'THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRESIDENCY'-JACK VALENTI'S BOSTON REMARKS IN FULL TEXT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100100123-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Sequence Number: 123
• Publication Date: July 6, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

11.
1113.(c5trel
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It is Unique?awesome?all embracing, an -,- ??-!.
bdd mixture of royal divinity and squall- T.-"
tarian choice?a Union between a nation
yearning for continuity and its firm resolve ,
?-not to yield one jot of independence.
? Between man's purpose in history and
, Clod's purpose ineternity, there Is an infinite
difference In quality. So it in between what ?
we call our democratic tradition and our '
'appetite for a father to lead us. ' ?
To watch/the Presidency from afar, as 111
the lot of most of Us, is to perceive the dim,'
fuzzy outlines, the silhouette of the leader, ? -??
and to hear only the distant pulsebeat of his
aetivities displayed in the press and on TV.
But no one, not even the perceptive news-.-
men who sit,day In and day out in the west
lobby of the west wing of the White House,.
really know the President's burdens, the
abrasive shred of events that beats against :
him every hour of every day, and through the ?t
long night. . ? ?
There is no sharing of thin burden. Each
.,....m.mr7.77, day, thickly crowded with trials and demands ?
for decision, thrusting against him, crying,
out for attention, finds the President alone,
though the rose garden or his office or the
Cabinet moth in crammed with people. For
? essentially, though it has become trite to say ,
it, the President is alone, the problem always '
at flood, the irritations ceaseless, the muggings ' ?
and the pressures like an uncured rash, and ????
in this age of miracles and madness, the nos- .
sibility of catastrophe always only a shadow's ,
span away. Other Presidents have corn-
plained and philosophized about this strange
,and transcendent office. , , ? ?
OP' OMO ? "The business of this office is so oppres4
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
? . sive," said John Adams, "/ shall hardly sup-
port It 2 years longer." ?
Monday, June 21, 1965 At the end of his second term; TomJef-
f ','?
Mr
said: "Five weeks more will relieve . FEIGHAN. Mr. Speaker, the re- Irs
from a drudgery to which I am no longer
marks of Mr. Jack Valenti, Special As- me
equal.".
'sitant to President Johnson, before the ?NO one"
murmured?
Advertising Federation of America Con- "knows and few once ohn Q
ivje mind
e egueitincyyeAf
vention at Boston on June 28, has caused that I have suffered from the time I was made
quite a stir. Numerous articles have ' by circumstances and not by Volition a can- ??
been written and harpooning cartoons didate and then President." ? ?
have been drawn about Mr. Valenti's re- , " And in a despairing hour during the Chill ,
Marks on the subject "The President and war, Abe Lincoln dried out "In God's name, ?.1
the Presidency." Some of the news arti-
If anyone can do better in my place than '?
I have done, let him try his hand at it and ? ???
dies have been uncomplirnentarY, some. no one Will be better contented than my-
lifted out of the full context of his re- self." ? '1, '41
,marks, and some turned into a sharp And so through our history these men
;.Spear directed at the President himself. ' annotated by fate and elections and perhaps
In the last several days I hfuve heard a :,divine intervention have applied to higher
'great deal of talk about Mr. Valenti's re- -authorities for help and loudly declared to
the electorate their misgivings and their dis-
'marks and have asked the interested
tress over their burdensome office. And each
parties whether they had taken the time of these men has heard what John Milton
to read the full text of his remarks. To
'called a dismal universal hiss, the sound of
'my amazement I found do one had read public acorn.
the full text, but rather their judgment And yet, these men have gone on, and
was being guided only by the piecemeal ,? as they saw their duty they did it. Some
treatment and selected excerpts they,. .with grace and competence. Others with 7;C,
had been reading in the press. lifted hopes and stunted skills, but all with
Mr. Speaker, I have taken the time to that curious up-soaring of mind and spirit ?
read in its entirety the prepared re- that
nd vseems, as If by Godly osmosis, to invade- '.
ins of a man the moment he becomes ?
marks of Mr. Valenti on the subject "The .Presideent. It is as if God determined that
`President and the Presidency." It Car- he would give to the President an extra pre-
ries some very interesting insights on science, additional stamina, and most of all
'the Presidency which I have not as yet 'a fuller measure of fortitude that is beyond
seen in print. I recommend to all who the dimension of ordinary men. ?
are accustomed to make their own judg-, have never known another President, so
ments on the basis of all the facts avail- I am powerless to compare, nor would I If I
able that they too read the entire , text. could. ?
