Have you ever seen this picture of LBJ?

[elperromagico]

Don't know why I'm pointing this out, but I found this picture in one of my late-night searches. It was taken in 1972. Look at that hair!

Twenty-two.

[the Kelly Gang]

1. it's a great pic !..makes him look human

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. It's a terrific photo.

But he looks unwell.

[elperromagico]

5. He should. He died within a year.

Apparently he took up smoking again after leaving office (he had quit after his 1955 heart attack). Combined with the stress of the Presidency, it certainly helped kill him.

Nineteen.

[Lisa]

wow, he looks like an elderly hippie!

How ironic. That's a fantastic pic. I'll show it to my dad (who's almost 80 and has also let his hair grow long at the back).

[Lucky Luciano]

3. WOW!

I never envision a(n) (ex)president looking like that!

[PDittie]

4. That picture was taken

late in his life; he grew his hair long like that after he retired to his ranch.

(He died in January of 1973.)

edit: yes, he was quite ill; he had a bad heart. Others have commented about collapsed earlobes presaging a heart attack. Note LBJ's lobes in your photo.

[elperromagico]

9. One of the governors of my state (Arkansas),

Winthrop Rockefeller, grew a long beard after leaving office. Made him look like Santa Claus. He died around the same time as LBJ, IIRC.

Eighteen.

[elperromagico]

11. Here's a picture of Rockefeller with a beard:

This was how he looked while governor:


Seventeen.

[Jack_DeLeon]

6. Damn...

Steven Segal got old.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Yeah

Lady Bird said LBJ let his hair grow long because he realized what the hippies were saying was right.

[Taverner]

15. Is that true?

I've heard people allude to it, but I never read anything Lady Bird said to that effect. I would love to have a quote :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. Don't have a citation

Heard it on a documentary years ago, and can't tell you any more about it.

[2bfree]

30. I heard that as well.........

We rented the American Experience documentary of LBJ on Netflix. Wow! It was great I was riveted for all 4 hours. They show LBJ with his long hair and I think they have Lady Bird discussing it as well.

[DerekG]

33. Lady Bird didn't say it...

I've seen the documentary three times; it was a younger, close acquaintance of Johnson's who made the assertion that LBJ chose to look like a hippie. "He internalized everything."

Johnson went to his grave knowing full well of the evil he had engaged in. Quite unique, really, considering that most politicians live in denial all their lives.

[amazona]

23. really? That's so cool

The more I learn about LBJ the more I realize he wasn't the one-dimensional figure of evil I once believed. Of course, sheesh, he's the second coming of Christ next to what we've got in office today...

[UrbScotty]

8. He reminds me of my late Grandpa.

So human.

[MuseRider]

10. Much nicer than

the "look at my scar picture" or the picture of him picking his beagles up by their ears. The guy gave me the creeps but he looks pretty cool in this picture.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. I think Clinton should grow his hair out and start wearing Hawaiian shirts

How cool would that be? I'm sorry. I have a thing for him.
Duckie

[elperromagico]

13. If I were ever elected President,

as soon as I left office I'd grow a beard. And my reason would be that I had had to shave daily during my time as President, and now I wanted to relax a little.

I thought it was really cool when Gore grew a beard after the 2000 election. Wish he'd kept it...

Sixteen.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

14. Dude, why can't a president have a beard in office?

US Grant had a beard. I realize that was a while ago, but still, I think a president should be able to have a beard if he so chooses.
Duckie

[elperromagico]

17. Dudette, I don't know.

They just seem to be associated with uncleanliness.

There hasn't been a President with a beard since Benjamin Harrison, and there hasn't been one with a moustache since Taft. There hasn't even been a nominee from a major party with a moustache since Dewey in 1948.

But think about it, Duckie... what's sexier: Brad Pitt, or Brad Pitt with a mountain man beard?



Fifteen.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

31. Yeah, don't say dudette.

And I don't like scruffy Brad. I like Clean Shaven Brad. Much sexier if he is clean, accentuating his cheeks.
Duckie

[tritsofme]

18. The stress from all the kids he killed in that jungle

really must have weighed on him.

