SUBJECT
JOHNSON, Lyndon Baines
36th President of the United States (1963-1969) / Vice President (1961-1963) / Senate Majority Leader (1955-1961)
DATE OF BIRTH
27 August 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH
Stonewall, Texas
DATE OF DEATH
22 January 1973
EDUCATION
Southwest Texas State Teachers College
[ OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH ]
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
36th President
Six feet four inches. Two hundred twenty pounds. A physical presence that filled every room he entered. The Hill Country in a suit. What the photograph doesn't capture: the hands that grabbed lapels, the face that moved inches from yours, the voice that could whisper threats or roar commands. The Treatment.
Subject rose from genuine poverty in the Texas Hill Country—not the false modesty of wealthy families but actual deprivation. Father lost the family ranch. Worked his way through a teachers' college that educated children of farmers. Taught Mexican-American students in Cotulla. Never forgot where he came from.
1937
Elected to Congress at age 28. Campaign manager: George Brown of Brown & Root construction, whose fortune would intertwine with Johnson's for the next thirty years.
1948
Elected to Senate by 87-vote margin. "Landslide Lyndon." Box 13 in Jim Wells County. Votes appeared after deadline. Challenger's legal challenge dismissed by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black (single-judge ruling). Pattern established: Johnson won by whatever margin was necessary.
The Kennedys bought elections with family money, a bootlegger's fortune cleaned up through foundations and trusts. Johnson bought elections with other people's money—oil money, construction money, money from men who expected returns on their investments. Jack Kennedy never understood how debts actually worked. Lyndon Johnson never forgot. Every favor he received created an obligation. Every obligation was eventually collected. — CDJ
Subject became the most effective Senate leader in American history. Not through ideology but through leverage. He knew what every senator needed: a committee assignment, a dam in their district, a favor for a donor. He collected intelligence the way other men collected stamps.
1955-1960
Senate Majority Leader. Maintained close relationship with J. Edgar Hoover. FBI briefed Johnson on colleagues' vulnerabilities. Johnson reciprocated with political protection for Bureau. Mutual surveillance arrangement beneficial to both parties.
"I've got his pecker in my pocket."
— LBJ, on the method of Senate management
He called it "The Treatment." Get close. Invade their space. One hand on the shoulder, one hand on the lapel. Lean in. Tower over them. Make them feel small. Or make them feel like the most important person in Washington. Whatever worked. He could smell weakness the way a predator smells blood. Everyone owed him something, and he never forgot what it was. — CDJ
In 1960, subject accepted the vice presidency—the position he had once called "not worth a pitcher of warm spit." The calculation: Kennedy might lose, and Johnson would be positioned for 1964. Kennedy might die—he was sick, everyone knew—and Johnson would inherit. The last calculation proved correct. The method was unforeseen.
JAN 1961
Vice President Johnson stripped of real power. Robert Kennedy became de facto deputy president. Attorney General's office assumed functions previously coordinated through Johnson's Senate network. Johnson excluded from key meetings, reduced to ceremonial travel.
1961-1963
Subject marginalized. RFK referred to Johnson as "that man" or worse. Georgetown social circuit—the Kennedy circle—treated Johnson as provincial embarrassment. Subject photographed at dinner parties sitting alone, ignored by hostesses.
APR 1963
Life magazine prepared exposé on Bobby Baker (Johnson protégé, Senate aide). Investigation threatened to expose Johnson's financial arrangements with Texas contractors, ties to organized crime figures, potential kickback schemes dating to 1940s.
Subject facing political extinction. Baker investigation expanding. RFK openly discussing removal from 1964 ticket. Life magazine article scheduled for publication—would have linked Johnson to Billy Sol Estes fraud, Texas land deals, Brown & Root favoritism. Nixon was telling journalists Johnson would be indicted within a year. By November 1963, subject's political career appeared terminal.
Three years of humiliation. The man who had run the Senate like a fiefdom, reduced to ribbon-cutting ceremonies and goodwill tours. Bobby Kennedy called him "a meatball." The Georgetown hostesses seated him at the children's table. And every week, the walls closed in tighter: Baker, Estes, Life magazine, the drumbeat of scandal. On November 21st, 1963, Lyndon Johnson was a dead man walking. On November 22nd, everything changed. — CDJ
The motorcade. The shots. The chaos. And then: the man who had been invisible for three years moved faster than anyone.
12:30 PM
Shots fired in Dealey Plaza. Vice President Johnson traveling two cars behind presidential limousine.
12:38 PM
Johnson arrives at Parkland Hospital. Secret Service agent Rufus Youngblood had covered Johnson with his body in the follow-up car. Johnson immediately taken to secure area, separated from Kennedy party.
1:00 PM
Kennedy pronounced dead. Johnson informed by Ken O'Donnell. Johnson immediately began issuing orders regarding departure arrangements, chain of command protocols.
1:26 PM
Johnson departed Parkland for Love Field. Did not wait for Kennedy's body. Left before any clarity on threat assessment. Priority: secure Air Force One.
2:00 PM
Confrontation at Parkland over Kennedy's body. Dallas County Medical Examiner attempted to legally require autopsy in Texas (state law mandated autopsy for homicide). Secret Service agents physically removed casket from hospital against local authority's objections. Kennedy's body transported to Love Field.
2:38 PM
Johnson sworn in as 36th President aboard Air Force One. Insisted on waiting for Mrs. Kennedy to stand beside him. Photographs taken. Casket in rear of aircraft. Johnson chose to conduct ceremony in Dallas rather than wait for Washington.
