National Affairs: The Man Who Waited

All through the primaries and preliminaries, Lyndon Johnson had acted for all the world like a man who hoped to get his name mentioned on television as one of the half a dozen or so favorite-son candidates at the Democratic Convention. He stuck to his Senate knitting, went back to Texas to loll under the sun on his LBJ Ranch at Stonewall, Texas, made little if any effort to round up delegates outside the 56 pledged to him from his home state. But last week—on the very day that Harry Truman threw the convention into an uproar—Lyndon Johnson strode into the center of the presidential ring.

Johnson's sudden move came when he appeared, bronzed and buoyant, before newsmen at a press conference at the Conrad Hilton. Asked almost unbelievingly if he was really a "serious" candidate, Johnson set pencils to scribbling furiously. If, said Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic delegates should decide "they would like me to be their standardbearer, I will do my duty." Johnson, the victim of a heart attack last summer, made it clear he thought his health was no handicap. Said he: "I have been putting in 15-and 16-hour days every day, including Saturday, during the last weeks of Congress." Did he consider Adlai Stevenson or Averell Harriman the best candidate? Replied Johnson: "The best candidate at the moment is Lyndon Johnson."

"In your experience in politics," a reporter asked, "do you recall any serious contender for a nomination who did not seek delegates from outside his own state?" Johnson's answer was firm: "You don't always have to seek something in order to get it."

He may have been right—for that afternoon Johnson received a summons from Harry Truman to come on the double. Galloping to Truman's suite, Johnson found Harry ready to leave for his climactic news conference. Said Harry to Lyndon: "I'm opening this thing up so anybody can get it—including you." That was exactly what Harry Truman proceeded to do: by coming out for Averell Harriman, he set Lyndon Johnson up as a possible rallying point for Southern delegates with perhaps 200 precious votes. In the event of a deadlock between Harriman and Stevenson, any hopeful candidate would have to deal with Lyndon Johnson of Texas—a sharp trader who has been waiting for his chance.