[elperromagico]

20. I wouldn't doubt that for a second.

That's a big difference between LBJ and Bush, IMO; all those kids coming home in body bags and flag-draped coffins weighed heavily on Johnson's conscience. It doesn't seem to affect Bush at all.

Fourteen.

[Lisa]

22. plus LBJ was a real Texan, and that was a real ranch

I heard that towards the end, LBJ didn't want to leave his property because he was so troubled by thoughts of protesters. I imagine that Bush would snap "Who cares what you think?", and try to scare them by swerving his truck at them.

[elperromagico]

27. Are you kidding? Protesters don't get anywhere near Bush's "ranch."

They're kept in a "free-speech zone" at least a dozen miles away.

Bush exists in a bubble where he thinks everyone (save a few lone "wackos") supports his actions and he's destined for a landslide victory in November. Wonder what'll happen when that bubble bursts...

Ten.

[roguevalley]

19. he with sam rayburn were the greatest legislators in American history.

an iconoclastic person, our LBJ. Lovely, lovely wife.

[amazona]

21. no, i haven't, thanks for this

Nice photo. I like it. Kinda the non-Jewish Isaac Asimov look. Interesting. Do you know who took this photo?

[elperromagico]

24. Found it in the LBJ Library's image archives.

Date: 08/19/1972
Photographer: Frank Wolfe

Event:
President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with John McCormack and Tommy Corcoran
Location:
LBJ Ranch, near Stonewall, Texas

More information and a higher-resolution version here: http://photolab.lbjlib.utexas.edu/detail.asp?id=2792

Twelve.

[amazona]

25. wow thanks that was fast

I'll bookmark that! Much appreciated.

[elperromagico]

26. I'm trying to get to 4,000 posts tonight,

so my response time is a bit accelerated.

Eleven.

[Kahuna]

28. Kewl! He looked a lot better with long hair.

nt

[UTUSN]

29. I Liked LBJ Better Than Lots of Other Dems

Here's the deal. LBJ was a "slave" for FDR. Then he went on to become powerful for 30 years in the Congress. Then we had a hiatus on Vietnam, but he did Medicaid/MediCARE, Voting Rights and so much more.


So. When purists do hosannahs over McGOVERN or HUMPHREY or whomever-------------you've got to WIN first. It don't do NO GOOD to be NOBLE while you LOSE----------o.k.????????????

McGOVERN was a WWII/warrior HERO, but he chose to hide his strength. So goodbye.

[tritsofme]

36. Maybe I'm just greedy,

but the lives of a few of my close personal friends and family members that were lost in the dumbass jungles of Vietnam are more important to me than anything else LBJ accomplished.

I will always remember him as a dispicable and rotten man who couldn't have gone to hell any sooner. The blood of 58,000 young American boys is on his hands.

[mitchum]

39. I hope that you have also consigned Saint Jack to hell...

since Vietnam was certainly a part of his legacy. The Kennedy revisionists (and I'm not accusing you of being one) always seem to overlook this fact when they give him the credit for Johnson's sweeping liberal reforms. However, I do agree with you that LBJ's escalation of the war was unforgivable (and that is a pity)

[mitchum]

32. Yes, I have seen that picture of the greatest president of my lifetime

Warts and all, easily the most liberal

[DerekG]

34. Tragic as hell

He could have been the greatest, even transcending Lincoln and Roosevelt. But he should never be absolved for the genocidal war against the Vietnamese people.

But think about it: If you knew you possessed the resources and skills needed to wipe out poverty and cripple conservatism, but you instead squandered everything due to moral cowardice and bad advice, what would you do? What demons would run through your mind?

Imagine what Johnson thought in those closing years...

[playahata1]

35. Did you know that LBJ was a high-school teacher

before he got into politics? He had always had positive feelings toward young people, Vietnam notwithstanding.

[JI7]

37. never seen it, but i like the picture a lot

[JI7]

38. that man had a heart

he had flaws, but he had a heart filled with concern for others. it hurt him to see others treated unjustly, the deaths in vietnam was something he was heartbroken over and probably contributed to his death. he could see he was wrong and didn't run for another term. can you imagine chimp doing the same ?

the successes of the civil rights movements under lbj showed people they could make a difference and i believe it helped later on with the protests against vietnam as many of the people in the civil rights movement were also those in the anti vietnam war movement.