Lady Bird Johnson's Audio Diaries
Former First Lady Recalls the Traumatic Event That Led Her Husband to the Presidency
July 11, 2007 —
For two nights in 1997, Lady Bird Johnson talked with "Nightline's" Ted Koppel about the extraordinary years she spent with her husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson, in the White House. She recalls the horrific assassination of President John F. Kennedy that thrust her husband into the Oval office and the center of one of the most turbulent chapters in the nation's history.
Below is an unedited transcript of the interview:
October 8, 1997
TED KOPPEL
(VO) It was the day America stood still.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
We were rounding the curve, going downhill. Suddenly, there was a
sharp, loud report, a shot.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) A day of personal tragedy.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Suddenly I found myself face to face with Jackie. I don't think I
ever saw anybody so much alone in my life.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) And of a new beginning.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
There, in the very narrow confines of the plane, with Jackie on his
left, Lyndon took the oath of office.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) They've never been publicly heard before, the LADY BIRD JOHNSON
audio diaries. Tonight, November 22, 1963.
ANNOUNCER
From ABC News, this is Nightline. Reporting from Washington, Ted
Koppel.
TED KOPPEL
Diaries offer their authors the comfortable promise of absolute
privacy. Since most of the time the narrator and the intended
audience are one and the same, diaries are the perfect receptacle for
intimate revelations. And since they are normally kept on a regular,
if not a daily basis, the observations contained in them are clear
and fresh, unaffected by the passage of time or the loss of memory.
It is not altogether clear whether Lady Bird Johnson ever
intended her diary to become public, but she began keeping it,
dictating entries into what she called her talking machine, shortly
after John F. Kennedy was assassinated and her husband, Lyndon
Johnson, became the president of the United States. And Mrs Johnson
continued making entries into her audio diary virtually every day of
her husband's presidency.
Over the past four years, we have broadcast a number of programs
using Oval Office tapes that were recorded during the Johnson years.
If you've heard any of those tapes, I think you'll agree that they
capture something of Lyndon Johnson that would otherwise never have
emerged in public.
Helping us compile some of those programs has been historian
Michael Beschloss, whose new book, "Taking Charge: The Johnson White
House Tapes 1963 - 1964" has just been published. It includes
excerpts from Mrs Johnson's audio diary. They, and conversations
recorded aboard Air Force One on the day that Kennedy was shot are
being played in public for the first time tonight.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Friday, November 22nd. It all began so beautifully. After a drizzle
in the morning, the sun came out bright and beautiful. We were going
into Dallas. In the lead car, President and Mrs Kennedy and John and
Nellie. And then a Secret Service car full of men and then our car
with Lyndon and me and Senator Yarborough.
The streets were lined with people, lots and lots of children
all smiling, placards, confetti. People were waving from windows.
Then almost at the edge of town on our way to the trade mart, where
we were going to have a luncheon, we were rounding a curve, going
down a hill. Suddenly, there was a sharp, loud report, a shot.
1ST REPORTER
It appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route.
Something, I repeat, has happened in the motorcade route. There are
numerous people running there, but it is believed that President
Kennedy has been shot. President Kennedy was -- something is
terribly wrong. I think behind the motorcade. It looks as though
they're going to Parkland Hospital.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
It seemed to me to come from the right above my shoulder from a
building. Then one moment and then two more shots in rapid
succession. I heard over the radio system, "Let's get out of here!"
A Secret Service man vaulted over the front seat on top of Lyndon,
threw him to the floor and said, "Get down!"
Senator Yarborough and I ducked our heads. The car was
accelerated terrifically fast, faster and faster. Then suddenly they
put on the brakes so hard that I wondered if they were going to make
it as they wheeled left around a corner. I looked up and saw it said
"hospital". Only then did I believe that this might be what it was.
As we ground to a halt, I cast one last look back over my
shoulder and saw a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms,
lying in the back seat. I think it was Mrs Kennedy lying over the
president's body.
Throughout it all, Lyndon was remarkably calm and quiet. He
said, "We'd better move the plane to another part of the field. He
spoke of going back out to the plane in black cars.
