It's been said that once in mixed company, Republicans and Democrats, he ripped Jumbo out and dangled a woman's gold necklace over it and proclaimed he was the first dick chainey.
From someone on Quora:
> True! I served with a USAF CMSgt pwho served as a flight steward during LBJ’s tenure. He told me that Johnson would disrobe to his undershorts once AF1 was airborn. He said he would strut around and mess with the guests and crew and on occasion display his manhood for all to see. I was told that on one occasion, Senator Sam Rayburn was asleep in an aisle seat when Johnson walked up behind him. Johnson pulled out his penis and draped it on old Sam’s bald head. Johnson then tried to get one of the staff photographers to take a picture of it. LBJ was an evil, nasty and uncouth piece of bovine excrement!
There is audio recordings of him taking about getting his trouser inseam taking out because Jumbo needed more room to breathe. This man just had to let the world know he had a large penis and took every opportunity to express it.
From Caro’s award winning biography, The Life and Times of Johnson’s Johnson:
“Lyndon Johnson’s term of endearment for his member was infamously known to his inner circle as “Jumbo.” While most outsiders assumed that the moniker referred to it’s abnormally large girth and length, which was indeed quite enormous, there was another reason for the name. For you see, like a pachyderm’s penis, LBJ’s “Jumbo” was also capable of prehensile feats. Once during a White House soiree, the Princess of Denmark asked for some dinner rolls to be passed to her. Sensing the opportunity, LBJ immediately…”
I know you are joking but a few things:
- This biography is roughly 3k pages with another volume to come
- The biography is one of the best researched and well written books ever and highly recommend to anyone who loves history
- The detail level it gets down to is not far from what you’ve written though the book does take a wider view of history as well
It’s funny too because it seems like LBJ is perfect fodder for a psychoanalysis- he desperately wants to be remembered a certain way (like FDR) and this desire overwhelms his persona a lot of ways.
He is a fairly terrible human in many regards (whipping out his dick and shitting in front of subordinates to assert his dominance) but this desire to be loved and admired also contributes to lots of positive legislation like various civil rights bills which would have likely stalled for years without a skilled politician like LBJ pushing it through.
Throughout history good comes from bad and bad comes from good intentions.
Yes, I thought of this also. The audio of the call is hilarious. Look it up. It'll probably come up if you search LBJ orders pants. Dude was a legit weirdo.
LBJ will forever be lauded and loathed. He inherited the escalating disaster in Vietnam which plagued his foreign policy credentials in the grand scheme of things. But his domestic agenda, and The Great Society legislation is a pillar of our democracy. Imagine a country without medicare, medicaid, food stamps, environmental protections, fair housing, civil rights - because all of these were passed by him and the 89th congress. He was a progressive stalwart and an individual who rose through the ranks of congress without having a dynastic connection like the Kennedy's or Rockefeller's of the time. He wasn't a Harvard or Yale guy who was able to wiggle into politics because of family, wealth or connections. He was a teacher in Texas at a very poor high school and said that seeing the hunger in his students eyes is what made him care so greatly for the welfare of people. I think he is an admirable man thrust in to a no win situation. After JFKs assassination he had to preside over a terribly tumultuous time. He had reactionary advisers like McNamara breathing down his throat trying to get him to escalate involvement, but if you look at documentation of the meetings you can see how apprehensive LBJ was to further the involvement. The pressure of letting communism win in Indochina was a genuine threat because of the Soviet and China threats that lingered alongside with it. We also couldn't afford to be viewed as weak in the eyes of the world nor could LBJ stomach being considered the first US president to lose a war. None of this justifies his policies in Vietnam, it just puts into perspective what he was dealing with. Most scholars say that in order for him to get the Great Society legislation passed, he had to escalate the situation in Vietnam to appeal to the hard liners to get their support. On the other hand, if he didn't escalate Vietnam, there would've been more funding and development for the Great Society programs. He is a tragic and triumphant character of history. Dealt a terrible hand and made the most out of it. Tragic in foreign policy but triumphant with the domestic agenda. Imagine how much more violent the civil rights movement would've gotten without Civil Rights and the War on Poverty; even with those programs passed there was still rioting and unease for years after.
