Sen. Johnson on Kennedy's candidacy on Face the Nation

Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson is asked whether he'd support Sen. John F. Kennedy for president, and if he'd consider being his vice president on the May 22, 1960 edition of Face the Nation. Johnson did become Kennedy's vice president, and later the president after Kennedy's assassination. (CBS NEWS)

[@darkchocolate3390]

Lyndon Johnson at Age 51 had already been Senate Majority Whip, Senate Minority Leader AND Senate Majority leader, and is only 8 years older than JFK. It's almost like LBJ's experience made him feel older.

[@hshill7168]

DarkChocolate33 but not smarter

[@joshkusiak7613]

DarkChocolate33 lbj killied jfk

[@NkrumahTure]

@@joshkusiak7613 I'm here to debate the truth of your assertion. I'd like to know the clear cut evidence that LBJ had Kennedy assassinated.

[@MR-wc9lh]

@@NkrumahTure - There were many people who wanted JFK dead, LBJ was one of those people. Exactly who planned the details of the assassination is unknown because the people who wanted JFK dead were smart people who were able to keep secrets.

[@NkrumahTure]

@@MR-wc9lh So the exact answer is eternally unknowable then. Forevermore we can only speculate the inferences. There's something inherently rotten about that.

[@andymullarx6365]

And the next time a Kennedy challenged LBJ for the nomination was 1968 and his name was Robert and we saw how that worked out.

[@larrywheeler9917]

Politics has a dark side. It was real dark with LBJ.

[@TheStraightDope857]

Johnson dropped out of the race. Why would he do that if he knew RFK would be killed?

[@riccaruso7791]

@@TheStraightDope857 ~ Guilty conscience? ~ Heard that LBJ eventually committed suicide. ~ News 📰 reports about the cause of his death otherwise aren’t true.

[@steveludwig4200]

@@TheStraightDope857 LBJ had no chance to beat Nixon because Vietnam was becoming a lost cause, He couldn;t win OR get out.

[@Black_Caucus]

...Robert F. Kennedy DIDN'T 'challenge' LBJ for the nomination in 1968, LBJ did not run for the nomination. He famously declined to run for a '3rd' (2nd *full* term) and therefore did not run in the primary alongside Humphrey, RFK Jr. etc. I am 100% on board that the CIA had at the very least a LOT to do with JFK, and very possibly RFK... but going based off of evidence, and just common sense, it does not make sense that LBJ had ANYTHING to do with RFK's demise. It just doesn't logically follow for a multitude of reasons, but most being there was not really an incentive. Whether or not you think LBJ had anything to do with JFK, with JFK one *could* argue that LBJ as VP had an incentive to want him gone, but it simply isn't the same with RFK.

[@nightowl5475]

I can see when the commentator brought up the question of Kennedy, Ol’ Lyndon got a little aggravated with his “what if” questions. Lyndon wanted the presidency for himself and he would of never picked Kennedy as his Vice President. There is one interesting side bar, had Johnson won the 1960 democratic nomination for president, I don’t know if Johnson would of pushed as hard for a civil rights bill.

[@barryrisper1166]

Johnson was a conservative. For the Democratic Party it may have been great, but for Johnson, it would have been political suicide. He was from Texas for crying out loud.

[@HVACSoldier]

@@barryrisper1166 John Connelly, of Texas, was more conservative than LBJ. LBJ was an opportunist.

[@larrywheeler9917]

The southern Democratic politicians were not big on desegration of the south. His backers were Texas oil and they were very conservative.

[@stevehairston9940]

Night Owl: your comment mentions him pushing the civil rights bill. Yes he would have. He is famously quoted as saying "we'll have them n-gg-s voting Democrat for the next 100 years". A majority of black people have voted that way ever since. Now look how far they feel they've gotten since then. Liberals make a bunch of promises they never intended to keep, then blame the Conservatives for not being able to keep those failed promises.

[@nightowl5475]

@@stevehairston9940 I think LBJ really destroyed the Democratic Party. He played both sides down the middle and once the Dixiecrats knew they were being played, they all went republican. In fact it was LBJ that turned his state red using those tactics.

[@bradyfry8031]

I have the feeling that Kennedy and Johnson never truly liked each other, and that Kennedy only selected Johnson as his vice president in order to get the southern as well as northern vote.

[@gingergeezer3685]

Incorrect. Kennedy & Johnson got along fine. Now, Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson hated each other.

[@radiodj1520]

I Believe This Was A Video Clip Of CBS News' Face The Nation Stuart Novins' Report On Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson On Kennedy's Candidacy On Sunday Morning, May 22, 1960.

[@DrummingKid78]

Warmonger

[@allanfisch]

I don’t think so...He did not want that war, it was imposed on him.

[@CliniK-DS]

Dianne Lo kissingerrrr, Rockefeller, all the major buisnesses in america wanted that war. Dont forget

[@dedreman2227]

at 1:40 you can see the dystane he hold for Kennedy

[@wingflop3938]

disdain

[@redjirachi1]

So? Presidents and vice presidents usually don't get along

[@503945158]

Where did you see disdain in the statement "Mr Kennedy is a very capable young man"?

[@frederickrapp5396]

Privately, LBJ referred to JFK as “the boy.” Publicly , after 11-22-63, LBJ called JFK “the greatest leader of our time.”