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
What raced through my mind was that if they had shot our president
driving down there, who would they shoot next and what would they --
what was going on in Washington and when would the missiles be
coming? And I thought that it was a conspiracy and I raised that
question and nearly everybody that was with me raised it.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
People came and went. Every face that came in you searched for the
answers that you must know.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Also searching for answers was Pierre Salinger, the president's
press secretary. He was accompanying a handful of cabinet members,
including Secretary of State Dean Rusk, on a flight to Tokyo to
prepare for an upcoming presidential trip. Pierre Salinger's Secret
Service code name was "Wayside."
PIERRE SALINGER
White House situation room, this is Wayside. Do you read me, over?
Over.
DISPATCHER
This is the situation room. I read you. Go ahead.
PIERRE SALINGER
Give me all available information on the president, over.
DISPATCHER
All available information on president follows. He and Governor
Connally of Texas have been hit in the car in which they were riding.
We do not know how serious the situation is. We have no information.
We are getting our information over the tickers, over.
PIERRE SALINGER
That is affirmative, affirmative. Please keep us advised out here.
This plane, on which secretary of state and other cabinet ministers
headed for Japan, turning around, returning to Honolulu.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) At Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Lady Bird sees Mrs Kennedy
waiting for news on the president's condition.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Suddenly I found myself face to face with Jackie in a small hall. I
think it was right outside the operating room. You always think of
her, or somebody like her, as being insulated, protected. She was
quite alone. I don't think I ever saw anybody so much alone in my
life. I went up to her, put my arms around her and said something.
I'm sure it was quite banal, like, "God, help us all," because my
feelings for her were too tumultuous to put into words.
TED KOPPEL
When we come back, Lady Bird Johnson, Jackie Kennedy and a hurried
swearing in of the new president.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL
Just after 1:00 pm central time, about 30 minutes after the shots
were fired, news of President Kennedy's condition emerged from the
operating room. Vice President Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson were
with Malcolm Kilduff, President Kennedy's press person that day in
Dallas and Kenny O'Donnell, White House chief of staff.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
I turned and went back to the small white room where Lyndon still
was. Mr Kilduff and Kenny O'Donnell were coming and going. I think
it was from Kenny's face and from Kenny's voice that I first heard
the words "the president is dead". Mr Kilduff entered and said to
Lyndon, "Mr President."
TED KOPPEL
(VO) A short time later, the plane loaded with cabinet members, also
received the news.
DISPATCHER
This is situation room relay following to Wayside. We have report
quoting Mr Kilduff in Dallas that the president is dead, that he died
about 35 minutes ago. Do you have that, over?
PIERRE SALINGER
The president's dead, is that correct?
DISPATCHER
That is correct. That is correct.
2ND REPORTER
We have this from Washington. Government sources now confirm that
President Kennedy is dead.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Shortly after the president was pronounced dead, the Secret
Service rushed LBJ and Lady Bird out of Parkland Hospital.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
It was decided that we should go immediately to the airport. We
drove along as fast as we could. I looked up at a building and there
already, it was a flag at half - mast. I think that was when the
enormity of what had happened first struck me.
When we got to the airplane, we entered Airplane Number One for
the first time. There was a TV set on. The commentator was saying,
"Lyndon B. Johnson, now president of the United States."
2ND REPORTER
There is no longer any doubt the president is dead. The vice
president himself, vice president and soon - to - be president,
Lyndon Johnson.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
All the shades on the plane were lowered. We heard that we were
going to wait for Mrs Kennedy and for the coffin. There was
discussion about when Lyndon should be sworn in as president. There
was a telephone call to Washington, I believe to the attorney
general. It was decided that he should be sworn in there in Dallas
as quickly as possible, because of the international implications and
because we did not know how wide, whether this was an incident there
only or whether it had a wider spread as to the intended victims.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Three years later, LBJ defended his decision to be sworn in in
Dallas during a phone conversation he had with his press secretary,
Bill Moyers.
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
I thought the most important thing in the world was to decide who was
the president of this country at that moment. I was fearful that the
Communists were trying to take us over. And I think that Bobby
agreed that it would be all right to sworn in and said he wanted to
look into it and he would get back to me, which he did.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Judge Sarah Hughes, a federal judge in Dallas, and I am glad it was
she, was called to come in a hurry. We borrowed a Bible. Mrs
Kennedy had arrived by that time and the coffin. And there, in the
very narrow confines of the plane, with Jackie on his left, her hair
falling in her eyes but very composed and then Lyndon and then I was
on his right, Judge Hughes with the Bible in front of him and a
cluster of Secret Service people and congressmen we'd known a long
time, Lyndon took the oath of office.