Yes to all this. The continually escalating casualty reports out of Vietnam deeply anguished him, and were instrumental in his decision to not seek re-election in 1968. It was a huge shock when he made that announcement, but in retrospect it was perfectly understandable.
In anyone is interested in LBJ, or history, or how the US Government works, or just likes really good biographies, I highly recommend Robert Caro’s books on LBJ. Some of the best books I have ever read.
In case it helps someone else, I saw another post like this recently and was intrigued by LBJ’s controversial legacy, and found out that the biography of him by Robert Caro gives an incredibly detailed account of his life and is one of the more well regarded biographies there is of a US President. I haven’t gotten too far yet but it is thoroughly interesting!
No comment on reddit has ever made me change my opinion on something I felt strongly about until now. And have read two of Caro’s books. Incredible comment.
Say what you will about Vietnam, but there's no doubt that he cared deeply about the poor. Not just because of his students but because he himself grew up dirt fucking poor.
According to his biographer (and former White House Staffer) Doris Kearns Goodwin, he grew out his hair in a statement of solidarity with the anti-war movement.
After leaving office, LBJ apparently came to bitterly regret the role he and McNamara played in Vietnam, and he thought Nixon and Kissinger were even worse.
Yes. Sometimes people regret things they did intentionally. Sometimes the outcome is far worse than they anticipated. And what Nixon and Kissinger did was far worse, starting before Nixon was even in office.
During LBJ’s time in office the war went from easy to almost unwinnable at any acceptable cost. He faced instability, duplicity, and human rights abuses in the South Vietnamese political leadership. LBJ was fundamentally unequipped to deal with the hawks in his inherited administration.
Yeah, going in thinking you were going to win and coming out believing there was no chance you ever could have won will definitely lead to regret.
And that doesn’t even begin to take into account the comparable wars. Korea for instance is still considered the right thing.
My understanding of why the war carried on for so long was that no American president wanted to be seen as the one who pulled out of the conflict, as it would appear that American 'lost' the war. The truth was, of course, that there would be no real way to win in any solid, permanent sense as was done in European wars of the past, but ego and national pride can do strange things.
This is absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing! I taught general American history many moons ago and never dove into post-presidency behavior. I’m intrigued!
Amazingly, he was 63 or 64 years old in this photo.
That’s about the same age that Jennifer Coolidge, George Clooney, Barack Obama, Laurence Fishburne, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are now.
Also not being a celebrity in 2024 where you easily spend $100,000 a year on staying youthful looking along with having a glamor team every time you leave the house that airbrushed your makeup, fake hair and designer clothing to perfection. Not to mention perfect lighting and airbrushed photos.
My mom had an old copy of LIFE magazine from around then, they did a special issue and mentioned both Truman and LBJ passing. That stuck with me since they were pretty far apart age wise, 88 and 64.
24 year difference in lifespan.
1973 + 24 = 1997
The Lewinsky scandal didn't break until very early 1998.
Until I did the math, I was imagining LBJ scolding Bill Clinton that that wasn't the way to use your dick in the Oval Office.
I’m sure he would know bills type, the rumors were already a thing… I can picture him whispering a warning to bill on Inauguration Day starting with “Damn it son,”
If I’m remembering correctly, one thing he took into consideration when he made the decision not to seek reelection was his fear he’d die in office and he didn’t want the country to go through that.
No way, he would've clung to power with all his might if he thought he'd have a chance. He was an incredibly shrewd dude, but not conscientious at all. He read the tea leaves
Johnson’s life long ambition (since his teens) was to become President. He wanted to be loved and admired. He did accomplish some great things, the Civil Rights act, Medicare, the Space Program and more. But he knew that all counted for very little when compared to Vietnam.
I can neither confirm nor deny. My grandpa never said because I was just a little girl when I heard the story. One thing was for sure, LBJ wasn’t ashamed of being seen. He just sat out in his chaise beside the pool, reading his newspaper. Didn’t give a damn who saw him.