'For the convenience of those interested, ? But I do know there have been only 36
men in all our history who have been called'.
by leave obtained, I am inserting at this to the agony and the glory and the sky-tall
point in the RECORD the full text of Mr.-- summit that Is called the President of the ?
Valenti's remarks before the Advertising united mates.
he President and the Presidency'?
Jack Valenti'. Boston Remarks in Full
Text
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EX^I'ENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON: MICHAEL' A.' FEIGHAN
1
?
v
Pederation of America Convention: I daknove the 36th President, the son of a -. :?
, .
The Presidency, is a mystical body,' con.; tenant farmer. Ile is a sensitive man, a' ..,'
etructed by the Constitution,. but ;whose. cultivated man, a warmhearted and extraor-, '
imhitecture was concelVed ..in the ;liner , divary man,. t have watched him every .'...,
'crannleaof a people's soul. " ?-:' '? ..? -.- . ? hour of Miery day eiticichbi aboession to the -
? ? 1,10:1
-
4356-6 Approved Fapapiwesemmozosamtook-Ritiooi R0001 0040120.1665
Presidency and soinehow the full spirit .of
. the man never seems to be captured. It is
-as if the observer sees but one side of .htm,
?,. the other sides dimly glimpsed, only half
illuminated.
,-., ? He came to the Presidency possibly the
most experienced and best trained of any
. Chief Executive. A State administrator of
the National Youth Administration when
he was only 28-24 years a Congressman and
Senator?for 8 years the leader of the Demo-
cratic Party In the Senate and for 0 years,
..the second most powerful man in all the
' Nation as majority leader in the Senate. For
. '3 years Vice President, and then in the
,.shock and ? disbelief of what is still an in-
credulous Minute in :American 'history, he
became President; , .
I shall never forget 'that day. He sat. in
:the cabin of Air Force 1, a scant few minutes
?.after the assassination, solemn; grim, his face
an unyielding mask. All around him every-
:One was in various states of shock, nearing
But the new President sat there,.
:like a large gray stone mountain, untouched
??. by fear or frenzy, from whom everyone began
..to draw strength. The Nation may ? have
? ,. Jilted and trembled and the' light of the
. ',country may have flickered, but the flame
?could not go but for though . the President
- was dead, the President lived. The Nation
, ? would go on, as it had to, as. it must, and
those around the new 'President watched
, him and took heart.: ?
He reached for a glass . of: Water and his'
.,hand was steady, not even' a tremor to mar
la confidence. 'He began to. give . orders in
'clear, audible tones, yet the voice was soft,
the ?.words unhurried. And suddenly, as
,..?,:though ? the darkness of .the cave confided
? ;.:tts fears' to the trail of light growing larger
as It banished the night, the Nation's breath,
:held tightly in its breast,?began to ease and
.;!.; .
)across the land the people began to .move
??? again. . , , . ? ? , ? ? I
? And so it was that in .the middle life of
the Republic,the country was tormented,.but
It never lost its purpose. ? '. ? :
' Since! have been in the White.House, my
noticing of what a President ought to be and
Piought. to have; have undergone some change.
It's a game' 'any ? number can play, to find
..":the answer to the questions: What are the
.tpialifleations of a great President?
'4,1 ? I judge those assets to be three:
? .
One, a President must have colfrage.. He
must. shove into his spine a lance of steel
:,that never bends though the pressures reach
the 'yowling stage. He must have a tough-
ness of spirit that feeds 'Ills courage and
,,eauses him to do .what he knows to be right
..,:though the shouts of the Crowd try to drown
I.,out all his pleadings. He must . know, an
Emerson wrote, . that reason will look out
and justly her own and malice will find all
her work in vain. ' ? ?
? Second, he Must truly bare. He must have
Concern for the voids and the vacancies of
? ,';those who are helpless. He Must have inside
his bones a measureless compassiOn for every
., human being who has nowhere to look but
? ? '???' ..to the President for understanding and' hope.
Isaiah it the favorite prophet of the Presi-
? ? dent. He quotes him with relish,' and Isaiah
? summed up the cause of the President When
he said: "Learn to do well, seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed,' judge the fatherless,
Y.?