JUDGE SARAH HUGHES
I do solemnly swear ...
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
I do solemnly swear ...
JUDGE SARAH HUGHES
That I will faithfully execute ...
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
That I will faithfully execute ...
JUDGE SARAH HUGHES
This office of president of the United States ...
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
This office of president of the United States ...
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Air Force One took off for Andrews Air Force Base at 2:45 pm
central time, just minutes after the swearing in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE
Roger. The president is onboard, the body is onboard and Mrs Kennedy
is onboard.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
We all sat around in the plane rather speechless. We had been
quickly ushered first into the main private presidential cabin out of
which we very quickly got to when we saw where we were because that
is where Mrs Kennedy should be.
TED KOPPEL
When we come back, presidential historian and author, Michael
Beschloss.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL
And joining me now, the presidential historian, Michael Beschloss,
who is the author of the new book, "Taking Charge: The Johnson White
House Tapes 1963 - 1964." I want to get back to a question that I
raised early on, Michael, having to do with what Mrs Johnson's
intentions were when she first started dictating those diaries. Do
you think that she ever planned to publish them or to make them
public in any form?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, "TAKING CHARGE"
I don't think she did at the outset. She had kept a diary in
previous years before she became first lady, but I think the moment
she returned to Washington from those tragic events in Dallas, her
first thought was I've been through an important moment in American
history that only I have seen in quite this way and I owe it to
history to record it.
TED KOPPEL
And when she was recording it, I mean she has always been extremely
loyal to her husband through some of his worst times, to what sense
do you have the feeling that she was trying to in any way brush up or
burnish the image?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
I think not hugely. Certainly she was kindly toward her husband and
she loved her husband, but at the same time when you're keeping a
diary that you know that you have the ability later on to edit, the
impulse is much more to sort of talk into the microphone and let the
feelings pour out and the diary has very much that texture.
TED KOPPEL
Bobby Kennedy later on was angry at how quickly Lyndon Johnson moved
to take the oath of office. Talk about that for a moment and what it
was that motivated him to move as quickly as he did.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Well, the big feud between Robert Kennedy and President Johnson began
in Dallas when President Johnson got on Air Force One and wanted to
take the oath immediately because he felt it was important for the
nation to feel that they had a sworn - in president in command in
this crisis. RFK was at his home in Virginia. He sentimentally
would have liked his brother, the late president now, to return to
Washington one last time as president and have Johnson take the oath
in Washington.
TED KOPPEL
And what was Johnson's motive for being sworn in as quickly as he
was?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
He had the responsibility to take command and give the nation a sense
of stability at the same time as he had the responsibility to be
sensitive to the Kennedys and not look as if he was grabbing power
and it was that first responsibility in this case that prevailed.
TED KOPPEL
He makes several references in the tapes, and I haven't read the
whole book, but I have read many of the excerpts, to the fear that he
initially had that there might be some, literally, a foreign plot
that might actually have targeted him next. How much of a role did
that play?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
It had a big role. One of the things he says on the tapes to J.
Edgar Hoover was, were any of the shots fired at me in Dealey Plaza
in Dallas. It was the height of the Cold War. Johnson had to assume
that this assassination was the spearhead of a Russian, perhaps a
Soviet nuclear attack, surprise attack on the United States. He had
been told by his defense secretary the safest thing an incoming
president could do in a crisis situation like this is to get on the
plane, get the plane high up into the air.
TED KOPPEL
Let's come back, as we conclude our conversation now, to Lady Bird
Johnson. As you look back and knowing what you know from all the
other sources that you had, how good a reporter was she?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
I think she was a terrific reporter and I think one thing that these
tapes show is that she was one of the most important members of the
Johnson administration, not only because she was able to give her
husband very shrewd political advice, but also because at a time like
the Kennedy assassination, where Johnson's emotion might have gone
into very much overdrive, she was there at his side to keep him a
little bit more stable and help him become president and calm the
nation.
TED KOPPEL
Michael Beschloss, thank you very much, indeed.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Thank you, Ted.
TED KOPPEL
In a moment, a preview of what you'll be hearing from the Lady Bird
Johnson diaries tomorrow.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL
Tomorrow, more from LADY BIRD JOHNSON's audio diaries. In the hours
after President Kennedy is pronounced dead, LADY BIRD JOHNSON pays a
visit to Jackie Kennedy aboard Air Force One.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Mrs Kennedy's dress was stained with blood. And that was somehow one
of the poignant sights, exquisitely dressed and caked in blood. I
asked her if I couldn't get somebody to come in to help her change
and she said, "Oh, no, that's all right. I want them to see what
they have done to Jack."