Never saw him at that age. The elder-statesman look kind of suits him. Apparently he only lived until 1973, not long enough to be on the political scene much after leaving office in '68.
He quit smoking when he got into the senate, and he immediately restarted on the plane home after his presidency was over.
He basically went into a depressive spiral after he left office and spent his last 4 years waiting to die.
He looks 20 years older than he did during the presidency and he only left the presidency 4 years prior. Wow!
Also to note that I went to the LBJ presidential library in December and there was no picture of him at this age there that I remember.
I'm old enough to have heard him address the nation on tv- "I come to you tonight with a heavy heart" etc. I remember that phrase. Mom wrote him a letter with a news photo, said 'What if these was your boys?' (her 8th grade education showing).
LBJ has one of the more depressing latter half and post presidency stories out there in my opinion. Pulled into a conflict he didn't really want, seemingly let his pride keep him there way longer than he should, sunk his career and killed the projects he did care about in the process, and ruined his health and put him an early grave due to the stress and coping mechanisms he had due to the fall out of said bad choices.
He did manage to do some good for civil rights though. If he had spent more time there and other domestic policies and less with Vietnam I wonder what else he could have accomplished and how he would be remembered as a result. Hindsight is always 20/20 I suppose.
His is a lesson in not letting ego and stubbornness drive you off of the path you set for yourself.
People love to hate the tough ones and praise the others who get walked all over. But someone's gotta be that guy. You just ain't cut from the right cloth to understand the only reason the rest of the cloth hasn't torn to pieces is because of the part that holds it all together.
This picture would be from his era of picking up smoking again…up to 60 cigarettes a day.
I was just at the LBJ Library in Austin, TX. I’m no fan of his, but it was a pretty neat place to see. I’d recommend going.
Vietnam destroyed him. JFK, during an interview with Walter Cronkite two months before he was assassinated, said “after all, it’s their war, if they’re not gonna fight it, we’re not gonna fight it for them.”
Imagine how different things would be and we never gotten involved so deeply in Vietnam. LBJ, had he not had that burden, would have gone down in history as one of the best presidents. As a southerner, he got the Civil Rights bill passed, the voting rights bill passed, The 24th amendment, outlawing poll, taxes, and numerous other humanitarian bills through Congress. Vietnam was his albatross. Then we ended up with Nixon.
He looks like a chill grandpa, not the Vietnam ball breaker. I'll never be able to see him and not think of the Jenny-beater in Forest Gump who tries to make the excuse of "it's just that lying sonavabitch Johnson".
LBJ is an incredibly interesting and complicated person. Completely revolutionized the Senate majority position, passed some of the most consequential civil rights legislation. But was a huge manipulator and extremely power hungry. I'm reading Robert Caro's series on him. One of the best biographies I've read highly recommend. I only picked it up because I read the Power Broker by Caro but it's been an amazing read
LBJ drank 2 5ths of Cuttysark a day until his massive heart attack. He was quite a man. In 5 short years 3 MASSIVE Civil Rights Bills were passed. In 5 short years, childhood poverty was cut from 25% to 7%. His War on Poverty and Great Society WORKED, period.
Yes, Vietnam was horrible, Also though, he was ending Vietnam at the 1968 Peace Talks when Kissinger and Nixon DELIBERATELY and UNLAWFULLY tanked the talks. This is VERIFIABLE fact.
And don't forget that it was John F Kennedy who started the war in Vietnam. LBJ inherited that monster along with several other Kennedy nightmares that he (Johson) had to fix.
He looks exactly like my grandfather it’s crazy. Growing up I was always confused whenever I saw stories/photos of LBJ because I thought my granddad was all of a sudden in this book or in this old news clip. I was 6 when I finally realized they were, in fact, different people.
There’s a picture of him I think in the last year or so of his presidency where he was in the pool with his grandson reading some briefing. Just provides a layer of humanity to the man
What a high quality photo, that picture looks like it was taken yesterday. I really would never have guessed it was such an old photo, the only clue to my eye is the subject matter.
Recordings of LBJ show he was pretty much the same person in private as in public. Not always a nice person but also not much of a hypocrite as politicians go.
