The Passage of Power (149 page)

During the very next week:
Cameron to Bermingham, “Johnson-Economy (Advisory-Biz),” Nov. 25, 1963, White Papers, Box 322, JFKL.

Even Truman’s:
Neustadt,
Presidential Power,
p. 258.

“Illegitimate”
;
“the bigots and the dividers”
:
Johnson interview with Goodwin, quoted in Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
p. 170.
“I simply”
:
Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
pp. 174, 175.
“And one”
:
Sidey,
A Very Personal Presidency,
p. 86.
“I’m not sure”
:
Sidey interview; Sidey,
Very Personal Presidency,
p. 86.
“He felt”
:
Jenkins OH, Nov. 12, 1980.
“A lot”
:
Goldman,
The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson,
p. 24.
Busby found himself:
Busby OH VII, pp. 25–26.
And the key word:
Busby interview.
Among the
“things he envied”
:
Jones interview.
“Our pool”
:
Lady Bird’s Diary, Box 1, Saturday, Dec. 21, 1963.
“Immobilized,” “paralyzed”
:
For example, “I would think, what if I had a stroke like my Grandma did, and she couldn’t even move her hands.… That was constant, with me all the time.… I always had horrible memories of my grandmother in a wheelchair all my childhood” (Johnson, “Reminiscences,” pp. 24, 25).

“Everything”
:
Johnson interview with Goodwin, quoted in Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
p. 172.
“I was”
:
Johnson,
The Vantage Point,
p. 12.
“I knew I could not allow
:
Johnson,
Vantage Point,
pp. 12, 18, 21.

“Almost vertical”
:
“I’m assuming he did that because he may have been afraid there could have been somebody on the ground who would try to shoot at it,” Davis says (Newseum,
President Kennedy Has Been Shot,
p. 121).
At every Air Force base:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 352.
“Who knew”
:
Wicker,
JFK and LBJ,
p. 162.
Border:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 353.

In Los Angeles:
Newsweek,
Dec. 2, 1963.
In New York:
NYT,
Nov. 23, 1963.
First bulletins:
Newseum,
President Kennedy Has Been Shot,
p. 33.
“The last thunderbolt”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 362.

1:36;
“Mr. Johnson”
:
NYT,
Nov. 23, 1936. This time is also a matter of dispute, with various accounts putting the time of Kilduff’s announcement between 1:33 and 1:37.
“Vice President Johnson”
;
“We began”
:
Newseum,
President Kennedy Has Been Shot,
p. 87.
“There has been”
;
“we have learned”
:
“
JOHN F. KENNEDY: ASSASSINATION
1 #2 (RADIO) (Nov. 22, 1963).
“It appeared”
;
“We now”
:
Ibid, # 1.
Two heads:
Greenberg and Parker, eds,
The Kennedy Assassination,
p. 11; Manchester,
Death of a President,
pp. 352, 353.
“People”
:
Wicker,
JFK and LBJ,
p. 159.
“It could”
:
Chicago Tribune,
Nov. 22, 1963.
“The German alert”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
pp. 352, 353.

“Like going back”
;
“sobbing”
;
“his eyes were brimming”
:
Charles Roberts OH I.

“That long, long”
;
“my first”
;
“You make”
;
“No”
;
“He’s my”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
pp. 347–350.
They decided to drink:
Talking to the ghostwriters of his autobiography during his retirement, Johnson said, “I wouldn’t want to say this in the book, but I thought they were just wineheads. They were just drinkers, just one drink after another coming to them trying to drown out their sorrow and we weren’t drinking of course.…” (Transcript, “Tape Recording between Lyndon B. Johnson, Jack Valenti and Bob Hardesty,” March 8, 1969, pp. 7, 8, OH Collection, LBJL).

