Great Moments in Presidential History

by Jacob Huebert on June 18, 2010 @ 9:52 am · 1 comment

In an earlier post, I mentioned how important it is that we stop treating presidents like gods and recognize they’re just ordinary jerks.

In that spirit, here’s a transcript (and audio) of LBJ ordering some pants, belching, and talking about his “nuts” and “bunghole.”

It’s not as good, though, as the incident Gene Healy recounts in The Cult of the Presidency, in which “asked by a reporter why America was in Vietnam, LBJ unzipped his fly, wagged his member at the audience and exclaimed, ‘this is why!’”

Healy suggests LBJ’s behavior there was the result of being intoxicated by power, but maybe it was just those uncomfortable pants.

In any event, perhaps it says something encouraging about the present times that the press would no longer suppress such a story. (Would they?)

About Jacob Huebert (22 Posts)

Jacob Huebert is a libertarian public-interest lawyer in Chicago and the author of Libertarianism Today (Praeger 2010).

Tagged as: Cult of the Presidency, establishment journalism, Gene Healy, LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson, presidency, president worship, Vietnam War

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 PaulVahur June 18, 2010 at 1:11 pm: It’s not as good, though, as the incident Gene Healy recounts in The Cult of the Presidency, in which “asked by a reporter why America was in Vietnam, LBJ unzipped his fly, wagged his member at the audience and exclaimed, ‘this is why!’”

Oh, so that is where George Carlin got his inspiration. At about 5:00 mark, adult language warning!

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