Mark Updegrove - Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency

LBJ surrounded by well-wishers following his last State of the Union address, January 14, 1969.

Copyright 2012 by Mark K. Updegrove

Photo credits appear on .

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Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Updegrove, Mark K.
Indomitable will : LBJ in the presidency / Mark K. Updegrove.1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 19081973. 2. Presidents
United StatesBiography. 3. United StatesPolitics and government
19631969. I. Title.

E847. U63 2012
973.923092dc23
[B]
2011037480

eISBN: 978-0-307-88773-3

Jacket design by Darren Haggar
Jacket photography: LBJ Presidential Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto

v3.1

FOR

H ARRY M IDDLETON

AND

B OB H ARDESTY

Few projects of this scope come from one mind or set of hands. This book is no exception. I owe my deepest gratitude to those who helped me see it through.

First and foremost, my thanks go to my family. As she has with previous projects, my wife, Evie, encouraged me to set pen to paper and write to my hearts contenteven though it took away from time spent with her and our beloved children, Charlie and Tallie. Her love and supportand that of Charlie and Talliehas never wavered.

The same is true of my parents, John and Naomi Updegrove, who have always recognized and nurtured the best in their own children; my faithful siblings and their spouses, Susan and Glenn Crafford; Randall Updegrove; and Stuart and Christine Updegrove; and the Kaskey, Krombach, and Wiewel families. Likewise, Im thankful to many loyal friends, among them, Don Carelton, David Dunham, Steve Huestis, David Hume Kennerly, Cathy Saypol, Nick Segal, and Ray Walter.

My agent, Stuart Krichevsky, and my editor at Crown, Roger Scholl, provided wise counsel and guidance that made this a better book than it would have been otherwise. At Crown, Im also grateful to Logan Balestrino, Christopher Brand, Tina Constable, Rachel Rokicki, Annsley Rosner, and Molly Stern.

Helping immeasurably throughout the project was my right hand, Meg Chapin, who became Meg Chapin Haden in its midst. I was also aided by Dolph Briscoe IV, who gave generously of his time to research facts and oral histories that are at the heart of the book. Well before I landed at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum as its director, I gained first-hand appreciation of the institutions reputation for archival excellence as an author of a previous work. This time, I was able to draw on its archivists as colleagues. Claudia Anderson, Tina Houston, and Regina Greenwell, all of whom have devoted nearly their entire careers to the LBJ Library, combed through the books manuscript and provided their feedback, helping to ensure that my facts were straight and my perspective balanced. Any remaining errors, I can assure the reader, are my own. I also benefited from the expertise of Barbara Biffle, Barbara Cline, Sarah Cunningham, Laura Eggert, Allen Fisher, Nicole Hadad, Margaret Harman, Brian McNerney, and John Wilson. Other people at the Library, as well as at the LBJ Foundation and the National Archives, also contributed to this enterprise: Judy Allen, Renee Bair, Elizabeth Boone, Sandy Cohen, Parker Duffie, Sharon Fawcett, David Ferriero, Mary Herman, Mike MacDonald, Sarah McCracken, Marge Morton, Raine Pipkin, Chris Runkel, Janie Sides, Nancy Smith, and Anne Wheeler.

Throughout the past several years, I have received invaluable input through official interviews or offhanded conversations from many who have deepened my impressions of Lyndon Baines Johnson and his times. They include Ben Barnes, Carl Bernstein, Michael Beschloss, Julian Bond, George H. W. Bush, Joe Califano, Liz Carpenter, Jimmy Carter, Bob Dallek, Marie Fehmer Chiarodo, Gerald R. Ford, Lloyd Hand, Bill Hobby, Jesse Jackson, Edwina Johnson, Jim Jones, Larry Levinson, Bill Little, George McGovern, Harry McPherson, Walter Mondale, Bill Moyers, Lyndon Nugent, Catherine Robb, Chuck Robb, Hugh Sidey, Neal Spelce, Marvin Watson, and Lee White. In particular, I am indebted to Luci Johnson, Tom Johnson, Lynda Johnson Robb, and Larry Temple, who patiently provided unvarnished answers to my questions as I called on them early and often throughout the writing process.

Finally, I owe thanks to Harry Middleton and Bob Hardesty, to whom this volume is dedicated. Harrys fingerprints are all over this book. In thirty plus years at the helm of the LBJ Library, he amassed oral histories from most of the major participants of the administration, which are among the vast volumes of material accessible to scholars. It was Harry who, with the unshrinking Lady Bird Johnsons consent, opened 643 hours of taped telephone conversations from President Johnson to the public despite LBJs wish that the tapes be sealed for fifty years after his death. All this was in keeping with LBJs directive to tell the story of his administration with the bark off, something he was confident Harry would take to heart when he appointed him to the position of LBJ Library director in 1971.

Bob also contributed to this book, not only directly like Harry, but by helping to put together and publishing the proceedings of symposia at the LBJ Library that shed additional light on President Johnson, who Bob has called a mystery of a man. Harry and Bobs contributions make the enigmatic LBJ a little less mysterious.

I hope this book does, too.

MKU
Austin, Texas

Note: Individuals are identified in the context to which they would be most relevant to LBJ

Bess Abell: Lady Bird Johnsons White House social secretary, 196369

Carl Albert: U.S. representative, Oklahoma (D), 194777

Valerie Anders: wife of Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders

Chuck Bailey: Washington correspondent, Cowles Publications

Bobby Baker: secretary to the Senate majority leader, 195563

George Ball: undersecretary of state, 196166; U.S. representative to the United Nations, 1968

Ben Barnes: speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 196568; lieutenant governor of Texas, 196869

Carl Bernstein: metro reporter, The Washington Post

Phyllis Bonanno: personal assistant to President Johnson, 196869

Susan Borman: wife of Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman

John Brademas: U.S. representative, Indiana (D), 195981

Jack Brooks: U.S. representative, Texas (D), 195395

McGeorge Bundy: special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor), 196166

William Bundy: assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 196469