ANNOUNCER
October 9, 1997.
1ST REPORTER
Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Mrs Kennedy's dress was stained with blood.
TED KOPPEL, ABC NEWS
(VO) Throughout some of the worst days in American history, she kept
an audio diary.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
And that was somehow one of the most poignant sights, exquisitely
dressed and caked in blood.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) As she mourned in silent strength with the Kennedys.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
And I wanted to cry for them and with them, but it was impossible to
permit the catharsis of tears.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) And tonight, from her home in Texas, the former first lady
remembers.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
So I felt like I was walking onto a stage for a part I had never
rehearsed, hadn't even read.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) The LADY BIRD JOHNSON audio diaries -- the aftermath of the
Kennedy assassination.
ANNOUNCER
From ABC News, this is Nightline. Reporting from Washington, Ted
Koppel.
TED KOPPEL
When John Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963, everything and
nothing changed. The miracle of that tragic moment was that the
American system proved its extraordinary resilience. In the middle
of all the shock and the trauma, the transition of power occurred
almost seamlessly. One minute Kennedy was president; within a couple
of hours of his death, Lyndon Johnson was sworn into office.
But, of course, the lives of those at the center of the drama,
especially the Kennedy and Johnson families, would never be the same
again. LADY BIRD JOHNSON realized that she was experiencing and
witnessing a moment of history that she was uniquely placed to
capture. She began recording a diary.
Those of you who were with us last night will have heard her
immediate account, put on tape shortly after the assassination, of
the frantic ride to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, of Lady
Bird's encounter in a hospital corridor with Jackie Kennedy, more
alone at that moment than ever before or perhaps again.
Mrs Johnson agreed to join us for this program tonight. Her
tapes and hundreds of others that were made of Lyndon Johnson's
conversations in the Oval Office during his presidency have been put
into context by historian, Michael Beschloss, in his new book,
"Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963 - 1964."
There was, of course, another transition taking place in those
first hours after the assassination. During the two hour, 20 minute
flight from Dallas back to Andrews Air Force Base, Jackie Kennedy and
LADY BIRD JOHNSON began ever so delicately to pass off the role of
first lady.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
The ride to Washington was silent and strained, each with his own
thoughts. The casket was in the hold. I went in to see Mrs Kennedy
and I don't -- oh, it was a very, very hard thing to do. She made it
as easy as possible. She said things like, "Oh, Lady Bird, we've
liked you two so much." I remember other things she said, "Oh, what
if I had not been there? I am so glad I was there."
Mrs Kennedy's dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost
entirely covered with it. And her right glove was caked. That
immaculate woman, it was caked with blood, her husband's blood. She
always wore gloves like she was used to them. I never could. And
that was somehow one of the most poignant sights, exquisitely dressed
and caked in blood.
I asked her if I couldn't get somebody to come in to help her
change and she says, "Oh, no, that's all right. Not right now." And
then there was something, if with a person that gentle, that
dignified you can say had an element of fierceness, she said, "I want
them to see what they have done to Jack." I tried to express
something of how we felt. I said, "Oh, Mrs Kennedy, you know we
never even wanted to be vice president and now, dear God, it's come
to this."
Well, I would have given anything to help her and there was
nothing I could do to help her. So rather quickly I left and went
back to the airplane, to the main part of the room where everybody
was seated.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) At around 3:00 pm central time, the president and first lady
called Rose Kennedy, President Kennedy's mother, from Air Force One.
None of them knew it at the time, but this call, too, was recorded.
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Mrs Kennedy?
ROSE KENNEDY
Yes. Yes, Mr President.
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
I wish to God there was something that I could do, and I wanted to
tell you that we were grieving with you.
ROSE KENNEDY
Yes, well thanks, thank you very much. Thank you very much. I know.
I know you loved Jack and he loved you.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Mrs Kennedy, we feel like we've just had ...
ROSE KENNEDY
Yes, all right.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
We are glad that the nation had your son as long as it did.
ROSE KENNEDY
Yes, well thank you Lady Bird. Thank you very much. Good - bye.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Along with the emotions of the moment, the flight was also
filled with quick planning for the arrival of both a new president
and the body of the late president.
