The Real Charlie

It isn't every day that a father can shed a political liability and gain a son-in-law. If he had been programmed on a Pentagon computer, Marine Captain Charles S. Robb, the 28-year-old White House social aide who sought and won Lynda Bird Johnson's hand, could not have turned out better for the President, who had made no secret of his displeasure over Lynda's long ro mance with draft-deferred Actor George Hamilton. Robb is tall (6 ft. 1 1/2), dark, handsome, athletic, affable, intelligent, earnest, circumspect--and can hardly wait for his assignment to Viet Nam early next year. And while the first eight qualities are the most likely to put stars in Lynda's eyes, it is the last attribute that assures there will be no edge to L.B.J.'s voice if he calls Chuck Robb "Charlie," his cutting private name for Hamilton.

At a country fair for children of Government leaders on the White House lawn last week, Lynda showed up, with Chuck, in a mod cow-wrangler rig of mini-culottes--revealing an eye-popping expanse of leg--and a five-gallon hat that showed how far Hamilton's chic influence on her wardrobe had faded.

The President's announcement of a December White House wedding had caught even Press Secretary Liz Carpenter off guard. But a month ago Robb had told his mother and his father, who is the American Airlines' district sales manager in Milwaukee, that he and Lynda Bird were serious. A dedicated career officer, Robb graduated straight into the Marines in 1961 from the University of Wisconsin, where he garnered a degree in business administration. He first emerged from the pack of personable young officers assigned to White House social duties when he was called to be a fourth at bridge for Lynda and two friends. The foursome soon shrank to a twosome. They spent the Labor Day holiday together outside Rehoboth Beach in Delaware on a stretch of sand known popularly as "Whisky Beach" or "the Passion Pit," which the Chamber of Commerce now wants renamed more decorously in honor of their courtship.

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