[@ynp1978]

LBJs way of winning the nomination would be wheeling and dealing in the smoky backrooms at the convention.....where he could exert his power over a few and twist some arms. No need to get all worked up over who the voters are voting for.

[@jefolson6989]

He literally twisted arms and invaded the personal space of those he wanted to influence. It worked better as Majority leader

[@cdr861532]

If LBJ has stayed the SML, he and Kennedy could have cleaned house in the 60's. LBJ's "Great Society" was , for the most part, aligned with JFK's politics. JFK did not have his sights set on Civil Rights right off the bat however, which LBJ did. LBJ was the most powerful man in America, many people thought, when he was the SML. If they would have been able to use Kennedy's charm and popularity alongside LBJ's power and influence, there wouldn't have been much they could not have accomplished. Unfortunately JFK was killed and LBJ's cabinet talked him into a war he could not win. LBJ got caught in the quicksand and fought it.....right up to the point where it swallowed him whole.

[@shirtless6934]

LBJ's cabinet was the same one he inherited from JFK. JFK was escalating the war, and he would have done no differently than LBJ. JFK could not have gotten the Civil Rights Act or Voting Rights Act passed, so with urban unrest, and an unpopular war, the Kennedy mystique would have been destroyed by 1968. Nixon probably would have been elected President in 1968, just as he was.

[@DanielGutierrez-dd6qu]

Correction, Allen Dulles was the most powerful man in America at the time.

[@bobtaylor170]

@@shirtless6934 , If you watch Walter Cronkite's Labor Day, 1963 interview with Kennedy here on KZbin, you'll be most illuminated by the way in which Kennedy backs away from any idea of a bigger war in Vietnam. He'd been much influenced in this by Douglas MacArthur, who had privately implored him to avoid deep involvement in Vietnam because of its uninterruptible supply line from China.

[@shirtless6934]

@@bobtaylor170 Do you have a link to it?

[@yao052]

cdr861532 Except LBJ really wanted to be VP because he knew about JFK's health issues and he believed that JFK would never complete two terms as president because of that. So it was unlikey that LBJ would have stayed Majority Leader in 1961

[@larrywheeler9917]

How could anybody buy a used car from a mug like that? This guy is capable of anything.

[@williamlawson5925]

lbj couldnt stand the fact that jfk. being younger than lbj could take the nomination for president away from him but kennedy did on the fist ballot.

[@TheStraightDope857]

...Johnson also knew that Joe Kennedy was buying the nomination for his son...

[@lordtiberius]

Pray for Lyndon

[@philippastore2228]

Dear Santa Clause, Come this Christmas' Tet Offensive, Please Do NOT sent me an LBJ Original DRAFT CARD, 'cause CANADA is to Cold 'n Snowy to Kiss under the Missile Toe. Brrrrr.....

[@monicacasillas-bd8jc]

Now he was competent Intelligent. Progressive. I admire and respect a man of Character. He did his best. That is all that matters most.

[@richarddavid8519]

Now, this guy is a polished liar...

[@quentinkirk3870]

Richard David He And Texas Governor John Connolly Had Kennedy Set Up To Be Slaughtered On 11-22-63

[@scottaznavourian3720]

His stance on the primaries would be interesting if Bobby had lived in 68 and continued winning primaries and lbj and Humphrey Stole he nomination from him. You think the riots were bad at the actual concention..

[@libertyann439]

I guess Kruchev would be in charge today!

[@tony84.]

3:29, a tense interview!

[@Orange_Sunshine69]

lil bro sweating like hes in the sahara desert

[@tony84.]

Both LBJ and the reporter are sweating. Must be hot🥵in that studio💯

[@douglaz74]

I just finished reading Robert caro master of the Senate. Several things I have concluded he was a very ruthless person in fact JR Ewing probably was based on him. He expected to have the nomination in 1960 til the Kennedys outwitted him and the Texas crowd. He was no Liberal read what he did in the Senate to people like Paul Douglas. He was a pragmatic leader that went a long with mainstream thinking. He treated Ladybird like Jr Ewing treated Sue Ellen. I will say though he knew politicians

[@Grit489]

Ears huge

[@michaelplummer395]

This is why he only lost one election in 32 years. He was smooth as silk

[@stevestites9762]

Total creep

[@scottrayhons2537]

Glad he is horizontal pushing up flowers.

[@UAL320]

He comes off like a lying weasel….

[@Sean.thegreat]

Lbj had a hand in Kennedys death

[@mokelly56]

he pulled the trigger himself

[@chuckgary6291]

when you take away charisma of every other politician and just look at pure political instincts, lbj comes out as the greatest politician in history

[@captainkavern]

If Kennedy dealt with such a complicated choice in duch à simple manner that would make him stupid.

[@entheosvillacencio3085]

.

[@Goyanks28]

Greatest president ever. Gave us Medicare, Medicaid, and Civil Rights. I really don’t care that he wasn’t nice.

[@juliegoff1731]

He killed Kennedy ,does that count or is it part of your not nice category

[@michaelmilam7285]

@@juliegoff1731 when you make up a conspiracy about a former president murdering someone just because you don't like them 🤔

[@cynthiachronister4082]

Wow you're part of the problem in our society

[@DiggerWhoops]

A nimble politician. I liked that man.

[@halColombo]

"I think senator Kennedy is a VERY attractive and able young man." -lynn johnson