A VP story about LBJ and Kennedy, just to fill the time.

[jobycom]

I used to work for Ralph Yarborough, who was a senator in the 60s. I worked for him in the 90s doing office research while in grad school--nothing complicated. But I got to hear some interesting stories at times.

One night Senator Yarborough watched a tv show about Kennedy choosing LBJ as his running mate. According to the show, Kennedy didn't want LBJ as his VP, but LBJ's support was so strong that he didn't want to slight the Texan, either. So, he offered the slot to LBJ, expecting him to turn it down. The night before LBJ's deadline to make a decision, JFK called Ralph Yarborough, who was also from Texas, to offer him the job when LBJ turned it down. Yarborough and Kennedy were pretty close.

LBJ, according to the show, got wind that Yarborough would be the pick, and stunned Kennedy by accepting the nomination. Yarborough and LBJ were big rivals, and LBJ simply wanted to block Yarborough from getting the job.

After the show, Yarborough told a different story. He said Kennedy wanted LBJ all along, but knew he would turn the job down, because he disliked Kennedy. So, Kennedy and Yarborough leaked to the LBJ people that Yarborough was going to be the pick, knowing LBJ would not want Yarborough to get the job. Obviously, it worked.

I heard this story the morning after the show from Yarborough's assistant and friend, who watched the show with him, and heard him tell the story, so it is what Yarborough thought to be true. But, the more I think about it, the more I wonder what JFK wanted. JFK was astute, and always had a back-up plan. He's famous for telling supporters on both sides of an issue that he backed them, and keeping his true hand close to the vest until he had to reveal it. So maybe, JFK didn't care which Texan wound up on his ticket, but wanted both of them to feel wanted if they did, and devised a scheme with both candidates against the other. Or maybe one or the other of the Texas senators was right.

The moral to this boring story is that so much goes into making a VP decision that all of these clues and leaks and everything else that people are basing all of their guesses on could be part of another scheme altogether, and it might have nothing to do with anything we can know.

That's my bedtime story. It will sink like a stone, but I just wanted to type. :)

[JI7]

1. that's a great story

i can totally see LBJ doing that.

[jobycom]

2. Another of Yarborough's LBJ stories...

While LBJ was president, Yarborough had a dinner engagement with some special foreign dignitary, or some such VIP. His wife had planned a dinner to begin at 6:00 (or so), and Yarborough had planned his schedule around this. At five, just as Yarborough was about to leave his office, the president calls him to the White House. Friend or not, you don't take that lightly. So Yarborough went to the Oval Office, where LBJ welcomed him. LBJ never got right to the point, so he started off with some small talk and a couple of jokes, and they chatted about sports or whatever. And chatted. And never got to the point. Finally, Yarborough glances at the clock, and it's a quarter past six. His wife and their guests have been waiting for fifteen minutes, at least.

LBJ sees him glance at the clock, shrugs, and says "Well, Ralph, get on home. I know you have a dinner date (how he knew, who knows). Just wanted to chat with you."

The whole thing was just a power play, to delay Yarborough, and show him who was boss.

[CitizenLeft]

3. these are great stories...

No way boring - thank you! :hi:

[jobycom]

4. Thanks!

I guess three people read them. :)

[EFerrari]

5. That's a great story.

Thanks. :)

[jobycom]

7. Thanks!

[gateley]

6. Great stories! nt

[PatSeg]

8. Boring?

Not hardly. Thanks for sharing. This stuff is fascinating to me.

[monmouth]

9. Love stories like this. Ole LBJ was a piece of work wasn't he?....n/t