Nixon and LBJ
Politics have always been tense, and LBJ talks about his frustration with Republicans and criticism in 1966. He is frustrated with obstructionism and those afraid of trying something new. There is also an explanation on how misunderstood he may have been. In many ways, this could be a current article, with different names. http://www.lbjlibrary.org/about-lbj/the-lbj-the-nation-seldom-saw.html
He talked about the difference between Republicans and Democrats: “We’re for something, and they are against everything. Mr. Rayburn was asked one time, ‘What do you think—after 50 years—is the primary difference between the Republican and Democratic parties? Is it the tariff?’
“ ‘No.’
“ ‘Well, what is the difference?’
“Mr. Rayburn replied, ‘I’ll tell you the easiest and best explanation—one that I have observed, and I came here during Woodrow Wilson’s administration. They hate all of our Presidents.’
“He said, ‘I didn’t hate Harding. I felt sorry for him, but I didn’t hate him.’ He said, ‘I didn’t hate Coolidge. I thought he was totally inadequate to the responsibility, but I used to go down and eat scrambled eggs and just watch him. He never said anything. You couldn’t tell what he thought of anything.’
“He said, ‘I didn’t get angry with Hoover. Everything in the country folded up and we had bread lines all over the country and everybody in the Southwest was chasing rabbits in order to eat. But I didn’t hate him. We tried to help him. But look what they did to Roosevelt when he came in. They were after his wife. They were after his daughter. And they finally got down after his dog.’ ”
He brought the audience to its feet when he said, “So I’m doing the best I can and it’s almost like the old man in my county that said he felt like a jackass in a hail storm: He just has to hunker up and take it.”
