Essays from West of 98: What Is The Office For?
Lyndon B. Johnson was at an important crossroads in his political career and in American history. It was November 27, 1963. Four days earlier, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. The country was grieving and on edge. Suddenly, the 54 year-old Johnson was thrust into the highest office in the land.
Johnson dreamed for years of achieving the presidency, but this was not how he envisioned it. The Kennedy-Johnson ticket was an arranged marriage and barely skirted to victory in 1960. His term as vice president was dismal. He was ignored, left out of important decisions, and derided as “Uncle Cornpone” by the young, idealistic Kennedy staff. They believed him to be a relic of the past and themselves the future of American government. Now, he was their boss. Unlike the seven previous vice presidents who had replaced a deceased president, he had less than a year to firm his grip on office before would stand for reelection.
On November 27, Johnson and his aides were mapping out his plans for the months to come. Kennedy’s legislative agenda had largely been stymied by Southern senators who understood legislative power better than Kennedy and his lieutenants. Johnson, meanwhile, was a master of the process. As Senate Majority Leader, Johnson had overseen passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The law was watered down, but it was the first civil rights law enacted in over 80 years. Johnson now proposed to prioritize Kennedy’s civil rights bill that was stalled in Congress. His aides told him not to waste his time. So long as the Senate was controlled by arch segregationists, meaningful civil rights legislation was doomed. If Johnson prioritized civil rights and failed, it would have disastrous consequences at the ballot box in 1964. Johnson replied to his aides:
“Well, what the hell is the presidency for?”
To be sure, Johnson is a complicated figure. His ethics were dubious. His political legacy is difficult. But in that moment, he understood his role better than most elected officials ever do. The United States desperately needed meaningful civil rights legislation. Citizens were fighting and even dying for the right to vote and the right to be treated equally under the law. If a president could not be troubled to stick out his neck for the basic freedoms promised in the Declaration of Independence, why even bother holding the office?
The rest, as they say, is history. Johnson indeed stuck his neck out. With shrewd political wrangling, he oversaw passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the most important laws ever enacted by our country.
I ran across this quote recently in a Johnson biography and I have thought about it a lot ever since. It strikes me as a roadmap that all elected officials at every level should consider: what is the office for? Is it for keeping yourself re-elected? Or is it to do big, difficult things that matter to your constituents? I cannot speak for our state and national officials. I hope they ask these questions of themselves and I encourage you to hold them accountable to this standard.
I can only speak for myself. Stamford has a lot of big, difficult needs. We need better streets and parks. We need better water and sewer infrastructure. We need affordable and accessible broadband internet. We need more high-quality jobs that attract new residents and encourage our young people to raise their families here. These needs are not unique (every rural community has them) but they’re also not easy. They require thinking big. They require marshalling local state, and federal resources, and they require sticking your neck out.
And to that, I look to the wisdom of LBJ. What is the office for? It’s to get things done.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the “West of 98” website and forthcoming podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com.