THE MICHIGAN DAILY Seeks His -and History's Biggest Win By DOUGLAS B. CORNELL Associated Press Staff Writer ATLANTIC CITY - President Lyndonig BJohnson thinks big, aims Thigh and usually ets what he goes after. And right now he is going .after the biggest presiden- tial-election victory ,margin in history. / To get it he would have to wipe out the record set in 1936 when his political idol and mentor, Franklin D. ,Roosevelt, captured all but two states. The odds are against Johnson beating, matching or even ap- proaching that record. But if he fails, it won't be for lack of desire or effort. For he is a man who wants to prove-and intends to prove-that President John F. Kennedy was right and wise in tapping him four . years , ago r as a 'possible successor. He wants to fortify withsan ele- tion triumph next November something he has been saying a bit plaintively since last Novem- ber: ;"The way I feel about it, I am President of all the ,people." Standard Beaer As the newly nominated presi- dential candidate of the Demo- crats, he will be holding aloft the party standard he Qnee considered beyond the reach of any Southern- er in this generation. Politics with Johnson, who will be 56 years old today, is his pro- fession, his 'lay, and his passion. He breathes it. And he succeeds at it by threatening, wheedling, coaxing, cajoling, compromising and working at it everlastingly.' Consequently, few of Johnson's friends expect anything less of him than one of the hardest, most strenuous campaigns. ever staged by an occupant of the White House. They expect him to pound around the country from one end to the other by plane and train, by helicoptgr and car-and, where the crowds are thickest, by foot, with out-thrust hand. Nice Trick As President, he can be credited with one of the neatest tricks of political magic in many a day. That was the way he lured some big names of big business (Henry Ford II, for example) away from traditional loyalty to the Repub- licans. And he did this, apparent- ly, without alienating a single ma- jor chieftain of organized labor._ The campaign may get off to a slow start-Johnson talks about it and some of the Democrats stew about it--and then roar to a cli- max in October. That was the tactic that worked for Roosevelt. It will be a campaign in which the President will attempt to take up the whole middle of the road, beckon to everybody along the way to flock to his cause, and force the opposition to attack from the right. Kennedy Fades The strategy is to depict Sen. Barry Goldwater as a man on a mountain top, aloof from the peo- ple and the world's realities and from that "mainstream of Ameri- can political thinking" which both sides keep talking about. This is a campaign in which the Kennedy image will be allowed to fade into the background to a large extent. Johnson wants a Johnson victory, built on a John- son program and a Johnson record and Johnson popularity. This became clear back in April, after the President had observed a four-month period of deference Y co Si' w: la he th er or, pa ho #T At his first appearance in New in the state legislature, as did his to a Senate investigation, Baker's ork after riots in Harlem, John- grandfather. resignation and a resort to the n declared that "we will not per- And Johnson wasn't a poor boy 'Fifth Amendment. it any part of America to be- for long. me a jungle," that violence must He orked his way through But Johnson is used to criticism, stopped and punished in Mis- West Texas State Teachers' Col- although he doesn't like it. He ssippi or New York, and that he lege, won his spurs in campus wants and strives for the appro- il to the letter w politics, taught school briefly, was bation of all men. And in so do- appointed director of the depres- ing, he can be enormously warm Welfare sion-born National Youth Admin- In the same speech on Aug. 12, istration in Texas, and was elect- and friendly and charming. I also declared, "It is right that ed to Congress when he was 29. Many Facets e wealthy should help the poor- Soon the Johnsons began to He still can be a combination ierge from hunger." prosper, through investments in of hayseed and statesman, of His anti-poverty program is one land and radio-television interests, corniness and accomplishment, of iat pushes the President off into and are now millionaires. The country bumpkin and world figure. atorical flights, with accom- White House made public last He seeks the superlative and anying touches of corn and week an accounting firm's esti- often finds it. Probably no Presi- ome-spun humor and stories. mate which placed the family dent in history, in a comparable Owealth at $3.5 millionperiod ever has made so many Ona., tin$3.in #mn in.ofprid, r ha deny LKIlne f 306-10 SOUTH MAIN TOP LEGISLATOR Johnson jokes with current members of his alma mater, the Senate, as he signs the tax-cut bill. His legisla- tive acumen has made his presidency a successful one on Capitol Hill. But his foreign policy skills and his executive ability are less impressive.. ni u,,spring Trip TOareas oI pov- erty, Johnson stood on the court- house steps in Paintsville, Ky.,: and said, "I know something about poverty. I've worked with my hands. I've done everything from shining shoes to working on the roads for a dollar a day.", That's true. Was Poor--Briefly Once he got out of high school, he drifted and shifted around the West grabbing at any job avail- able. He tells about his daddy be- ing a tenant farmer in the Texas hill country -- but usually omits mention that his father also served Come, Now Republicans denounced this fig- ure as "incredibly low," citing published reports which placed the Johnson assets as worth up to $14 million. They served notice, that there will be much talk during the eam- paign about the growth of the Johnson fortunes in such fields as1 radio-TV which are subject to government regulation. The Democrats are likely to hear, too, about Bobby Baker, the former proteg6 of Johnson. Baker's financial deals while serving as secretary to Senate Democrats led speeches, grabbed so many hands, entertained so m a n y people, danced so much, kissed so many women or appointed so many to government jobs, doused so many lights, bent so many ears or pulled so many canine ears to the ac- complishment of howls heard around the world. He can rip the hides off mem- bers of his staff for performance short of perfection and also make a special point of ;praising work well done. From them he com- mands a deep loyalty and 12-18 hours of work a day to match his own. and homage to the assassinated Kennedy. He told a news conference then that prosperity should mean "a good year for the Democrats" and, that "the Dow-Jones industrials closed at about 822. This is about 111 points al ove what it was Nov. 22." Thus he was marking the ad- vance from the death of Kennedy and the start of his own adminis- tration. . . 'Sure and Steady', A few days later Johnson . was telling a political rally in Chi- cago, "Since last November . the people have seen Democrats' hold this nation on a sure and steady course." Then there was a speech he , ade to members.of the Chamber of Commerce of-the =United States in Washington. "Now," he said, "you are stock- holders in this government, and every time you hit me, I am the only President you have. You make me a little weaker to do the things that you have hired me to do ... I am going to stay in this job and be President to all the people as long as I can." 1 With businessmen, Johnson has achieved a cordiality Kennedy never enjoyed. With Congress, he always has had a way which Ken- nedy never could have hoped to match. Taxes, Civil Rights, Poverty And the new President can point to a rather impressive legis- lative record headed by such key items as an $11.5-billion tax cut, the most sweeping civil-rights law since the Civil War, and a bill to combat poverty in a land of plenty. Yet in foreign affairs, this man who proclaims the pursuit of peace his one purpose above all others has been pretty much treading water. The President has scored no mighty triumphs, suffered no dis- mal failures during the months in which he has faced crises in Laos, Panama, Guantanamo, C y p r u s, and attack and retaliation off Viet Nam almost on the eve of his nomination. . Foreign policy definitely will be a factor in the campaign. In fact, it has been for weeks, with Gold- water pecking away at it and Johnson and his team answering back. The President figures that there will be three top issues: peace, preparedness and prosperity. Of these, he has tabbed prosperity for 'top emphasis: few Presidents get. turned out of office in good times. And Johnson is counting on good imes to counteract the "white blacklash" some expect among people who worry about racial violence in the streets' and possibly a drop in property values should Negroes move in next door. Yet should Johnson lose the election, the defeat might be at- tributed largely to his upholding of civil rights. 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