The Evolving Presidency

We’ll always remember Lyndon (link):

But Valenti does tell a wonderful story about campaigning in an open car with the president, through Brooklyn, in October 1964. When riding through an Italian district, Johnson hoisted Valenti’s arm while his aide was introduced as “the closest man to the president”; a few minutes later, when they headed into a Jewish neighborhood, Johnson’s “voice was low but firm. ‘O.K., Jack, you can get out now.’ ”

That’s Thoms Mallon, reviewing a memoir by the late Jack Valenti (NYT), in which Valenti recalls his life as a faithful dogsbody to Lyndon B. Johnson. Over at the WP Berton Gellman and Jo Becker report on Vice-president Dick Cheney (link):

When particulars rise to presidential notice, Cheney often steers the preparation of options and sits with Bush, in side-by-side wing chairs, as he is briefed.

Can anybody imagine, even for an instant, Lyndon Johnson sitting “in side-by-side wing chairs” with his vice-president, Hubert H. Humphrey?