Pulled a pad:
“Aboard Air Force One,” “Diary Backup,” Box 4, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL.
“Duplex, Duplex”
:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M., CST, Andrews AFB, AF-1 (Chester Clifton), and the White House (Jerry Behn),” pp. 42–45,
The Presidential Recordings of Lyndon B. Johnson
, Vol. I.
“I needed”
:
Goodwin,
Lyndon Johnson,
p. 177.
“Non-committal”
;
“Bill, I don’t”
:
O’Donnell OH.
Cabinet meeting postponed:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M. CST, AF-1 (Malcolm Kilduff, Chester Clifton), Andrews AFB, and the White House (McGeorge Bundy),
TPR,
Vol. I, pp. 56–58.

“None of us”
:
O’Brien OH, LBJL.
Van Buren quote:
Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times,
p. 609.

“It’s the Kremlin”
:
Charles W. Bailey, “Memorandum to the President,” undated, Box 4, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL.

Orders began:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M., CST, Andrews AFB, AF-1 (Chester Clifton), and the White House (Jerry Behn),”
The Presidential Recordings,
Vol. I, pp. 43, 44.
“Winner, Winner”
:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M., CST, Andrews AFB, AF-1 (Malcolm Kilduff) and the White House (Andrew Hatcher),” Vol. I, p. 54.
“According to plan”
:
Valenti,
This Time, This Place,
p. 29.
“I want his friends”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 386.
“I want my staff”
:
“Liz Carpenter’s Recollections of President Kennedy’s Assassination,” p. 24, Box 4, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL.

“I want you”
:
Valenti,
This Time,
p. 28.

Drafting, improving the:
“Nov. 22, 1963—Remarks of President upon Arrival at Andrews Air Force Base,” Box 89, Statements of Lyndon Baines Johnson; Fehmer interview; “Tape Recording between Lyndon B. Johnson,
Jack Valenti, and Bob Hardesty,” p. 4. Valenti,
This Time,
p. 29;
A Very Human President,
pp. 50, 51.

“Tell the Vice President”
:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M., AF-1 (Malcolm Kilduff, Chester Clifton), Andrews AFB, and the White House (McGeorge Bundy),
TPR,
Vol. I, p. 60.
Youngblood was sent:
Transcript, “3:13–3:24 P.M. CST, The White House (Jerry Behn) and AF-1 (Rufus Youngblood),”
TPR,
Vol. I, pp. 51, 52.
“Shaky”
:
Bird,
The Color of Truth,
p. 266.
Putting his hand over the phone:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 371.
To Rose Kennedy:
Transcript, “3:15 P.M. CST, “AF-1 (President Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, and … the White House, and Rose Kennedy,”
TPR,
Vol. I, pp. 63–65.

“Masterful”
:
Roberts OH.
“As calm”
:
Thornberry OH I.
“Let’s get”
:
Fehmer OH II.
Until he was stopped:
Valenti,
Very Human President,
p. 55.

Bobby had walked;
“There’s so much”
; Ethel handing him glasses:
Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 609.
“He had the most wonderful”
:
Thomas,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 277.

Arriving at Andrews:
Thomas,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 277; Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 610; Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 387.
Ran up the stairs:
Nancy Dickerson, quoted in Newseum,
President Kennedy Has Been Shot,
p. 142; Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 387.
“Where’s Jackie?”
:
Carpenter, “Recollections,” p. 24; Thomas,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 277.
Pushed his way;
“didn’t look”
:
Carpenter, “Recollections,” p. 24; Valenti,
This Time,
p. 29; Valenti,
Very Human President,
p. 55.
Valenti felt:
Valenti,
WP,
Nov. 22, 1993.
“Everyone”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 386.
“Trapped”
:
Valenti,
Very Human President,
p. 56;
This Time,
p. 29.
“Hi, Jackie”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 387.

“A fallen chieftain”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 389.
“Yearned for a cry”
:
Theodore White, quoted in Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 388.

“He [Johnson] said
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 387.
Couldn’t recall it;
“I would not have felt”
;
“I just observed”
:
CBS News Special—“LBJ: ‘Tragedy and Transition,’ ” May 2, 1970.
“A deliberate snub”
:
Bishop,
The Day Kennedy Was Shot,
p. 406.

