The Essence of Johnsonism

The pace of the presidential campaign was quickening. Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey and Bill Miller all were out hitting the hustings as hard as they could. Both Johnson and Goldwater made major political appearances on national television. To the President, the choice was whether the U.S. "will move ahead by building on the solid structure created by forward-looking men of both parties over the past 30 years. Or whether we will begin to tear down this structure and move in a radically different, and--I believe--a deeply dangerous direction." To Goldwater, the TV presentation was an occasion for simplifying complex issues, such as that of a balanced federal budget: "When we live within our income, the dollar has stability; when we live outside our income, the dollar has instability."

Help from the Moderates. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Goldwater was getting some much-needed help from leaders of moderate Republicanism. New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who had been notably silent about the national Republican ticket, now said publicly that he was for "Barry and Bill all the way," praised Goldwater as "a man of courage and integrity who has not ducked the issues."

Dick Nixon, in the midst of a cross-country campaign trip, declared in Chicago: "President Johnson's attack on Senator Goldwater on the NATO nuclear weapons issue is political demagoguery at its worst. It is Johnson's, not Goldwater's, position on this issue which is reckless and irresponsible."

Pennsylvania's Governor William Scranton, who went down to the wire against Goldwater in San Francisco, wound up an eight-state speaking tour for Goldwater. In Stratford, Conn., Scranton deftly criticized Johnson's Administration by comparing it unfavorably with the Kennedy Administration. "The Johnson Administration," said Scranton, "has washed away the last vestiges of the style and grace that a new generation of Americans forged in the 1960 elections. The national Administration welters in a sea of cliches, of easy answers that are no answers at all, in a boisterous atmosphere that has no style and--most Americans fear--little depth either."

As for Goldwater himself, he let it be known that he was changing his strategy, would no longer discuss "nitpicking issues," from now on would couch his campaign in broad terms of the virtues of conservatism as opposed to liberalism--which in his lexicon comes out as "Socialism."

And what about Lyndon Johnson? Last week he was out campaigning as if his life depended on it, expressing the philosophy that historians may one day call Johnsonism.

Scorning the Adage. The essence of Johnsonism begins with the proposition that politics is a profession in which anything can be accomplished, and that success is mandatory. To achieve, it is only necessary to "reason together," for in a democracy it is always possible to find a majority that will agree on some compromise. This means that the compromiser should never state things too boldly--should, in fact, blur the edges of most big questions, unless, of course, a popular consensus has already chosen the bolder course.

Johnsonism means effective action to get a major bill passed (civil rights) or a major annoyance done away with (such as Congressional efforts toward curbing the Supreme Court's redistricting decision). Johnsonism scorns the adage that a statesman is known by the enemies he has made, and believes that it is possible to do something for everybody. It calls for an identification with the entire populace, and using the populace's own words to talk to it. It is part sentimentality, part love; part forceful action, part slick derring-do. It believes unswervingly in the present and thinks the future can be better--under the benign guidance of Johnsonism.

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