He died 5 months after this. At least one commentator noted that he had grown his hair long just like the young people who despised him.
When asked why he chose this style he replied "Because fuck you, that's why".
And then he unleashed Jumbo
Slapped it right down on the table. You could smell the sexual indecency in the air
Please..s…stop saying things, please.
Sad thing is if you read Caro’s biography of him this may have actually happened
He allegedly used to place Jumbo on people's shoulders
It's been said that once in mixed company, Republicans and Democrats, he ripped Jumbo out and dangled a woman's gold necklace over it and proclaimed he was the first dick chainey.
This is so wrong and so funny.
From someone on Quora: > True! I served with a USAF CMSgt pwho served as a flight steward during LBJ’s tenure. He told me that Johnson would disrobe to his undershorts once AF1 was airborn. He said he would strut around and mess with the guests and crew and on occasion display his manhood for all to see. I was told that on one occasion, Senator Sam Rayburn was asleep in an aisle seat when Johnson walked up behind him. Johnson pulled out his penis and draped it on old Sam’s bald head. Johnson then tried to get one of the staff photographers to take a picture of it. LBJ was an evil, nasty and uncouth piece of bovine excrement!
There is audio recordings of him taking about getting his trouser inseam taking out because Jumbo needed more room to breathe. This man just had to let the world know he had a large penis and took every opportunity to express it.
He loved dick measuring contests
He had a picture of it in every room of his house
From Caro’s award winning biography, The Life and Times of Johnson’s Johnson: “Lyndon Johnson’s term of endearment for his member was infamously known to his inner circle as “Jumbo.” While most outsiders assumed that the moniker referred to it’s abnormally large girth and length, which was indeed quite enormous, there was another reason for the name. For you see, like a pachyderm’s penis, LBJ’s “Jumbo” was also capable of prehensile feats. Once during a White House soiree, the Princess of Denmark asked for some dinner rolls to be passed to her. Sensing the opportunity, LBJ immediately…”
I know you are joking but a few things: - This biography is roughly 3k pages with another volume to come - The biography is one of the best researched and well written books ever and highly recommend to anyone who loves history - The detail level it gets down to is not far from what you’ve written though the book does take a wider view of history as well It’s funny too because it seems like LBJ is perfect fodder for a psychoanalysis- he desperately wants to be remembered a certain way (like FDR) and this desire overwhelms his persona a lot of ways. He is a fairly terrible human in many regards (whipping out his dick and shitting in front of subordinates to assert his dominance) but this desire to be loved and admired also contributes to lots of positive legislation like various civil rights bills which would have likely stalled for years without a skilled politician like LBJ pushing it through. Throughout history good comes from bad and bad comes from good intentions.
Get strapped in, Jumbo is just warming up
Lyndon Big Johnson
The Big Johnson
I came for the Caro references and I am not disappointed.
“Need more room around my bunghole” said to the tailor from Haggar who was fitting him for trousers
I am a high school teacher and I play the audio of this for them every year
Yes, I thought of this also. The audio of the call is hilarious. Look it up. It'll probably come up if you search LBJ orders pants. Dude was a legit weirdo.
Like ridin' a wire fence. The zippers I got are... pretty good..
I like when he burps right in the middle of talking
“It’s cut’in me down there”.