“The scene”
:
Mary McGrory, “The Return,”
NYP,
Nov. 24, 1963.

“He was very reassuring”
;
“Because of the noise”
:
Robert Asman, Harry Reasoner, quoted in Newseum,
President Kennedy Has Been Shot,
p. 145.
He assigned:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 402.
“Get in the second”
:
Valenti,
Very Human President,
p. 3.
“Any important matters”; Kennedy did something”
:
“File: Transition / State,” Box 167, White Papers, JFKL; Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 402.

“No other words”
:
Bird,
Color of Truth,
p. 266.
“Surprisingly stable”; moving
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 402.
“Like an invisible”
:
Amrine,
This Awesome Challenge,
p. 10.

“Stay with Lady Bird”
;
“It’s a terrible thing”
;
“Don’t think”
:
Carpenter, “Recollections,” p. 26.
“Don’t you want to go in?”
:
Moyers, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 323.

Scene in office:
Fehmer, Jenkins, Reedy interviews; Nelson, Juanita Roberts OHs.
“He had to”
:
Nelson OH.
“Reassuring pat”
;
“Walter, let’s have Marie”
:
Roberts OH III.
“Nothing worked”
:
Nelson OH.
Fehmer went home:
Fehmer interview, OH.
“I didn’t know him”
:
Roberts OH III.
“Much chaos”
:
Fehmer interview.
“Total command”
:
Nelson OH.
“Almost a different person”
:
Fehmer interview.
“No lost motion”; Bundy
:
Roberts OH III.
“I have needed you”
:
Transcript, Telephone call, “7:10 P.M. EST, To Dwight D. Eisenhower,”
TPR,
Vol. I, pp. 78–79.
Hoover call:
Reedy interview.
Herbert Hoover call:
From notes taken by Johnson staff, pp. 79, 80.
J. Edgar Hoover call:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 405.
Maguire call:
Transcript, “9:10 P.M. EST, To Richard Maguire,
TPR,
pp. 84, 85.
Goldberg call:
Transcript, “9:06 PM, EST, To Arthur Goldberg and Dorothy Goldberg. All from
TPR,
Vol. I.

“Especially Sorensen”
:
Moyers, cited in Sorensen,
Counselor,
p. 364.
“White-faced”
:
McGrory,
NYP,
Nov. 24, 1963.
“Kindly, strongly”
:
Sorensen,
Counselor,
p. 364. No transcript of this call exists.
Congressional leaders:
White to Parker, Nov. 22, 1963, “Johnson Cover II and Narrative—Nation,
Time
files, White Papers; Reedy.”
“That perhaps”
:
Sidey,
Very Personal Presidency,
pp. 41, 42.

Letters to John and Caroline:
“Kennedy, Mrs. John F. 1963,” Box 7, WHFN.
“He would never”
:
Manchester,
Death of a President,
p. 406.
“I’m going”
:
Busby interview.

“Drive home”
:
Valenti,
A Very Human President,
p. 6.
Surprisingly small:
Sidey, Steele interviews.

Scene at house:
Busby, Hurst, Valenti interviews.
“The aura”
:
Busby,
The Thirty-first of March,
pp. 151–2.
“Hello, Mr. Sam”
:
Peggy Starke to Busby, undated, “This is rough and without continuity as I transcribed it as you told it” (in author’s possession). In his book, Busby says (p. 152) that he said, “How I wish
you were here.”
Travell had called:
Travell,
Office Hours,
p. 429.
Hurst was waiting:
Hurst and Cain,
LBJ: To Know Him Better,
p. 7.
“More controlled”
:
Busby,
Thirtyfirst of March,
p. 152.
“Composure”
:
Busby interview.
“I guess”
;
“I don’t”
:
Busby, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 324.
“That’s the last”
:
Valenti interview.
“I want you”
;
“Take care”
:
Busby,
Thirty-first of March,
p. 153.
“Almost to”
;
“You know”
:
Busby interview.