A Johnson/Kennedy ticket in 1968?

I have no link, but I heard this on the radio. Apparently LBJ was considering allowing Chicago Mayor Daley to put his name in nomination at the 1968 Democratic convention and with organized labor and southern democrats behind him--stampeding the convention. LBJ had planned to go to The Soviet Union in the summer of '68--a move which may have done for him what it did for Nixon four years later. Then the Russians invaded Czehoslavakia that summer which meant canceling the Russia visit--and with it his dream of stampeding the convention, believe it and not, as "the peace candidate." Not only that, LBJ was going to dump his loyal VP--Hubert Humphrey and plans were made to replace him with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy--who, unlike Robert Kennedy, always got along very well with LBJ.

What if this had actually happened? Do you think a LBJ/Ted Kennedy ticket in 1968 (before Chapeqquidick) could have defeated Nixon?

-- hogwild about John either. Teddy? Well, I remember the talk about replacing Hubert with Ted Kennedy, but LBJ's March withdrawal from the race precluded that.

LBJ thought Humphrey was a chump and treated him like a mangy dog. There are numerous accounts of LBJ treating Humphrey as dismissively as can be imagined, in both action and speech. It was contemptible of LBJ to do that, especially when he never needed to.

The Vietnam War debased Lyndon Johnson from the Party. Too much of it was breaking into an anti-war vote and a third party candidate would have emerged had LBJ stuck it out, I feel.

McCarthy and RFK had the heart loyalty of liberals then, and the War ws the glue in their campaigns.

LBJ was damaged goods.

Yarborough told stories of LBJ as president. LBJ would learn that Yarborough had a dinner party in the evening, so he would call Yarborough to the Oval Office for an important debriefing. LBJ would then chat with him about UT football or hunting, then, just after the time the party was scheduled to start, LBJ would say "Well, Ralph, I know you've got a dinner guest waiting, so I won't keep you any longer."

It was all a power play to undermine potential rivals while demonstrating who was boss. LBJ was an angel and a jackass in the same package.

-- sounds like a few of the others written about LBJ's power problem.

He initially ran for Senate and decided he would gain ground by accusing his opponent of uh... having carnal relations with pigs. Not to put too find a point on it.

His advisers (Bill Moyers among them) urged that he withdraw that strategy.

"You can't do that, Lyndon," they told Johnson.

Long pause. "Why not?" Johnson legitimately wanted to know.

"Because it isn't true," his advisors explained.

Another long pause.

"Well, let's at least make him call a press conference and deny it," Johnson said.

Sheesh.

But LBJ was a horse's ass a lot of the time. My two favorite examples.

He loved to talk to aides, advisors, senators, etc bare ass naked in a steam room or locker room. During this conversations, he would constantly refer to his manhood as "Jumbo."

He liked to have meetings with shorter people in the White House pool. He would wander out to the deep end where he could stand with his head above water and make the visitor dog paddle the whole time in order to have the conversation.

-- add to the LBJ bin of wild tales.

It this true? Snopes says nothing, either for or against.

- man personally.

And for Johnson to be considered the "peace candidate" there really would have had to be LSD in the Chicago water supply.

would be that RFK might still be alive today. Other than that, LBJ would have gotten distroyed by Nixon because no doubt a 3rd party peace candidate would have split the Democratic base

John Kennedy in 1960 offered the running mate position to LBJ, according to many historians, expecting LBJ to refuse. JFK felt he had to pay homage to LBJ, to appease the conservative Democrats, but he really wanted his friend, Ralph Yarborough, also a Texas senator. Ralph and Lyndon were longtime rivals, though, and when word leaked that JFK would choose Smilin' Ralph when LBJ refused, LBJ took the job to deny it to Yarborough.

I worked for Ralph Yarborough in the 90s, and he told the story differently. According to him, JFK wanted LBJ as his running mate because he believed LBJ gave him the best chance to beat Nixon. But he had received word that LBJ would refuse. So he and Ralph Yarborough together leaked to LBJ that JFK wanted him to refuse the position so he could choose Yarborough. They expected LBJ to take the job just to trump Yarborough-- and it worked.

Either way, if LBJ had refused, and Yarborough became president (though of course it is impossible to reconstruct elections with different factors), then we would have had all of LBJ/JFKs civil rights and Great Society programs ("Great Society" was a phrase LBJ stole from Yarborough's speeches and press releases), without the Viet Nam War, since Yarborough opposed it.

