelection that he’s done for them lately, and he wants to know what we can do for Purdue.
Now [Glenn] Seaborg’s going to make them a special grant with a little money out of his [budget] and will bring this percentage up to—they got 26 percent of the population. I need to do anything I can for Charlie Halleck. Now isn’t there something you can do?
How about letting me sit down with him and get a full picture of what his problem is and how he works it. Let me talk with him and see if he and I can’t work out something that he’ll come back to you and tell you he’s pleased with.
They then set up a time for Webb and Halleck to meet.
Now, Jim?
Yes, sir.
This is it, because this boy played with me for 25 years. He’s against us when he has to be against us in his party, but he really works with me when he can. So let’s help him.
I’ll do everything I can, and I hope when he comes back to you he’ll tell you that I’ve . . .
If he’s not satisfied when he comes back to me, why, then, I’m going to be talking to you again.
Yes, sir.
OK.
Thank you, sir.
President Johnson then went to a viewing of the USIA film on the March on Washington. The film had drawn strong criticism from southern senators, especially John McClellan, who argued that it portrayed the United States in an unfavorable light and therefore was an inappropriate product for the United States’ propaganda agency. The President’s difficulty was increased by the criticism the administration had come under from Robert Kennedy and supporters of the Attorney General for bowing to southern pressure and seeking to suppress a flattering portrayal of the civil rights movement.
Afterward, Johnson ate lunch with Senator Richard Russell. The Georgia senator stayed on to join the President in a meeting to discuss nuclear testing matters with Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and AEC head Glenn Seaborg. Later in the afternoon, the President attended the dedication of the $9 million National Geographic Society building. In an idealistic address, he urged the creation of a world science pool, announcing that “the more we share with each other, the less we misunderstand each other.” Johnson speculated that the National Geographic Society could function as a “clearinghouse for knowledge” that brought “together men of science of every land.”[note 1] “Remarks at the Dedication of the Smithsonian Institute,” Public Papers of the Presidents: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963–64 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1965), 1:216–18. He then departed for Camp David with Lady Bird, Hearst reporter Marianne Means, and his longtime Texas associate Horace Busby, who was soon to join the White House staff. Evening recreation was a round of bowling, followed by bed at 11:00.
On Sunday at Camp David, he talked primarily to close aides and friends, but recorded no calls. He held morning conversations with Richard Russell, Wesley West, R. E. Chambers, and Jesse Kellam—all of whom had figured prominently in his activities almost three weeks earlier on New Year’s Day at the ranch. He then surprised the circuit preacher at the Thurmont Methodist Church by showing up for morning services with Lady Bird, Means, Jack Valenti, and Busby and his wife.[note 2] Clippings and programs, 18–19 January 1964, “Appointment File [Diary Backup]” folder, Box 3, Lyndon B. Johnson Library. In the afternoon, he spoke to Thomas Mann, James “Scotty” Reston, Abe Fortas, Walter Jenkins, Pierre Salinger, Ken O’Donnell, and William Hagerty. He returned to the White House around 8:00 p.m.
Cite as
“Lyndon Johnson and James Webb on 18 January 1964,” Tape WH6401.16, Citation #1421, Presidential Recordings Digital Edition [The Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power, vol. 3, ed. Kent B. Germany and Robert David Johnson] (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2014–). URL: http://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/9030181
Originally published in
Lyndon B. Johnson: The Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power, November 1963–January 1964, ed. Kent B. Germany and Robert David Johnson, vol. 3 of The Presidential Recordings (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005).