, plead for the widow,' ?
And finally, the .Presicient muit IniVe a
? sensitive intelligence that is married to an
-:.,instinct for rightness. " No 'great leader. Over
;,",:endured in history without this misty qual-
ity called Instinct.. When all the, facts are
' . In; and all, the information has been gathered
and there is not enough of either, but, the
? .,decision must be made, the instinct ? for
. rightness hecotnee indispensable. 'Without
it,- the decision become/I flabby.. With it,' the
leader peers beyond the' poesible -and veldts
over the present, and Instinct carries him
forward. All tisionailei hare instincb;i Er?
cry great President had it. Out of the midst
of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick
darkness, the instincts of the President for
rightness and justice and history's judgment
' become a valuable and irreplaceable national
asset
Each Jay, the President needs these three
assets. And each of the days I have watched
and heard and been with this President, he
has used them with abundance and sanity.
How then, does the President go about his
day? How does he live out each hour, facing
the problems that never go away?
The President, thank the Good Lord, has
extra glands, I am persuaded, that give him
energy that ordinary men simply don't have.
He goes to bed late, and rises early, and the
words I have never heard him say are: "I'm
tired."
Each night when finally lie leaves his
office to walk the 100 yards from the oval
Presidential, Office in the West .Wing to the ?
Mansion's 'second floor living, quarters, he
finds on his bed what we in the White
House .call, with simple disguise, the night
reading. In stacks of brown envelopes are
heavy ,packets of. material?reports from
,State and Defense, latest intelligence reports,
:..cablefi from ?Ambassadors, memoranda from
'Various Cabinet Officers and White House
'Staff members, budget data, project reports
?rom. task forces working on various prob-
? acme, magazine articles, newspaper clippings,
?,personnel recommendations as well as a se-
lected sample of the day's mail. In a week's
'time the President will have read the equiy-
.alent Of a 100,000 word 'novel. -This ? is in
addition-to the reading he does in the quiet
' of his own officer' The reading. a President
'must do is an avalanche, a, never-ending
'river of words that pour. across the Presi-
dential dikes with the floodgates open. .
z On practically every piece, the President
will scribble his comments., A "yes" or a
""No" or an admonition, a suggestion for an-
other tack, a request .for more information,
idea for improvement or an order to move
!.out swiftly. ...? .
., The Director of the Budget once told me
. he was astonished at the President's grasp
.,of the most complex details, .and how quick-
ly decisions were made. The President is
impatient with stalling, hesitation, or any
kind of shuffling in front of the decision
door. He wants that door Opened, and. ac-
?tivity to move through. ? ? '
Ile may read for 2 to' 3 horns in the, late
' evening and when at, last he turns off, the
light above his pillow, he falls to sleep
? It is true that in. his mind. is an .alarm
, clock ,that silently nudges him about 4
in the morning whenever there. is air. action
in Vietnam. In the darkness he turns arid
;lifts the, phone, to call the Situation Boom
deep in the basement of the White. House.
gets, the latest information about the
;strike, casualties, if any, receives the inter-
illation quickly, and then hopefully, goes
?beck to' sleep., No man can really tell With
, certainty if sleep comes easily. then.. He's
never, discussed that .with me, and I have
never asked. Once an admirer wrote a pas-
sage about the great lady of Greek letters,
...Edith Hamilton, and it applies so accurately
:to Lyndon Johnson it is worth repeating
now: "She feels, like a ,personal experience,
the giant agony of 'the world; there are not
:many. in this, aristocracy of humanity,"_ . It
?may or may not seem strange, to you, but to
?the President one pilot's life lost in Vietnam
,,,:troubles him greatly: He is visibly saddened.
/ remember so well one 'morning when /
:walked into his bedroom about 8:30 In the
???morning, Re was propped Up as usual with
:pillows against his. back, working on his
"papers and reading. 'When I entered, ? he
? 'looked, up, ? smiled,. hugely, . and, with great
-.:,jubflance, said.: ..f..They found. .him?Isn't
'.that wonderful newel.... I learned that during
'the -night the President was lnformedy that
!Iwo were shot down and one had
vphrachuted.to!trafety,&.' Jusl..bsfors.. lastithe
President, he had been told that the second
man wan safely back in U.S. hands. This one r.
boy's life, spared and safe, was precious to
the President of the United States., and he
wanted to share that joy with everyone he
After about 3 hours' work in bed, finishing -
-up the night reading, the President exercises
in his room, shaves and showers and Is In his :
office about 10 Min., ready for the day's ap-
pointments.
