“It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.”
-Lyndon B. Johnson
When the Smothers Brothers sent an apology to President Lyndon B. Johnson for their satirical jokes, he responded with the memorable quote above.
This is how a real President responds to political satire.
-The Other 98%
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963.
Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was aimed at expanding civil rights, public broadcasting, access to health care, aid to education and the arts, urban and rural development, consumer protection, environmentalism, and public services.
He sought to create better living conditions for low-income Americans by spearheading the war on poverty. As part of these efforts, Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965, which resulted in the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.
He enacted the Higher Education Act of 1965 which established federally insured student loans; and signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which laid the groundwork for U.S. immigration policy today.
President Johnson’s civil rights legacy was shaped by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965,and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Historians Caro and Dallek consider Johnson the most effective Senate majority leader ever. He was unusually proficient at gathering information.
One biographer suggests he was “the greatest intelligence gatherer Washington has ever known”,discovering exactly where every senator stood on issues, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses, and what it took to get his vote.
LBJ knew how to work across the aisle, influencing democrats, independents and Republicans, and continued to do so as President.
-Wikipedia
Every President from George Washington to the present President has been the object of criticism, praise, and sarcasm. Some accepted it graciously; some responded in the like; some took it personally.
LBJ accepted and dealt with criticism and satire good-humoredly and without recrimination…at least in public.
If his personal feelings and behavior differed, it happened in private.
The President of the United States of America, perhaps the most respected position in the world, requires, demands and is expected to be not only a leader of high moral principle, integrity and dedication to the betterment of each and every human being regardless of race, creed or culture- whether citizens or visitors to our country-and their freedoms and God-given and constitutional rights.
This has been the goal of every President, beginning with George Washington.
Except, in my opinion, until the present officeholder and his administration.
It is my sincere hope that he will give serious thought to the path he has chosen, and become cognizant of his erroneous decisions and their disastrous consequences.
It is my sincere hope that he will give credence to the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
And shout from the roof tops ,“America is still the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”
Do Not Be Afraid, Mr. President.