FOR LBJ, DIRKSEN, PARTY DIFFERENCES WERE PUT ON ICE

To Lyndon Johnson and Everett Dirksen, the secret to life apparently was a glass of Scotch, a big red steak and a woman.

If there’s doubt, it may be dispelled in previously undisclosed tape recordings of White House telephone calls between the chums while Johnson was president.

If you think President Richard Nixon was alone in taping everybody, think again. He merely was following an insidious Washington tradition. Johnson’s tapes surely will provide similarly ample historical insights.

The Texas Democrat and Illinois Republican had met while members of the House of Representatives. They worked different sides of the aisle but were, at heart, pols. They labored together merrily in the old boys club that was Congress back then.

When Johnson was president, he would call Dirksen four, five and six times a day. Frequently, days would end with a bottle of bourbon between them at the White House or in Dirksen’s Senate office.

Party loyalty did not get in the way. Indeed, it was Dirksen who made the nominating speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention for Barry Goldwater, who proceeded to be crushed by Johnson in the general election.

Dirksen was a vigorous campaigner for Goldwater, yet maintained his intimate ties to Johnson. He may have been closer to Johnson than any Democrat. And Goldwater’s defeat only heightened Dirksen’s influence as the capital’s top Republican.

A few Johnson recordings, from the period right after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and related to Kennedy’s death, were released in late 1993 pursuant to the federal JFK Records Assassination Act. But the vast majority remain, not yet released, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin.

Last week the first big batch, covering January-March 1964, were made public.

Claudia Anderson, a library official, estimated Thursday that the first batch of 80 hours of tapes represents perhaps only 10 percent of what they ultimately will release. The library will slowly release the tapes in chronological order.

It was no surprise that publicity last week tended to focus on important policy matters, notably Johnson’s growing uncertainty over U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

But a colleague of mine heard that some recordings involved the two buddies, Johnson and Dirksen.

One call came at 5:50 p.m. on Feb. 3, 1964. It was to Johnson at the White House from Oliver Dompierre, a top aide to Dirksen. What follows is the original, previously undisclosed White House transcription of the call:

LBJ: Don?

Dompierre: Yes, Mr. President.

LBJ: How you getting along?

D: Oh, pretty good.

LBJ: How’s my friend. . . .

D: Oh, he had his old ulcer flare up on him last night. So they thought they better take him in the hospital and check it out a little. He’s all right, if you want to give him a ring . . . .

LBJ: Oh, God . . . I sure do. . . . That’s the best news I heard . . . I was afraid it was his ticker again. . . .

D: No, no, his ulcer.

LBJ: What the hell do you let him go so hard for? I saw him on “Meet the Press” and thought he was so tired he was going to fall over.

D: Nobody can slow you down. How do you think I can slow him down?

LBJ: Well, I take a nap in the afternoon, though, and I rest a little bit. I’m behaving myself better.

D: Good for you. We can’t get him to do it. He’s in Sibley (Hospital) in Room 607. Think you might cheer him up by giving him a ring. . . . .

LBJ: All right. Thank you. Bye.

Johnson then picked up the phone and called the hospital. In this call, two references are confusing even to the library. Anderson thinks that the first, to “old Hatton,” might be to a former Texas congressman, Hatton Sumner. The second, to “Tuck Mulligan,” is a mystery to her:

LBJ: How you feeling?

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Dirksen: Well, I’m doing pretty good. That ulcer hit me last night about midnight.

LBJ: You quit drinking that damned Sanka and get on a good Scotch whiskey once in a while.

Dirksen: Think you got a point there.

LBJ: Remember old Hatton used to break his arm and his leg and everything. . . . Remember old Tuck Mulligan. Tuck came up to him one day about three or four sheets in the wind, and said Hatton was down with his crutches and Hatton would always eat Spinach and drink Sanka . . . and strain his soup very carefully, and never put any ice in his water . . . and all those things . . . and Tuck, said Hatton, you always got your leg in a cast, your arm in a sling, or you’re on crutches. What you need to do is go out and get you about three good half glasses of bourbon whiskey. Then go down to the Occidental (a landmark restaurant) and buy a red beefsteak, and then get you a woman. So maybe that’s what you need. Instead of drinking Sanka.

Dirksen: (Chuckle) You’ve got an idea.

LBJ: Say, which one of these fellows do you want appointed to the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) . . . Randall of Utah (Kenneth Randall, a Utah banker, was candidate for a GOP vacancy on the FDIC), Wallace Bennett’s (senator from Utah, a member of the Banking Committee) man? Or this New Yorker, Javits’ (candidate favored by New York Sen. Jacob Javits)?

Dirksen: Well, Lyndon . . . oh, Mr. President . . . I think it’s like this. Wally . . . never on banking . . . this guy I think is a pretty good guy.

LBJ: I checked him out there with the head of the church (Mormon Church). Said he’s an awfully good young banker.

Dirksen: And I think he can do the job. I just put up my lightning rod for Wally. He’s a damn good honorable guy. He has asked so little in his lifetime from his country. And I want to stand in his corner.

LBJ: All right, OK, that’s all. Go back to sleep now and don’t let anybody else call you. I just wanted to wish you well. And tell you I was thinking of you and I hope you hurry up and get back.

Dirksen: Thanks a million.

LBJ: Goodbye.

Spinning big wheels

Journalists’ and politicians’ penchant for self-humiliation knows few bounds, as one was reminded Wednesday after the presidential debate in San Diego.

As is now tradition, high-profile partisans surface in an area known as spin alley, where reporters can get instant “react,” namely the self-serving balderdash about how absolutely triumphant a candidate proved. The partisans often have lackeys beside them, with convention-like placards (instead of “Wisconsin,” one might declare, “Donna Shalala”).

President Clinton had an ample retinue of paid liars–oops, I mean deeply committed, truth-seeking aides–in tow. Curious, I double-checked what they each earn and estimated how far they had to travel to get to San Diego. They included:

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt ($148,400, 2,688 miles), Veterans Affairs Secretary Jesse Brown ($148,400, 2,688 miles), EPA Administrator Carol Browner ($133,600, 2,688 miles), HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros ($148,400, 2,688 miles), Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd ($133,600, 2,688 miles) and White House adviser Alexis Herman ($125,000, 2,688 miles).

Need more spin? There also was New Mexico Rep. Bill Richardson ($133,600, 818 miles), White House chief of staff Leon Panetta ($133,600, 2,688 miles), Education Secretary Richard Riley ($148,400, 2,688 miles), Seattle Mayor Norman Rice ($109,555, 1,275 miles), Colorado Gov. Roy Romer ($70,000, 1,084 miles), Health and Human Services Secretary Shalala ($148,400, 2,688 miles) and National Economic Adviser Laura Tyson ($125,000, 2,688 miles).

The nation surely was enlightened for their presence.