Promises & Punches

In Atlantic City one day last week, Campaigner Lyndon Johnson gazed happily into the faces of 3,500 shouting, stomping members of the United Steelworkers Union who had just endorsed him unanimously. When the ruckus subsided, Lyndon took off on his familiar specialty: a recital of his Administration's accomplishments and of better things to come.

It started out in predictable, above-the-battle tones. Nobody ever had it so good, he said, ticking off the latest bench marks of prosperity. September was the 43rd month of economic expansion: employment stood at an impressive 70 million. He promised to give the economy still another shot in the arm by cutting excise taxes next year; he reaffirmed his stand on medicare, on increases in the minimum wage and unemployment compensation.

"A Raving Demagogue." Then, for the first time since the campaign began, the President climbed down from the battle's summit and made for Barry in language that, to his own credit, he had eschewed in the past. "We will do all these things," he cried, "because we love people instead of hate them; because we have faith in America, not fear of the future; because you are strong men of vision instead of frightened crybabies; because you know it takes a man who loves his country to build a house instead of a raving, ranting demagogue who wants to tear down one! Beware of those who fear and doubt and those who rave and rant about the dangers of progress!"

Again, speaking before a meeting of the International Union of Electrical Workers in Washington, Lyndon kept punching. "Americans," he said, "are not presented with a choice of parties. Americans are not presented with a choice of liberalism and conservatism.

Americans are faced with a concerted bid for power by factions which oppose all that both parties have supported. It is a choice between the center and the fringe, between the responsible mainstream of American experience and the reckless and rejected extremes of American life."

Now, climbing back to his nonpartisan perch, Lyndon waxed spiritual. "We know not what may be God's will," he said. "But his course is to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. I would like to feel, as I leave this room and return to the lonely acres that are surrounded by a big, black iron fence, that whatever I do, wherever I go, wherever my decision may lead us, I will have your prayers and your support."

Have Problems, Will Travel. At week's end, the President was off on a prop-stopping trip that took him to Oklahoma, Arkansas and finally Texas. In El Paso, Johnson met Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos for ceremonies marking the settlement of the longstanding El Chamizal border dispute between Mexico and the U.S. (TIME, July 26, 1963). The two men exchanged international pleasantries. But Johnson's speech was .directed back home as well as around the world.

"The Presidents of the last 20 years," he said, "have all been willing to go anywhere, to talk to anyone, to discuss any subject, if their efforts could strengthen freedom and advance the peace of the world. And I pledge you here today I will go to any remote corner of the world to meet anyone, any time, to promote freedom and to promote peace." Almost as Johnson spoke, German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was saying in Bonn that he hoped the American President would travel to Germany after Nov. 3 to discuss the problems of the Western Alliance and the possibility of a multination summit meeting. It appeared that Lyndon Johnson might have just such a trip in mind.

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