For the last year, his workday focuses on
problems beyond the rim of our shore. If .
you were to take an Index from 1 to 100, you
would score about 75 or 80 on the index for
foreign problems and about 25 or 20 for
domestic problems. Contrary to the popular
notion, the President spends a small chunk .
'of his time on the so-called domestic issues.
?' Secretary Rusk, -Secretary McNamara, Mc-
? George Bundy, Admiral Rdborn, of .the CIA,
Secretaries Mann, Ball, Bundy, and Vance,
members of the National Security Council, ?!?
members of the White House staff, and, of :-
course, the Vice President, are consulted
. ? ?
and talked to both ? by Phone and in
meetings.
..? Contrary again to popular notion, the
'President is not fond of those who contin-
%rally say "yes" to him. Be thrives on new
Ideas, new initiatives, innovations, fresh
-.thinking. If a man consistently agrees and .
offers no new counter arguments, that man
, is soon not asked for advice. The President '
"believes, that unless a man Is thinking he
? .is valueless, and therefore, is of no benefit
:,to the President.. But the thinking man
?
an expect the President to assault him with
questions?terse, pointed, homing in on the,'
nerve-edges of the lame. ?
In a top-secret meeting of. advisers or the ,
--Security Council, the President's method of
leadership is clearly,, cleanly visible. Ile ,
'pits back, head against the thick padded top
',of the black swivel chair, in the middle of .?.!1
, the octagon shaped table In the Cabinet
' Room., He calla on each adviser, asks them .-
:.for their opinion., .Sometimes the discus-
sion is spirited, the President listening
1,4uietly, turning his head to look at the man I'M
talking. He is unperturbed, relaxed; He is
? not a doodler, preferring to,watch the full
, face of the speaker, absorbing both the '1:7
words, and the demeanor.
Last year, -during the small crisis in Cuba
when Castro shut off the water tO Guantan-
amo naval base, a. Security Council meeting
took up this problem. ,What to do about ,
it? The talk flew around the table, the
.,President, as usual, soaking up the discus-
sion. Some advisers wanted to do nothing,
.simply turn the other cheek. Others im-
plored a show of might, 'to Impress Castro
.1with his )3Iunder. . .
? After an hour or so ,,the President began
, to speak. We would not turn, the other
- ? cheek, he said. But we would not use force.
, Instead, he laid down a three-point plan:
We would no -longer depend on Castro for
water. We would , manufacture Our own.
INVe would dismiss all Cubans working on
.,
the base, and thereby rid ourselves of thou-
?sands of known Castro agents or sometime
agents. .. And finally, we would',by staffing
the base 'withour own employees, we would
. deprive Castro of':$5 million in foreign ex-
.? '
, One top.adviser sitting at the end of the
' whistled softly, and muttered to the
:man next . to .him: "Ingenious, and Castro
. will be furious that we have called him and
. trumped him.". Another adviser later on
,,told me this was a dazzling, example of so-
phisticated diplomacy, and shrewd handling Iv
,of a ticklish, peevish, foreign problem, ,
:4. The day moves on. Telephone calls, meet-
ings, memos to read, urgent-problems ,that ?:?,
,?,,arlee.and must be met instantly, delegations
. that. come In,, ceremonial pictures to. be ?
taken, and finally, about 2:80 or 8, the Prost-
...wrient goes- to lunch.; . Sometimes, he
the.: pooh Uthalit with staff, hishi,'
led 04e,q,P0.049 75,MO.
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tehtty 6, 1965 ? CONGRtssIONAE-REColtn-='APIVNID ' v--.4,:.? _ .
.... '4 /??'? ,? ..,.
t: .. . . ., . . . .. , ... . . . .. -. ? ., ? a . ...,..
