Word: johnsons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Nixon's apparent offer of carte blanche to the Administration whose policies he has so roundly criticized did, however, raise several questions. What if Johnson begins serious negotiations with the Russians over arms control? Nixon, after all, is on record as favoring such negotiations only after the U.S. improves its military posture. What if Johnson promises the Communists something that Nixon is not prepared to give in order to achieve peace in Viet Nam? It would be Nixon who would have to live with the arrangement...
...President. To erase the impression that he had given Johnson unconditional support for any contingency, Nixon later in the week said that he had made his pledge with the understanding that there would be "prior consultation and prior agreement" between himself and the White House before any major step was taken in foreign affairs. To this end, he appointed as his liaison man Robert D. Murphy, 74, a retired career diplomat who has handled sensitive assignments in hot wars and cold, and who will now occupy an office next to Dean Rusk's at the State Department...
...implication remained that Nixon had become a kind of coPresident, and Johnson decided to weigh in with some explanations of his own the next day. With Murphy at his elbow, Johnson told reporters that "of course, the decisions that will be made between now and January 20th will be made by this President and by this Secretary of State and by this Secretary of Defense." Despite the caveats from both sides, the objective sought by Johnson and Nixon-to let Washington speak "with one voice," as Nixon put it-remained reasonably clear. On the Viet Nam talks (see THE WORLD...
Harmony was evident at lower levels too. While the Nixons were occupied with the Johnsons, the President-elect's aides met their counterparts in the White House for briefings, tours and lunch in the basement mess. For the first time, the terms of the 1964 Presidential Transition Act were in force. The act authorizes up to $900,000 for the expenses of the changeover and allows the President to make available extensive facilities, including office space, for his successor's advance party. Johnson went beyond the letter of the law by letting Nixon use his new, heavily armored...
...Buffer. Nixon will announce no Cabinet appointments until next month. Meanwhile, as his White House staff began to shape up (see following story), it became clear that he would not allow his immediate aides to exert the kind of authority that presidential assistants have enjoyed in recent Administrations. Under Johnson, Kennedy and Eisenhower, the White House staff often served as a buffer between the President and his Cabinet, and even leeched off much of the Cabinet's power. Nixon's men insist that there will be no Sherman Adams, Harry Hopkins, McGeorge Bundy or Bill Moyers standing between...