Bob Hardesty Recollections, 12/18/01. Tape 1 of 1.
Channel: TheLBJLibrary
Date: 2013-04-30

Robert L. Hardesty Recollections Recollections, 12/18/2001. Tape 1 of 1. 

HARDESTY, ROBERT. Speechwriter, Assistant to President Johnson, 1965-1972. 

Topics, in order of discussion: This "supremely self-confident man" once told us, "I never has a job I thought I was completely up to; that's why I always had to work twice hard as everyone else around me"; I was probably responsible for his letting his hair grow long after the Presidency when I referred to those "short- haired bastards in the Nixon White House" ; Good-naturedly giving his top staff a hard time for being at a party the night before while he was working late -- and alone - in the White House; After being royally chewed out, Okamoto said to me, "Bob, I don't think that fear is a legitimate management practice"; Compared Republican naysayers to Old Uncle Ezera and the train; When his new Lincoln was making a noise he didn't like he called Henry Ford; The President introduced Sparks and Hardesty as, "The best speechwriters any president ever had"; He wanted a news lead in every speech. Sometimes he went overboard, as was the case when he swore in a new Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Mobilizing the entire federal government to pass the Highways Beautification Act.