Kindle Notes & Highlights
When told that former Texas governor John Connally’s memoirs included a passage about Lyndon’s affair with Alice Glass, she coolly commented, “I would’ve thought Alice was too plump for Lyndon.” Her comment regarding Eleanor Roosevelt’s lifelong emotional estrangement from her husband as a result of his affair with Lucy Mercer sums up the philosophy that sustained Lady Bird. “What a shame,” she said of the Roosevelts, when Lucy was only a “fly on the wedding cake.”
While the races may stand side by side, whites stand on history’s mountain and blacks stand in history’s hollow. Until we overcome unequal history we cannot overcome unequal opportunity.” His last speech was a reminder of LBJ at his best.
Later he wrote, “I was under no illusions as to what the reaction to her remarks would be …. Conservatives grumbled, their grumbles swelled to a roar.” But it was not Ford’s way to silence his wife. “I had admired her candor from the moment we met and had always encouraged her to speak her mind,” he wrote. “We had few disagreements, but when we differed, we respected the other’s opinion.” This level of tolerance was something new in presidential history. Was the country ready for it? The extremely conservative New Hampshire daily, the Manchester Union Leader, said no.
But the same qualities that made Gerald Ford a good husband—compassion, the ability to engage in the real give-and-take, the controlled ego—are not necessarily the qualities of a great leader.
