U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson Little-Known Facts Part 1

About the U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, history, trivia, and little-known facts.

36th President

LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS

As an up-and-coming congressman, young LBJ cultivated the flamboyant habit of tossing his tawny stetson out into the crowd at political rallies. He always paid a little boy $1 in advance to retrieve the hat. The stetson was worth $25.

The LBJ Ranch boasted a needlepoint pillow with the inscription "This is my ranch and I can do as I damn please."

After he became president, Johnson briefly considered firing FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, but he eventually decided that it was better to leave Hoover alone. "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in, "the President reasoned.

Johnson's alleged "cruelty to animals" created a minor uproar during the early months of his administration. In the spring of 1964, in front of cameras and reporters, he grabbed his pet beagle by the ears and lifted it off the ground until the puppy screamed. "I love to hear them yelp," the President chortled. Later, when animal lovers across the country protested, Johnson "clarified" his position. "The yelp is not a sound of pain," he announced. "It is a sound of joy."

On the evening of June 29, 1966, LBJ's 18-year-old daughter, Luci, found him in a glum and lonely mood. When she asked him what was wrong, he explained, "Your daddy may go down in history as having started World War Three." That day he had ordered the first bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi in North Vietnam. Luci tried to comfort her father and told him that whenever she was worried or depressed, she visited her "little monks." LBJ then ordered a car and went with her to St. Dominic's Church, around midnight, where they prayed silently together. Johnson grumbled that the cushionless floor was hard on his knees. The next morning, with W.W. III having been successfully averted, Luci assured her father that her little monks usually came through.

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