772. From Kennedy to Johnson

I do not remember "where I was." Like the president's son, in whom I had later placed my hope for a renewed Camelot, I had just celebrated my 3rd birthday. In adulthood, I formed the personal opinion that I favored Bobby more than John and Teddy more than Bobby. My very first vote in a Presidential Primary, 1980, was for Teddy. But today we remember a self-described liberal, from a very wealthy family, who many feared because he was a minority being a Roman Catholic, and whose time was shortened by hate. The torch has passed. Rest in peace, Mr. President.

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Fifty years ago today my favorite president took the Oath of Office on-board Air Force One, administered by U. S. District Judge Sarah Hughes, the only woman to ever administer the presidential oath. To be sure, the administration of LBJ did not turn out as expected, its goals not fully reached, its aspirations for the poor and underrepresented not fully completed. But for a war, perhaps, this could have been Camelot - not the glamor of the Brahmin and Hyde Park elite, but the idea that every American had a president and administration working for them, irrespective of race or class, or the other divisions of the day. All the way with LBJ.