“The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.”—Lyndon Baines Johnson
(The sense of humility in the above quotation is a side of LBJ, who was born on this date 100 years ago today, all too rarely seen in his public or private encounters. Too bad he couldn’t have exhibited it more often. Unfortunately, one wonders how much this egocentric politician meant this statement. If the public sensed that he did, it might have been at least somewhat more willing to stay on his side when his Presidency came apart under the pressure of Vietnam and domestic disturbances. One wonders whether a sense of fallibility—and a greater reliance on God—might have helped this master of man as he coped with the burdens of his office. The index to Robert A. Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate does not contain a single reference to any sense of spirituality. But perhaps, in his heart of hearts, his passion for racial justice was triggered, in some underlying sense, that no child of God should ever feel lesser than others.)
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