After the Ball

THE PRESIDENCY

After the tension, the gaiety and the personal triumph of his inauguration came a letdown for Lyndon Johnson --and a scare.

Wearing maroon pajamas and a navy-blue silk robe, the President was bustled out of the White House shortly before 2:30 one morning, 14 hours after he took the oath, helped into a Navy ambulance and whisked off to Bethesda Naval Hospital. He was suffering from a heavy cough and chest pains. Since he had suffered a nearfatal heart attack ten years ago, he was worried. But by midmorning, the President's doctor announced that nothing serious ailed him--little more than a case of too much inauguration.

Pretty Much Alone. At least twice in the week of the big event, Johnson had skipped lunch and missed his afternoon nap, and on Inauguration Day he had spent hours speaking and parade-watching without coat, hat or long underwear in chilling 43DEG Washington temperatures--although electric heaters were deployed near him. And that evening he had dashed in and out of five overcrowded, overheated ballrooms. Both Lady Bird and Daughter Lynda Bird had come down with colds after the ceremonies, and hoping not to expose the President, they had left for Camp David.

Johnson is particularly susceptible to respiratory ailments because of a recurring bronchial weakness first contracted during high-altitude flying in World War II. He developed a scratchy throat and cough. On Friday night--with Lady Bird and Lynda gone, and Luci Baines out on a date--the President was pretty much alone in the White House and, according to aides, feeling a little sorry for himself. The White House physician, Rear Admiral George Burkley, gave him aspirin, some Declomycin and a dose of "the brown mixture," a generation-old cough remedy.

But at 1 a.m. the President called Burkley again, complained of heavy coughing and pains in his throat and chest, and Burkley decided that it would be best to send Johnson to the hospital. Luci, who had just come home from her date, climbed into the ambulance with her father and got a room near his at the hospital.

A Lingering Thought. After a series of tests--including an electrocardiogram, which proved normal--Dr. Burkley summed it up: "A respiratory infection similar to that which is prevailing at this time of year." So prevalent was the infection that Lady Bird too checked into the hospital the same day.

Shortly after noon, Lyndon invited a few reporters into his 17th-floor hospital room. Propped up against the pillows and inhaling deeply from a "croup kettle" that spewed steam, he reassured everyone that he was just fine. Said he: "I wouldn't hesitate right now to put on my britches and go back to the office if there was something that needed to be done."

There was obviously a lot to be done, but the President's thoughts still lingered with the Inauguration. About 4 a.m. he asked Press Secretary George Reedy to call the White House and find out precisely how many words were in his inaugural address. Answer: 1,479.

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