The Presidency: A Captive of Consensus

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THE PRESIDENCY

No 20th century U.S. President, with the possible exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt, has performed with greater political efficacy than Lyndon Johnson. Yet popular approval of the President is at the lowest ebb since Harry Truman's nadir in 1951. Few Chief Execu tives have striven more wholeheartedly to win a national consensus; yet John son is being lambasted from all quarters for all kinds of reasons. Few Presidents, moreover, have been more sensitive to criticism than L.B.J., and few have responded with so little grace.

Ambition, it seems, is both the Texan's strongest trait and his greatest liability, for in his deep desire to be remembered as a great American President, Johnson is not content to let history make its own judgments. In a sense, he may be a victim of what Historian James MacGregor Burns calls the "corruption of consensus." In The Crucible of Leadership, his second volume on the presidential system, Burns elaborates: "No matter how benign a government may be, it will be tempted to manipulate public opinion, to cover up mistakes, and to cast doubt on the patriotism or at least the honesty of outside critics. The more that government represents a consensus, or claims to, the more tempted it may be to succumb to some of these tendencies."

Baffled & Irked. At that, most criticism of the Administration last week was hardly profound. Lobbing back Johnson's own unfortunate term for critics of Viet Nam, House Minority Leader Gerald Ford labeled the President the nation's "No. 1 Nervous Nellie" on the matter of pollster ratings, all but accused him of habitual fibbing to conceal "bad news, blunders or even minor missteps." California's Republican Congressman Bob Wilson hit another delicate issue by questioning the propriety of Luci Johnson's gala wedding plans at a time when "Americans are being sent to fight and possibly die in Southeast Asia." As for the conduct of the war, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield again voiced misgivings. "We have yet," he said, "after extraordinary efforts, to begin to devise a formula for the resolution of the conflict."

Baffled and irked by his critics, Johnson flailed away with defensive, self-serving statements that did little to endear him to the people whose affection he craves. "I am not interested in the image or the appearance," he told a group of state legislators assembled at the White House. "I am interested in accomplishments and achievement. I am interested in the results that we obtain. I am doing my dead level best to provide this country and our people with as good a Government as I am capable of. I am doing the best I can." Then, in an abrupt change of mood, Johnson hymned his Administration's achievements before a meeting of doctors and hospital officials assembled to discuss the advent of Medicare. "We are right inside the Promised Land," he declared. "And we want to be successful."