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Lyndon Johnson on Homeland Security
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1964 Daisy ad: We must love each other or we must die
Johnson's famous 1964 "Daisy" ad shows a little girl in a field counting petals on a daisy. As her count reaches ten, the visual motion is frozen and the viewer hears a countdown. When the countdown reaches zero, we see a nuclear explosion.Most people
think the ad then goes on to attack Barry Goldwater as trigger-happy. Yet Goldwater's name is never mentioned. The ad features the voice of Pres. Johnson saying, "These are the stakes, to make the world in which all God's children can live, or to go into
the darkness. Either we must love each other or we must die." The ad was shown only one time.
It was highly effective because it drew on an existing impression about Goldwater. The general message of a campaign has to evoke a reaction from voters that
will cut through the clutter & focus attention on a central question. That means the important question is: What values and attitudes do voters already have about a candidate and what message will draw on that information to produce the response you want
Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p. 68
, Nov 2, 2010
Distaste for wiretapping as V.P. and as President
President Johnson's distaste for wiretapping had its origins during his vice-presidential days. He told me on several occasions, he was absolutely certain his own phones were being tapped in the abortive hope that his conversations would reveal some
link to Baker. To say the investigation was total and unceasing is to understate. But nothing came of it, for the simple reason that nothing was there. LBJ regarded politicians on the take as stupid.
Source: A Very Human President, by Jack Valenti, p.109
, Dec 1, 1976
1940: Started Corpus Christi air base anticipating WWII
As war clouds broke over Europe and the US began to look more closely to its own defense, Johnson did more than any other 1 man to bring about the construction in Corpus Christi, Texas, of a tremendous naval air training base.He was convinced that the
US would not be able to avoid becoming involved in the war. He knew the nation was far from ready, and he wanted to do anything he could to help it get ready. He was anxious for his own state to make every possible contribution.
Source: The Lyndon Johnson Story, by Booth Mooney, p. 36-37
, Jun 1, 1964
Navy waste: "It is no longer a crime to cut red tape"
He warned in speeches, on the floor of the House and elsewhere, that it was possible for the US and her allies to lose the war. "We must get rid of the indecisive, stupid, selfish and incompetent among our generals, admirals and others in the high
military positions," he declared. "We must make it clear that it is no longer a crime to cut red tape." He blasted waste: in military manpower, in war plant worker absenteeism, in military procurement.
He was made chairman of a special investigating subcommittee of the Naval Affairs Committee. This group forced the Department of the Navy to adopt more businesslike methods of procurement. It brought about the rewriting of the Navy's contract for
petroleum from the Elk Hills Field in California, an action which almost saved the Treasury a small fortune. Johnson brought to light large-scale abuses and laxities in Navy requests for draft deferment for civilian personnel.
Source: The Lyndon Johnson Story, by Booth Mooney, p. 48-49
, Jun 1, 1964
1949: Pushed adequate preparedness for Cold War
During his first year in the Senate, he became increasingly concerned about the place of the US in a world where victory in the fighting war had been succeeded by a dangerous cold war between onetime allies.
Adequate preparedness was always a cause close to Johnson's heart. He now set out to buck the trend toward letting the American defense system go to pot.Communism had spread over once-free European countries and had sealed the back entrance to
Soviet Russia through the conquest of China. It seemed to Johnson, looking with alarm at these facts, that Communism had achieved most of its major goals everywhere except the US and nations allied with the US by means of the Atlantic Pact.
In Johnson's view, the American military establishment had been whittled down to a dangerously low point.
Source: The Lyndon Johnson Story, by Booth Mooney, p. 67
, Jun 1, 1964
Stockpile essential strategic materials
On February 28, 1950, he made one of his most important speeches. Its subject was "Our National Security." In this address, after presenting some of the facts about the cold war which was constantly threatening to become hot,
Johnson continued:"I think we should look into our stockpiling program so that we can avoid the great hazard of being caught short in essential strategic materials.
Also, we must look thoroughly into the condition of our military housing and other factors relating to personnel so that the morale of our forces will not be lowered and their efficiency reduced
at this period when the utmost is demanded from all of us, individually and as a team."
Source: The Lyndon Johnson Story, by Booth Mooney, p.68- 69
, Jun 1, 1964
Government cannot accept stalemate with Communism
Government can fall into a state of complacency over the relative positions of strength between nations in the world. An international stalemate with Communism would, I believe, be the greatest waste of American resources and the resources of freedom,
even though stalemate produced no war. A vital government cannot accept stalemate in any area--foreign or domestic. It must seek the national interest solution, vigorously and courageously and confidently.
Source: Johnson article in The Johnson Story, by B.Mooney, p. xvi
, Jun 1, 1958
Page last updated: Apr 28, 2013