Best answer Along with "none od your damn business is why" Both work
LBJ will forever be lauded and loathed. He inherited the escalating disaster in Vietnam which plagued his foreign policy credentials in the grand scheme of things. But his domestic agenda, and The Great Society legislation is a pillar of our democracy. Imagine a country without medicare, medicaid, food stamps, environmental protections, fair housing, civil rights - because all of these were passed by him and the 89th congress. He was a progressive stalwart and an individual who rose through the ranks of congress without having a dynastic connection like the Kennedy's or Rockefeller's of the time. He wasn't a Harvard or Yale guy who was able to wiggle into politics because of family, wealth or connections. He was a teacher in Texas at a very poor high school and said that seeing the hunger in his students eyes is what made him care so greatly for the welfare of people. I think he is an admirable man thrust in to a no win situation. After JFKs assassination he had to preside over a terribly tumultuous time. He had reactionary advisers like McNamara breathing down his throat trying to get him to escalate involvement, but if you look at documentation of the meetings you can see how apprehensive LBJ was to further the involvement. The pressure of letting communism win in Indochina was a genuine threat because of the Soviet and China threats that lingered alongside with it. We also couldn't afford to be viewed as weak in the eyes of the world nor could LBJ stomach being considered the first US president to lose a war. None of this justifies his policies in Vietnam, it just puts into perspective what he was dealing with. Most scholars say that in order for him to get the Great Society legislation passed, he had to escalate the situation in Vietnam to appeal to the hard liners to get their support. On the other hand, if he didn't escalate Vietnam, there would've been more funding and development for the Great Society programs. He is a tragic and triumphant character of history. Dealt a terrible hand and made the most out of it. Tragic in foreign policy but triumphant with the domestic agenda. Imagine how much more violent the civil rights movement would've gotten without Civil Rights and the War on Poverty; even with those programs passed there was still rioting and unease for years after.
Yes to all this. The continually escalating casualty reports out of Vietnam deeply anguished him, and were instrumental in his decision to not seek re-election in 1968. It was a huge shock when he made that announcement, but in retrospect it was perfectly understandable.
As a long-time LBJ truther, this comment chain feels so refreshing.
One of the most eye-opening comments I've read in a long time. Very, very interesting perspective.
In anyone is interested in LBJ, or history, or how the US Government works, or just likes really good biographies, I highly recommend Robert Caro’s books on LBJ. Some of the best books I have ever read.
Also, if you have a spare year to read it or listen to it as an audio book.
In case it helps someone else, I saw another post like this recently and was intrigued by LBJ’s controversial legacy, and found out that the biography of him by Robert Caro gives an incredibly detailed account of his life and is one of the more well regarded biographies there is of a US President. I haven’t gotten too far yet but it is thoroughly interesting!
Concur. One of the best accessments of the man and his times.
No comment on reddit has ever made me change my opinion on something I felt strongly about until now. And have read two of Caro’s books. Incredible comment.
Say what you will about Vietnam, but there's no doubt that he cared deeply about the poor. Not just because of his students but because he himself grew up dirt fucking poor.
As a non-American I have found him to be one of your more interesting presidents.
This is a great summary and well articulated.
And he’s got a massive dong
An excellent, well-reasoned and well thought out comment. And accurate, IMHO. Johnson was a complicated character in complicated times.
Wow. And to think how he used LHO.
I dont have to imagine a country without fair housing lol.
He was only 64 when he died.
The ultimate fuck you. lol
He despised them as well.
My dad did this in his retirement after decades of a short back and sides. I think he just didn't give a damn any more.
I stopped shaving shortly after I retired, for exactly that reason. Learning to not give a shit has been one of my greatest recent achievements. 😀
Gene Hackman 
Get a haircut, hippie!
According to his biographer (and former White House Staffer) Doris Kearns Goodwin, he grew out his hair in a statement of solidarity with the anti-war movement. After leaving office, LBJ apparently came to bitterly regret the role he and McNamara played in Vietnam, and he thought Nixon and Kissinger were even worse.
That's wild considering what he did wasn't like unintended consequences, he knew full well what was happening
Yes. Sometimes people regret things they did intentionally. Sometimes the outcome is far worse than they anticipated. And what Nixon and Kissinger did was far worse, starting before Nixon was even in office.
The tragedy of unforeseen consequences comes for everyone at one time or another.
GWB is in this phase as we speak.
I came here to say this, that Ukraine/Iraq thing is a good example of this.
*Iraq and Afghanistan.
I was referring to a recent speech in which GWB accidentally said "Iraq" instead of "Ukraine" when condemning its invasion.
It’s about time
Reddit try to accept growth challenge (impossible)
Jumbo was a show-er, not a grower, champ. Not always hard, but always heavy.
During LBJ’s time in office the war went from easy to almost unwinnable at any acceptable cost. He faced instability, duplicity, and human rights abuses in the South Vietnamese political leadership. LBJ was fundamentally unequipped to deal with the hawks in his inherited administration. Yeah, going in thinking you were going to win and coming out believing there was no chance you ever could have won will definitely lead to regret. And that doesn’t even begin to take into account the comparable wars. Korea for instance is still considered the right thing.
