How Not to Take It Easy

THE PRESIDENCY

President Johnson was entertaining at a stag luncheon last week when his wife slipped into the dining room, motioned to the gentlemen to remain seated, and went to her husband's side. "I hope," said Lady Bird, "you'll set aside 30 minutes for my little project." The project, Lyndon explained later, was a half-hour afternoon nap for himself. It seems that Lady Bird has been campaigning to slow down her locomotive husband. Only recently, the President found a note from her pinned to his pillow. The note, said Lyndon, made "a definite recommendation that I take an hour and a half off in the afternoon."

Lady Bird Johnson has had little success with such projects: the President has been working almost unceasingly since Nov. 22. Says Pierre Salinger: "He gets up earlier and works later than President Kennedy did, and President Kennedy worked longer hours than President Eisenhower did. It's a bad trend." Johnson seems almost unmindful of the fact that he suffered a heart attack in 1955. For a long time after his recovery, he carried around a photostat of his healthy cardiogram to show friends. He has $200,000 in life insurance, and by submitting regularly to physical examinations, has reduced his "hazard rating" (he pays an annual $6,000 for the insurance).

Banana Pudding. Despite this, the energy that the President throws into his daily work has raised a lot of concern. Dwight Eisenhower recently sent a message urging him to slow down and look after his health. Lady Bird is forever watching his diet; Lyndon, 55 and 6 ft. 3 in., weighs 206 Ibs., and should shed at least ten. At his Texas ranch some weeks ago, his wife ordered chicken for dinner one evening--knowing that it is not one of the President's favorite dishes and that Lyndon probably would not eat too much. At lunch one day last week, Lyndon noticed that his guests got banana pudding for dessert while his plate was left empty. "I don't know what Mrs. Johnson is doing here," said he. "I want some of that dessert." He picked up the service bell, and the tinkle soon brought him some banana pudding.

Although Johnson has tried to get in a daily nap and a swim, he often gets so involved with his duties that he just forgets. The Panama crisis (see THE HEMISPHERE) kept him up till 3:30 one morning last week, and he was up again at 6:45 a.m. He turned in at 1:30 the following morning--and again got up before 7. The fatigue was noticeable in his face, but the President kept up his schedule. Chief on his list of visitors last week was Italy's slight, white-haired President Antonio Segni, 72. There were no problems of great moment to discuss; indeed, Segni addressed a joint session of Congress with the warmth and good will of an old and valued friend, and his private chats with the President were filled with assurances of mutual loyalty.

The Most. Still, Segni's presence called for a state dinner, and President Johnson's first such dinner obviously marked one of the key differences between his Administration and Kennedy's. Among the guests were Joe DiMaggio, Labor Leaders David Dubinsky and Walter Reuther, Composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Pundit Walter Lippmann, Washington Hostess Perle Mesta. Perle had not been to the White House during the Kennedy Administration; she had supported Lyndon for the presidential nomination in 1960, and when Johnson lost out to Kennedy, she came out for Richard Nixon.

After dinner, the guests were treated to what one reporter called a "musical program of probably the greatest extremes ever witnessed at a presidential dinner." Baritone Robert Merrill sang Verdi, and a group called the New Christy Minstrels flaked the paint from the East Room ceiling with a rousing hootenanny.

When Segni left, Lyndon said, "I've got to go back to the coal mines," and excused himself. Lady Bird said, "Don't work too late," and White House Aide McGeorge Bundy cracked that "the President just hates to be unemployed."

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