The Metamorphosis of LBJ

This past weekend we watched the special ALL THE WAY, which was about Lyndon B. Johnson just after he inherited the Presidency from assassinated John F. Kennedy.

Just before Kennedy was assassinated he got the ball rolling on a progressive Civil Rights Bill.  Was the new president, conservative right-winger, Lyndon Baines Johnson expected to pick up the ball and push it through to become law?

Lyndon did.  He ruthlessly took on his cronies in a ruthless fight and won.  And I think the world is a better place because he did.

Of course, many of his old peers became his enemies.  People doubted if the Democrat Party would nominated to run for a term of his own.  But he was.

The special showed him at the Democratic Convention accepting the nomination.

NOW!  This is where I come in:

I can tell you the date he was nominated, August 27, 1964.  I was in the huge crowd outside the Convention Hall in Atlantic City.

I had to Google LBJ to know the specific date.  What I looked for was LBJ's birth day.  It is August 27th.   After he was nominated he and Lady Bird came to a balcony overlooking the hoards of people on the Boardwalk and waved at us.  And they shot ooo and aaahhh fireworks over the waters and the fireworks spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY LBJ and we all song "Happy Birthday" to him.

Then they left the balcony and someone shut the doors and several fights broke out in the crowds, there were several groups of protesters with their own axes to grind.