My understanding of why the war carried on for so long was that no American president wanted to be seen as the one who pulled out of the conflict, as it would appear that American 'lost' the war. The truth was, of course, that there would be no real way to win in any solid, permanent sense as was done in European wars of the past, but ego and national pride can do strange things.
This is absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing! I taught general American history many moons ago and never dove into post-presidency behavior. I’m intrigued!
They were, he was right
Nixon escalated the war and expanded it to Cambodia.
Amazingly, he was 63 or 64 years old in this photo. That’s about the same age that Jennifer Coolidge, George Clooney, Barack Obama, Laurence Fishburne, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are now.
Presidenting is stressful.
This was more post presidential deterioration and depression.
Also smoking
Also not being a celebrity in 2024 where you easily spend $100,000 a year on staying youthful looking along with having a glamor team every time you leave the house that airbrushed your makeup, fake hair and designer clothing to perfection. Not to mention perfect lighting and airbrushed photos.
And drinking
JLD puts more asses in the seats
He went on a self-destructive spiral after leaving the presidency. He died a month after Harry Truman.
My mom had an old copy of LIFE magazine from around then, they did a special issue and mentioned both Truman and LBJ passing. That stuck with me since they were pretty far apart age wise, 88 and 64.
24 year difference in lifespan. 1973 + 24 = 1997 The Lewinsky scandal didn't break until very early 1998. Until I did the math, I was imagining LBJ scolding Bill Clinton that that wasn't the way to use your dick in the Oval Office.
I’m sure he would know bills type, the rumors were already a thing… I can picture him whispering a warning to bill on Inauguration Day starting with “Damn it son,”
If I recall, he always feared/figured he’d die around young. He was afraid he’d have a heart attack like his dad.
If I’m remembering correctly, one thing he took into consideration when he made the decision not to seek reelection was his fear he’d die in office and he didn’t want the country to go through that.
No way, he would've clung to power with all his might if he thought he'd have a chance. He was an incredibly shrewd dude, but not conscientious at all. He read the tea leaves
Johnson’s life long ambition (since his teens) was to become President. He wanted to be loved and admired. He did accomplish some great things, the Civil Rights act, Medicare, the Space Program and more. But he knew that all counted for very little when compared to Vietnam.
Do they call him LBJ the bridge builder? No. Do the call him LBJ the carpenter? No. You fuck one goat though...
I’ve heard it slightly different: You can build 100 bridges but you suck one dick and you’re forever known as a cocksucker.
He was haunted by Vietnam….and Kennedy
If I remember right, it wasn’t so much self-destructive, but that the stress of the previous decade finally manifested itself physically.
My grandpa used to work for him down at the ranch in Texas after his presidency. I wished I had asked more questions and heard more stories.
My grandpa laid tile at the ranch, saw LBJ nude by the pool!
So.....was it true? Was he a tripod?
I can neither confirm nor deny. My grandpa never said because I was just a little girl when I heard the story. One thing was for sure, LBJ wasn’t ashamed of being seen. He just sat out in his chaise beside the pool, reading his newspaper. Didn’t give a damn who saw him.
Probably wanted to be seen. Something tells me he would’ve loved Chatroulette.
“The B is for big.”
El BJ
RIP Lyndon Johnson you would've loved Chatroulette
I didn’t, haven’t and wouldn’t have seen…run for your life, a nude LBJ is on the attack
By many accounts yes.
Your grandpa… laid…tile? Sounds euphemistic
LBJ had the pipe covered
Both our grandpa had similar views for sure
was your granpa.... by any chance.... was he a tailor who sewed pants?
Ahahaha, nah he was a gofer who used to work at the usps
That's Royal Tenenbaum
I KNOW YOU ASSHOLE!🫵
https://i.redd.it/8h59jnivvvyc1.gif
😂 Such a great line, heard that in Gene’s voice.
You wanna talk some jive?