He insisted the body come with him. Insisted Jackie stand beside him for the photograph. Insisted the swearing-in happen in Dallas, not Washington. Every decision concentrated authority. Every decision created a photograph, a record, a symbol of legitimate transfer. He understood, in that first hour, exactly what needed to happen. A man who had waited three years in the shadows knew how to move when the lights came on. — CDJ
In the seventy-two hours following the assassination, subject established complete control over the investigation and its institutional framing.
22 NOV PM
Kennedy's body taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital rather than Walter Reed (Army) or civilian facility. Navy hospital under direct presidential command authority. Autopsy conducted by military physicians with no forensic pathology experience.
23 NOV
Deputy Attorney General Katzenbach memo to Bill Moyers: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates." Memo written before any investigation had occurred. Conclusion preceded evidence.
24 NOV
Oswald killed by Jack Ruby in Dallas Police basement. Only known case of defendant murdered on live television while in continuous police custody. Subject immediately called Hoover to express concern about "trial by newspaper."
25 NOV
NSAM 273 signed. Document had been drafted on November 21st—the day before assassination [per McGeorge Bundy notation on draft]. Reversed Kennedy's NSAM 263 (Vietnam withdrawal). Authorized expanded operations that would lead to Gulf of Tonkin and full-scale war.
NSAM 273 was drafted November 21st. Read that again. The document reversing Kennedy's Vietnam withdrawal was written the day before Kennedy died. It was waiting in a drawer. Whoever drafted it did not know Kennedy would be killed—but they knew Kennedy would no longer be president. The only question was when. — CDJ
Subject understood that the assassination required institutional validation. The FBI report alone would not satisfy history. He needed the imprimatur of unimpeachable authority—and he needed to control who provided it.
29 NOV 1963
Executive Order 11130 established President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson personally selected all seven members. Warren initially refused. Johnson made call recorded on White House tapes.
JOHNSON: You've got to help us. This thing is going to come out—it could lead to nuclear war.
WARREN: Mr. President, I've resigned from political life—
JOHNSON: There's a reported incident in Mexico City... Soviet Embassy... and if that gets out, the country will demand action. Forty million dead, Mr. Chief Justice. Forty million Americans.
WARREN: ...
JOHNSON: You were in the Army. When the Commander in Chief asks—
WARREN: I'll do it.
29 NOV 1963
Allen Dulles appointed to Warren Commission. The former Director of Central Intelligence, fired by Kennedy after Bay of Pigs, would now investigate Kennedy's death. Dulles served as Commission's primary liaison to CIA. Determined what Agency materials would—and would not—be provided.
Forty million dead. That was the leverage. Not proof—leverage. Johnson knew Oswald had been to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. He knew the CIA had photographs, had tapes. Whether Oswald was a Communist or a legend made no difference. What mattered was the implication: if this looked like a Soviet plot, the American public would demand war. Warren was a patriot. Patriots protect the country. Sometimes protecting the country means not asking questions. — CDJ
The Warren Commission performed exactly the function for which it was designed: it created an official narrative that precluded further questions. Not by hiding evidence, but by drowning it.
SEPT 1964
Warren Report published. 888 pages. Conclusion: Oswald acted alone. No conspiracy. Supporting materials: 26 volumes, over 17,000 pages. Evidence not indexed. Contradictions not reconciled. Documents arranged to obscure rather than illuminate.
1964-1965
Classified materials sealed for 75 years. Autopsy photographs locked in National Archives under Kennedy family control. Brain disappeared from evidence custody. Original notes of autopsy surgeon Admiral Humes—burned by Humes in his fireplace on Sunday, November 24th.
1967-1969
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison opens investigation. Johnson administration deployed resources against Garrison investigation. CIA provided reporters with counter-narrative materials. NBC. See later House Select Committee findings on media coordination.
JFK Records Act (1992) mandated release of assassination documents by 2017. Multiple extensions granted under national security exemptions. As of [CURRENT DATE], significant materials remain classified. Agencies continue to claim disclosure would damage intelligence sources and methods—sixty years after the event.
They did not hide the evidence. They buried it in twenty-six volumes of paper. Every document that might matter is there, somewhere, alongside ten thousand documents that don't. No index. No concordance. No way for any citizen to find the contradictions without dedicating years of their life. The burial was not secrecy—it was abundance. The truth is there. It's just arranged so that no one can see it. — CDJ
Subject's actions in the hours and days following the assassination demonstrated comprehensive understanding of institutional control mechanisms. Every decision concentrated authority, limited alternative investigations, and established narrative frameworks that precluded deviation.
Subject benefited from assassination: Bobby Baker investigation collapsed within weeks. Life magazine exposé never published. 1964 ticket concerns evaporated. Subject elected by largest popular margin in American history.
Subject's prior knowledge of assassination planning: NO EVIDENCE. Subject's immediate recognition of how to manage aftermath: COMPREHENSIVE. Subject's motivation to ensure specific investigation outcome: SUBSTANTIAL. Subject's success in achieving that outcome: COMPLETE.
Assessment: Subject either anticipated events or adapted to them with unprecedented speed. Distinction may be immaterial to outcome. Warren Commission files remain partially classified. Subject's personal files at LBJ Library: significant redactions. Full accounting: UNAVAILABLE.
The question is not whether Lyndon Johnson ordered Kennedy's death. There is no evidence he did. The question is what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. On November 21st, he was finished—Baker, Life magazine, removal from the ticket, possible indictment. On November 22nd, he was president. And in the hours that followed, he moved with a speed and precision that suggested he understood exactly what the situation required. A man surprised by events hesitates. A man prepared for events acts. Lyndon Johnson never hesitated. Not once. Not for a moment. Draw your own conclusions. — CDJ