LBJ on the war powers question
Quoted from “Vietnam: a History (Unabridged)“, by Stanley Karnow, narrated by Edward Holland:
I want to make absolutely sure that the communists don’t play one branch of government against the other, or one party against the other. The danger is they’ll think we’re fat and fifty, and fighting among ourselves about free enterprise and socialism and all that. We might mislead them so they’ll think these Americans are just the country club crowd. That’s a mistake our enemies have made before. If you’re in an airplane and you’re flying somewhere, you don’t run up to the cockpit and attack the pilot. Mr. Eisenhower is the only president we’ve got.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
February, 1953, on the floor of the Senate