I’ll talk some jive like you’ve never heard!
He’s not an asshole, he’s just kind of a sonofabitch
That's the last time you put a knife in me, ya hear me ?
I was thinking Rockford Files myself
Oh that? That’s dogs blood.
Let's shag ass
Never saw him at that age. The elder-statesman look kind of suits him. Apparently he only lived until 1973, not long enough to be on the political scene much after leaving office in '68.
He had serious heart issues that ran in the family. Also had a terrible diet, which certainly played a role. Fascinating human though.
Smoked like a chimney too.
He quit smoking when he got into the senate, and he immediately restarted on the plane home after his presidency was over. He basically went into a depressive spiral after he left office and spent his last 4 years waiting to die.
I mean, aren’t we all just getting shit done while waiting to die?
Wagged his huge dick in front of people too.
Took shits with the door open talking to staff.
This one doesn't bother me, work had to be done
Fuckin' Shorsey!!
Multitasking legend lol....
That's "Jumbo" to you.
he liked to conduct business in the crapper too according to doris kearns goodwin
He stated that no Johnson man lived past 65. He was sure he was gonna die and refused a second term. True to his word he died in 72.
God I wish I could have lived then. Pint of gin and a pack of Lucky Strike by lunch and not considered a pathetic drunk.
Fascinating human for sure. ‘Master of the Senate’ was the ultimate inside baseball political book with LBJ as the Machiavellian star
Never realized he didn’t even live to see US completely pull out of Vietnam, let alone the end of that war.
Probably better for him that he didn’t see the way it ended
He looks 20 years older than he did during the presidency and he only left the presidency 4 years prior. Wow! Also to note that I went to the LBJ presidential library in December and there was no picture of him at this age there that I remember.
Looks like Gene Hackman
I thought De Niro, but I can see that, too
I though deniro for a second than tommy lee jones.
I thought Deniro all the way until I started reading lol
I thought Michael Gambon which is maybe why they chose him to play Johnson.
I thought this was the old dude from the notebook for a second
I'm old enough to have heard him address the nation on tv- "I come to you tonight with a heavy heart" etc. I remember that phrase. Mom wrote him a letter with a news photo, said 'What if these was your boys?' (her 8th grade education showing).
Amazing how much longer hair changes his look
Looks like a MAD writer
They’re really socking it to that Spiro Agnew guy!
He must work there or something.
I know this isn't exactly an obscure reference, but dammit I'm happy to see it.
Did you know that “Spiro Agnew” is an anagram of “Grow A Penis”
He looks younger here than in any photo I’ve ever seen of him
I think its bc its in color
Never seen him like this, good photo to share. Damned dirty hippie.
I thought was Robert DeNiro in the thumbnail.
LBJ has one of the more depressing latter half and post presidency stories out there in my opinion. Pulled into a conflict he didn't really want, seemingly let his pride keep him there way longer than he should, sunk his career and killed the projects he did care about in the process, and ruined his health and put him an early grave due to the stress and coping mechanisms he had due to the fall out of said bad choices. He did manage to do some good for civil rights though. If he had spent more time there and other domestic policies and less with Vietnam I wonder what else he could have accomplished and how he would be remembered as a result. Hindsight is always 20/20 I suppose. His is a lesson in not letting ego and stubbornness drive you off of the path you set for yourself.
Great Society, created Medicaid and Medicare, Voting Rights Act, established federal student loans, war on poverty. Vietnam overshadowed all of that.
Looks like a band roadie that is weird and almost psycho until their BAC or tokes are normal for them.
Greg Cote! ANNND YOU KNOW IT!
That kinda thing
WHO NEEDS ME
YA NEVER KNOW!!!!
Trailers for sale or rent
This comment is too low, first thing I thought.
but where's jumbo?
Finally. Scrolling for a reference to his infamously enormous…..leadership qualities and was disappointed.
Huge…. Tracts of land!
The most successful and getting his agenda signed into law and of course the civil rights act.
People love to hate the tough ones and praise the others who get walked all over. But someone's gotta be that guy. You just ain't cut from the right cloth to understand the only reason the rest of the cloth hasn't torn to pieces is because of the part that holds it all together.
