Conservatives smear LBJ with questionably sourced racist quote

[alp227]

You might have seen this quoted by Web wingnuts or even heard it from right wing guests on the Thom Hartmann show, whether Jennifer Burke of TheTeaParty.net on Oct. 23, 2013, 7:00 mark:

or Kevin Jackson of TheBlackSphere.net on Feb. 4, 6:00 mark:

Turns out the source of that supposed saying by Lyndon B. Johnson "I'll have them niggers voting Democratic for two hundred years" first originated in Ronald Kessler's 1996 book Inside the White House: The Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution, sourced from a 1993 interview with former Air Force One steward Robert M. MacMillan. So at least somebody's willing to put his name behind the allegation made 20 years after LBJ's death.

The full context of the quote:



Besides, the right wingers quoting this as part of the Dixiecrat fallacy where they argue "Democrats voted for slavery and for segregation thus black people shouldn't vote Democrat" can't even get their OWN fake quote right (as variants of this quote often butcher Democratic Party, like "voting Democrat for the next 200 years" etc.)

When I first heard of this quote I thought it was a troll butchering of LBJ's real quote where he told press secretary Bill Moyers after the Civil Rights era, "We have lost the South for a generation." But after hearing that quote on Thom's show I found out that quote came from a gossip book! I posted the Bit.ly link I posted earlier on Thom's facebook after Burke was on. The Kirkus review of Kessler's book says it has "juicy but hard-to-verify gossip and anecdotes" and "depicts LBJ as a lying, uncouth tyrant who stole government property for his Texas ranch, and a contender for JFK's White House sexcapades title."

However, if you point that out, the right wingers will point to this clip from the 2004 documentary The N Word:

Looked that up, and that tape was transcribed in the 2002 book Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965 by presidential historian (and far more reliable source than Newsmax writer Ronald Kessler) Michael Beschloss. That clip above comes from a telephone call from the president to Georgia governor Carl Sanders on May 13, 1965, and Beschloss transcribes LBJ as using "nigras" rather than the longform slur. Beschloss explains in that call, Gov. Sanders "complains that the Johnson administration is pushing him too hard to desegregate Georgia schools," and the president "shows his visceral understanding of the dilemmas of a Southern racial moderate."

So if you're ever presented with either the shoddy "N-words voting Democrat for 200 years" quote or "OMG LBJ used the N-word Democrats racist" this is the reality based information explaining what happened. The right wing conspiracy theory is that Democrats passed the Civil Rights Act and Great Society in the '60s to buy off black votes and make black people more reliant on welfare. Hell, Thomas Sowell has often asserted such, as in this quote: "The black family—which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions—began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to 'help.'"

One more thing: Little Green Footballs actually published a fact-based clarification of "DERP the Democrats supported SLAVERY and RACISM" claims.

[Gman]

1. Re LBJ, it may well be true

The 60's were a different time and place than what we know today. From the stories I used to hear from the old timers that knew him, it sounds like something he'd say. In fact that quote is rather mild for LBJ.

[madville]

3. Up until about 10 years ago

My elderly grandmother would occasionally slip and use the N word as an adjective to describe someone like we use the words black or African American today. It's what she grew up in the South hearing and using.

She's 91 now and I haven't heard it from her in 10 years or so, we used to get on her about it and it would embarrass her, she's actually quite liberal and has voted Democratic her entire life.

My point is that it's entirely believable the above could have occurred, however the story is hearsay.

It's no secret the two parties are angling for the increasing number of Hispanic voters, I imagine they would analyze potential legislation like immigration reform and take into account the political advantages and disadvantages of support or opposition.

[alp227]

5. history isn't based on hearsay or folktales though.

the stories you hear could give Kessler's story some credibility, but real historians would discard Kessler's book as tabloid rubbish. Kessler's work would not qualify as serious scholarship.

[Gman]

7. Have "serious scholars" discarded his work?

And it depends on the kind of history you're talking about. There is a thing called oral history. Like the 90-something lady that told me the story her grandmother told her about her great-grandmother's encounter with carpetbaggers in South Carolina. It was a fascinating story relayed orally over almost 150 years. There are many such oral anecdotes and LBJ stories in Texas.

[JaneyVee]

2. revisionist history is a favorite conservative past time.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. Thank you for posting this

[Token Republican]

6. I always took it

as something he said to sell the Great Society to the south.

Some would view it as racism. If true, maybe it was. But in the grand scheme of things, its a minor issue.

If we banned potty mouthed presidents, we'd run out of leaders.

[Gman]

8. Such a comment from a president about Blacks

Who arguably did as much for Blacks as did Lincoln is no big deal considering the times.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. I agree

What matters is what Johnson pushed for and accomplished as President-- most notably in this case, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

[gejohnston]

10. probably the best answer on the subject

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2088gl/president_lbj_ill_have_those_ns_voting_democratic/
(first comment).