1ST OFFICIAL
Everyone aboard Air Force One, with the exception of the body, will
be choppered into the South Grounds. The body will be choppered to
the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda. Over.
2ND OFFICIAL
This body is in a casket, you know, and it will have to be taken by
ambulance and not by chopper. The casket is in rear compartment and
we suggest, because it is so heavy, that we have a forklift back
there to remove the casket. And we want the regular post - mortem
that has to be done by law under guard performed at Walter Reed. Is
that clear, over?
1ST OFFICIAL
Watchman, should the secretary of defense and others be at Andrews on
your arrival?
2ND OFFICIAL
No, negative. President Johnson wants to meet the White House staff,
the leadership of Congress and as many of the cabinet members as
possible at the White House as soon as we get there.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) At 6:05 pm eastern time, Air Force One arrived at Andrews Air
Force Base, where a crowd of White House staff, family and
journalists was waiting.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Finally, we got to Washington. There was a cluster of people
watching, many bright lights. The casket went off first and Mrs
Kennedy and the family who had come to join them and then we
followed. Lyndon made a very simple, very brief and I think
appealing and strong talk to the folks there.
PRES LYNDON B. JOHNSON
This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that
cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know
that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs Kennedy and her family
bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help
and God's.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
We got in cars, dropped him off in a hurry at the White House and I
came home.
TED KOPPEL
When we come back, Lee Harvey Oswald is shot as the nation watches in
disbelief.
(Commercial Break)
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Sunday, November the 24th. This was the day the president lay in
state at the Capitol. It is a day I will never forget, nor will
other people of America.
After church, we went to the White House and waited in the Green
Room for the family. As they came in, Mrs Shriver turned to me and
said, "I hear Oswald has been killed." That was the first news I had
about Oswald.
2ND REPORTER
There's been a shooting at Dallas police station as Oswald is being
transferred.
3RD REPORTER
Just one minute ago, they were bringing Oswald out. He was just
going out the door heading towards the armored car and there was a
bang. We believe it was a shot.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) Before the nation, on live television, Jack Ruby had shot and
killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Later that week, Johnson discussed with
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover how Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, had
managed to get so close to Oswald.
J. EDGAR HOOVER
He knew all the police in that white light district where the joints
are down there, and he also let them come in and see the show, get
food and get the liquor and so forth. That's how I think he got into
police headquarters, because they accepted him as kind of a police
character hanging around police headquarters, and for that reason
raised no question. Of course, they never made any moves, as the
pictures show, even when they saw him approaching this fellow and got
up right to him and pressed his pistol against Oswald's stomach.
Neither of the police officers on either side made any move to push
him away or to grab him. It wasn't until after the gun was fired
that they then moved.
TED KOPPEL
(VO) At about 1:00 pm eastern time the president and Mrs Johnson got
into a limousine with members of the Kennedy family, including
Robert, Jackie and her two children, Caroline and John John, and
headed for the Capitol.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
As soon as we emerged from the gates of the White House, the first
thing I was aware of was that sea of faces stretching away on every
side -- silent watching faces. And I wanted to cry for them and with
them, but it was impossible to permit the catharsis of tears. I
don't know quite why, except that perhaps one reason is that the
continuity of strength demands it and another reason was the dignity
of Mrs Kennedy and the members of the family themselves demanded it.
The only note of levity was John John, who bounced from the back
to his mother's lap to the front until finally the attorney general
said, "John John, you be good. You be good, we'll give you a flag
afterwards."
TED KOPPEL
(VO) As the caisson slowly rolled towards the Capitol, past what used
to be the Esso Building, Bobby Kennedy remembered and for a moment
thought out loud.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
The only time the attorney general said anything was when we passed a
big building on the left and he looked over there and said, and I
think as much to himself, perhaps to the children, "That was where it
all began. That was where he ran for the presidency." And there was
a flinching of the jaw at that moment that almost made, oh, well, it
made your soul flinch for him.
Then Lyndon advanced and laid a wreath at the foot of the
casket. And Mrs Kennedy went over and knelt. Odd how you remember
little things, but I remember how gracefully she knelt and kissed the
casket. Caroline, by her side, simply put her little hand on the
flag, sort of underneath the flag.