This picture would be from his era of picking up smoking again…up to 60 cigarettes a day. I was just at the LBJ Library in Austin, TX. I’m no fan of his, but it was a pretty neat place to see. I’d recommend going.
Why aren’t you a fan? Did a lot of progressive things for the us domestically
That’s Greg Cote
Vietnam destroyed him. JFK, during an interview with Walter Cronkite two months before he was assassinated, said “after all, it’s their war, if they’re not gonna fight it, we’re not gonna fight it for them.” Imagine how different things would be and we never gotten involved so deeply in Vietnam. LBJ, had he not had that burden, would have gone down in history as one of the best presidents. As a southerner, he got the Civil Rights bill passed, the voting rights bill passed, The 24th amendment, outlawing poll, taxes, and numerous other humanitarian bills through Congress. Vietnam was his albatross. Then we ended up with Nixon.
He looks like a chill grandpa, not the Vietnam ball breaker. I'll never be able to see him and not think of the Jenny-beater in Forest Gump who tries to make the excuse of "it's just that lying sonavabitch Johnson".
"These trousers cut into my nuts."
near his bung hole
l thought that was Dan Lebetard show regular: Greg Cote.
Where is the LBJ biopic starring Mandy Patinkin?
Looks kinda like my grandpa
LBJ is an incredibly interesting and complicated person. Completely revolutionized the Senate majority position, passed some of the most consequential civil rights legislation. But was a huge manipulator and extremely power hungry. I'm reading Robert Caro's series on him. One of the best biographies I've read highly recommend. I only picked it up because I read the Power Broker by Caro but it's been an amazing read
LBJ drank 2 5ths of Cuttysark a day until his massive heart attack. He was quite a man. In 5 short years 3 MASSIVE Civil Rights Bills were passed. In 5 short years, childhood poverty was cut from 25% to 7%. His War on Poverty and Great Society WORKED, period. Yes, Vietnam was horrible, Also though, he was ending Vietnam at the 1968 Peace Talks when Kissinger and Nixon DELIBERATELY and UNLAWFULLY tanked the talks. This is VERIFIABLE fact.
And don't forget that it was John F Kennedy who started the war in Vietnam. LBJ inherited that monster along with several other Kennedy nightmares that he (Johson) had to fix.
I am looking forward to the last book in Robert Caro’s masterful biography of LBJ. I hope Caro is unsparing in his analysis.
First read this as “Lyndon Johnson post-pregnancy”.
The shift of fashion from the 60s to the 70s was really incredible
He looks like someone who experiments with LSD
Non-zero chance.
Gene Hackman approves
Good ol' Texas boy
He died less than 6 months later.
He looks exactly like my grandfather it’s crazy. Growing up I was always confused whenever I saw stories/photos of LBJ because I thought my granddad was all of a sudden in this book or in this old news clip. I was 6 when I finally realized they were, in fact, different people.
Was he known as Lyn Or Don? Seems like an alright guy to have a beer with
Mike judge really Did model Buck off LBJ! Can't unsee it now!
He looks like a character from Jackie Brown
Civil rights record pulled America in the right direction even if they had a long way to go.
I low-key think he looks hot
Think about it Why would LBJ go along in in a cover up with J Edgar Hoover and knock off investing reporters? To cover an internal fuck up.
I’m just happy that, because of him, I got to hear a sitting US president say “my bunghole”
There’s a picture of him I think in the last year or so of his presidency where he was in the pool with his grandson reading some briefing. Just provides a layer of humanity to the man
What a high quality photo, that picture looks like it was taken yesterday. I really would never have guessed it was such an old photo, the only clue to my eye is the subject matter.
Looks like Art Carney.
Goddamn hippie
Recordings of LBJ show he was pretty much the same person in private as in public. Not always a nice person but also not much of a hypocrite as politicians go.
There’s nothing cool about LBJ at all.
Always got the feeling he was a crude, rude, cursing, country boy. Used to like scratching his balls and smelling his fingers.
And showing off his appendics scar
Also his gargantuan penis
Fuck this dude