Good Times in Texas

Lyndon Johnson loves to escape the White House for his native Texas--where the prairies are wide, the sun warm and the livestock friendly. The White House press corps does not share the President's enthusiasm. Reporters look with loathing on extended Texas trips that take them away from Washington politics and parties and deposit them in the Driskill Hotel in Austin, some 60 miles from the L.B.J. ranch.

An ornate edifice studded with columns and fire escapes, the Driskill was built for another age. Reporters grumble about its rattling plumbing, roaring air conditioners and lack of a swimming pool. They also complain that the hotel, which is often overcrowded, continually shifts their briefing room. And most of the time in Austin, they find little to do but watch television.

Complaints fell largely on deaf ears until one morning last December when Press Secretary Bill Moyers awoke to discover that two hulking rats had been caught in carefully baited traps in his Driskill room. All of a sudden, the press had a powerful convert to its cause. Moyers dispatched aides to San Antonio to look into accommodations there; San Antonio sent lobbyists to Washington. The next time Johnson decided to visit Texas, Moyers put the press up in San Antonio.

Down the River. San Antonio was delighted--and prepared. When the 41-man press corps hit town after a five-hour flight, it was greeted by a rollicking four-piece Mexican band and an unlimited supply of margarita cocktails. "We'd like you to be happy this weekend and every weekend," boomed Chamber of Commerce President B. J. ("Red") McCombs. "We will do as many things for you as you will allow us to do."

Red was as good as his word. Reporters were given guest memberships at six private clubs--a "must" for a man who wanted a drink. They received tickets for a performance of a traveling opera company and invitations to a formal military ball. They were taken on tours of the city and boat rides down the San Antonio River. When they finally got around to going to bed at the recently constructed El Tropicano Motor Hotel, the reporters found four members of the chamber of commerce on duty around the clock. All a man had to do was lift up his phone and put in his order.

Lots of Camaraderie. Before they departed on Sunday, the reporters were treated to a "goodbye party" at which chamber-of-commerce types mingled artfully among them and pleaded: "Y'all come back." They were promised that on future visits some 60 local families would welcome them into their homes, where they would "participate in family activities." About the only annoyance during the entire visit was a local reporter who had apparently not been clued in by the chamber of commerce. In Hearst's Sunday Light, Ed Foster commented on all the attention the reporters paid to "a little blonde number," who turned out to be Hearst Headliner Catherine ("Cazzie") Macklin. "The men correspondents seemed eager to give her congratulatory pats on the shoulder, for which she would smile appreciably," wrote Foster, who seemed to resent being left out of the proceedings. "There was lots of camaraderie, it seemed like." President Johnson has still not made up his mind whether to transfer the press permanently to San Antonio. But after all the attention paid them, the reporters have made up theirs. "San Antonio would be a lot better for a long Easter stay," said NBC's Charles Murphy, thinking ahead. "There is a great deal to do in this city to keep you from going stir crazy."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.