TED KOPPEL
At that point, the audio portion of Mrs Johnson's diary apparently
runs out on that day. So this evening, we asked Mrs Johnson to read
that final portion of the day's diary entry.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
To me, one of the saddest things in the whole tragedy was that Mrs
Kennedy achieved on this desperate day something she had never quite
achieved in her years in the White House, a state of love, a state of
rapport between her and the people of this country. Her behavior
from the moment of the first shot until I last saw her was, to me,
one of the most memorable things of all. Maybe it was a combination
of great breeding, great discipline, great character. I only know it
was great.
TED KOPPEL
When we come back, an interview I recorded earlier this evening with
LADY BIRD JOHNSON.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL
And joining us now from her home in Austin, Texas, LADY BIRD JOHNSON.
Ms Johnson, thank you so much, first of all for letting us use
excerpts from your tapes and also for joining us tonight.
I asked Michael Beschloss yesterday, and I'm going to ask you
today, did it ever occur to you when you were doing these audio
diaries that they would one day become public or were you doing them
just for yourself and perhaps for your family?
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
I was doing them for sort of a mixture of reasons. It was,
incredible as it might seem, I was going to be in the unique position
as the wife of the president of the United States -- and it was
incredible. But only I would see events unfold from that particular
vantage point and so I wanted to remember it and keep it for myself
and my children and maybe some day grandchildren.
TED KOPPEL
We heard on this program tonight, Mrs Johnson, your recollection of
that flight back from Dallas to Andrews Air Force Base just outside
Washington. And you speak of what was almost a passing over of, I
don't know how one refers to what a first lady has, whether it's
power or just an enormous burden, but there was that passing off that
had to take place and it must have been an excruciatingly difficult
moment for both you and Mrs Kennedy.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Oh yes, yes. I felt like I was walking onto a stage for a part I had
never rehearsed, hadn't even read, and we all knew from her face and
from her whole demeanor what she was going through.
TED KOPPEL
Your late husband had wanted so much and for so long to be president
of the United States.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
No, certainly ...
TED KOPPEL
But not this way.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
I know you, nobody believes it, but he hadn't set his sights on that.
Never mind. Let's go on.
TED KOPPEL
Talk about it in terms, you do speak of it in your diary with regard
to Air Force One, how initially you were ushered into what would be
the president and the first family's quarters aboard Air Force One
and you thought no, this is not appropriate. Mrs Kennedy should be
here.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Absolutely.
TED KOPPEL
You must have felt ...
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
That was very clear.
TED KOPPEL
You must have felt much the same way when you ...
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
I felt like an intruder who didn't want to be here.
TED KOPPEL
Now, I understand that when you did move into the White House
finally, Mrs Kennedy had left something for you. Could you tell us
about that?
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Yes. She had left a very sweet little bouquet of flowers and it was
quite small and precious and a sweet note.
TED KOPPEL
Let me just have, Mrs Johnson, if you would, some of your thoughts on
the value of public people keeping private diaries with an idea to
one day sharing them with historians or sharing them with the
American public at large. Your thoughts on the values and the
dangers of doing that.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Oh, is it any danger from telling the truth as you see it? I didn't
think so and so I did it. I love words. I love writing. And that
was a subject so much worth it. I wish I could have done justice to
it. And it taught me a lot. Oh, boy, did it teach me. Memory is
not a faithful servant. One year after, 20 years after, you may
remember it washed over by the circumstances that come afterward, the
changes, the feelings. So it's better to have something that took
place at or as soon as possible after that time if you want to get it
right.
TED KOPPEL
As you look back now, and we have the distance of 34 years, that
prism to look through, what's your most vivid memory of that
extraordinary weekend?
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Of that weekend? I guess it has to be one of the discipline shown by
the Kennedy family, especially by Mrs Kennedy and my respect and
admiration for it. And my anger burns so hot that our state should
have been tarnished by that and that added to my determination to try
to fulfill every obligation I had as the wife of a president.
TED KOPPEL
Mrs Johnson, you've been very gracious, as always. Those of us
who've watched you for the years you were here in Washington came to
expect that from you. Thank you so much.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON
Thank you.
TED KOPPEL
And I'll be back with a word about tomorrow's Nightline Friday night
special in a moment.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL
Tomorrow, a Nightline Friday night special, the inspirational story
of Eric Davis, the Baltimore Orioles outfielder who's battling back
from cancer as he and the Orioles fight to get into the World Series.
That's our report for tonight. I'm TED KOPPEL in Washington.
For all of us at ABC News, good night.