;ben or Cabinet officers, then a working lunch; :ill," : he said. He' told theM, not " to: lose
',And' a nap from 4 to 6, ? ? heart, that in clue time, the free world Would i . . ? , ' ' ?,
, Waking refreshed, he, begins his "second" stir itself and relieve the French of their long: "p. . ? .? ,
iday?in his office at 6:16. Sometimes, he sits , chill night. "So," he said, ?"sleep well, ray:
,alone in the office for an hour or more, and Frenchmen,' sleep well tO gather strength-foe,
Imo one disturbs him. Outside the oval of- the morning, for the .morning,shall come," .1 - ,' ? ??'?? ' ?:', ?, ,
fice, there is feverish action. Inside the oval - ? I sleep each night a little better ,? a little)
,ollice, there is a curtain of silence, a serenity :more confidently because Lyndon Johnsoni
ithat shuts off the din and the press .of ,is , my President, ..'or I know hi lives and)
,anxious problems and insistent visitors. , The ,thinks, and, works to make enra,tkat Or, ale,
irresident is at work and there is quiet. In .,A,merica and, indeed, the growing body of ,thp)
:the rose, garden, ,the brassy shine of the ice" world, the snornincishellalwaysIsphsftwi
.sun has receded and the sheared line of Imult4,,,4104,Akt,,-,:pm,:?41,44044,1go i!,,?,:04,;46,14,40ig6,04
shadow begins its inexorable march across ) ? . .Ith,
. ".
,the sweep of grass,. clean ancl.green and flat )
las e.billiard table. ,- ., - ? ? - ? , ? , . ". ,?
i, . The President, if he is not dining with i ., .
;friends will be in that office until 10 or 11
iin the evening. Sometimes, Just before he )
,leaves the office he will sit in the small ,, .. , ,.? ,
'Inner office he uses for intimate conversation i
.
;with members of the staff. ? ,There will be 1 .,
,
;laughter and easy talk as the Presidenti
(begins to unwind and shed the crisis crust:: ,
;that has accumulated during the day.., He: , ?
jloves to tell a good story, and as one maga-,i
gene ,editor of liberal and sophisticated lean-4 ?' -
*$ing once observed: This is a side of the,.,' .: '' - ? ,
!President the public never really sees.! Het ,..
Is probably the most skilled teller of stories:,
,iiince Lincoln, and their. humor , is -much ,the i
tscune, extracted from the soil and the people!
if
of the land. .? Once .'Walt Whitthan. wrote:' "1,, hear'
. , . ..,.
g . , ? .,, ., , ?,. ? , .. ..
America singing." ,-? ? , ... ., ;, .? ? ??? , 3
t Well, / saw America ? singing. During this1
1.campaign I traveled with' , the President,
Usually I satin the ? front seat of his car.
Down the streets of a hundred American
cities?the people came by, the millions.,
t.They came in all , sizes . and ages, all colors'
and moods, holding up their ,children, thrust-1 . ..,
Ong them toward the President's car; they1
smile, 'and laugh and wave, their faces alive I
with love and pride. Their President was In
, ptown, and this would be the first time most!,
,of them had ever seen their President, and t
;they are Vibrant with excitement, ? 1
i... It is impossible to live this experience with-::
out knowing that the taproots Of this land
lie not in the Nation's Capital but in the'
'land beyond the Capitol dome--in the little:
towns and big cities-,--along the rivers ?andi
ithe valleys where the keepers "of the herald k
are?where the lifebeat of the country is the
1
strongest and.most durable. s
gt
' And like Antaeus whose Mother was Earth,
I
i
each President goes back to the land and the;
f people for his strength and the renewal. of.k
this spirit.
g President Johnson, like every Presidentf
thefore him;.sought this renewal and found it
t
IIn the outpouring of 'love and affection, In
the outstretched arms of mothers holding up;
their babies to see the President, in the tears;
i and the laughter of the people. ? i
'Q Every night, when the President wOuldl
Iretire to his room in whatever city we hap.'I
pencd to be in, he would be caught up in this
affection. He felt alive and vital and re-,
furbished. For he saw In the faces of the,
people trust and faith, a simple belief thatI
ftheir President cared about them and be-
lieved in them and' would not let them down,
'.The people knew in their hearts without .
4having to prove it that the President was!
i their guardian and their champion, and theirl
hope, beyond corruption and above fearl
'living and working and fighting for them and I
'their children. ? i
1, This, then, is the essence of the Presi-i
: dency. No President, and particularly this 0,
President, can ever let the day pass and the :
night begin without feeling with overpower- I
' ing Intensity the communion of people with.
r their President.
IOnce during the deadly days of the Neal]
,..terror, when France had been overrun end i . .' .
f,the heel 0 '
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