Anodyne
Saturday, October 09, 2004
 
Deep into Caro's Means of Ascent, v.2 of his remarkable Lyndon Johnson biography.

"As the helicopter charged across the vast plains of West Texas, in particular, anything moving on the flat, featureless brown landscape below could be seen for miles, and Lyndon Johnson sometimes seemed to be following the rule that if it was moving, he shook its hand. The pilot, asked once how often Johnson made him land for a handshake, replied: 'Whenever we saw more than two people and a big dog.'

Nothing in his path could escape. Was there an isolated farmhouse ahead? Into the midst of a peaceful farm setting -- wife in her kitchen, baking, perhaps; farmer milking under a tree -- the S-51 would suddenly swoop with the Pratt & Whitney roaring. 'The chickens thought it was a bird coming down to get them,' Busby recalls. 'They would go berserk, flying up and hitting the fences.' Cows would gallop awkwardly away in panic to the farthest end of the pasture, the milk bucket having been kicked over. Horses would squeal and rear in their stalls. And there in the front yard, broad smile on his face, campaign brochures in hand, would be a man saying: 'Howdy, Ahm Lyndon Johnson, your candidate for United States Senator. Just droppin' in to say good mornin'.'"

- posted by cjb @ 9:33 PM


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