That would have a been a nice little package.

Had no idea.

What a treat to hear it. It brings back a sad time and many yearnings, but wow, I really appreciate your posting that.

a breathtaking glimpse into history. I was a history graduate student at UT, and worked part time for him as an office researcher. I spent a few hours a week in his law office, which was mostly there to answer historical questions about Yarborough, by that time. I spent several hours a week at his house, also, talking with him and his wife, Opal. They had been married 75 years. Ralph was hard of hearing. I would shout a question to him, sitting a few feet from him, and he'd say "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" with his trademark Smilin' Ralph smile. Opal, sitting across the room, would repeat my question in a normal tone of voice that I could barely hear, and Ralph would nod, and say "Oh," and answer me.

Beautiful man. I told someone once that I had never left the Senator without smiling, no matter how bad a mood I was in when I went to see him, and she said everyone had that reaction. I've never met anyone else like that.

The history stuff was fun, too. I once found his own paperback copy of the Warren Commission, complete with page markers and comments scribbled in the margins. Obviously, Yarborough was in the motorcade with Kennedy, and always believed Oswald was the lone gunman. He was also very critical of the Warren Commission, and called for a better investigation. To see his notes was something else. The one thing I remember the most was about LBJ. The WC claims that LBJ claimed he was leaning over to pick up a cufflink as the shots were fired, and that immediately afterwards the SS dove on top of him, so he didn't see anything. Yarborough wrote in the margins "Not true." According to Yarborough, he was chatting with LBJ when the shoots were fired, and the SS agent really did nothing to protect them, but LBJ lied to protect the reputation of the SS agent.

You don't get stuff like that just anywhere!

-- that we can't get stuff like that anywhere. I am jealous that you knew a figure from history so well.

The passage there of the shots in Dallas and the cufflink... "to protect the Secret Service guy" --- another wow there. LBJ had his very strong points. I realize his detractors in the GOP called him 'Lyin' Lyndon." But the GOP has since offered us Nixon, Agnew, Reagan, and both Bushes, so I don't see where they get off blasting Johnson!

deep from the police riot in Chicago, it would have taken this to make our ticket work. Yes, would have happened. But, they would hae had to end Viet Nam quickly.

Interesting question.

When was LBJ going to allow Daley to run for president? After March, LBJ was little more than a figurehead and Daley was pretty much running the Party.

Again, when was this Russian trip planned? Before March or after March? Once the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia, LBJ was a lame duck so it wouldn't have mattered.

Unless your argument is that LBJ was going to re-enter the race after visiting Russia. Is that it?

As for a LBJ/Teddy ticket, I find that hard to believe. First of all, Johnson hated the Kennedys. Secondly, he had a perfectly good northern liberal in Humphrey on his ticket so I don't know what Teddy would have brought to the table. Third, I doubt Teddy would have done anything without Bobby's blessing and I really doubt Bobby would have approved. Fourth, Teddy was just barely into national politics at that point. His real breakthrough to the Big Leagues didn't occur until his eulogy at RFK's funeral. Up until then, he was largely seen as the black sheep little brother.

And any Democrat had a reasonable chance of beating Nixon in '68. Despite the fact that Humphrey was the nominee only because he was the last old-line Dem standing, despite the insane convention, despite the war, and despite the peace movement's anger at the Dems (LBJ, Humphrey, and Daley in particular), Humphrey nearly won. You have to realize that in '68, the Dems had only lost twice in 40 years to a moderate, beloved war hero who nearly ran as a Dem. The FDR coaliton still had some oomph back then, though it was in its death throes. It probably could have pulled out one more election if the whole fucking party wasn't in collapse.

"...of my party for another term of office as your President."

So LBJ is out of the race long before summer of 1968. He's suffered a serious heart attack in 1955, and had to cut back his political aspirations after that.

With all the assassinations and turmoil in 1968, and U.S. casualties in Vietnam mounting to something like 300-400 a week, and with Eugene McCarthy making a strong showing in the primaries (and then Bobby Kennedy), I'm pretty sure that LBJ wanted out.

hell of winning, and rather step down as a winner, at the top. Than to lose a popular vote.

Although who knows, maybe LBJ thought up a scheme like that.

The question that needs to be asked is whether Ted Kennedy would have run with LBJ? I don't think so because the Kennedy family had seen two of its members assassinated in a five year span. I don't think the Kennedys, especially Rose, would have wanted to see Teddy take a risk and run for national office after those two tragedies.