HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015088.jpg

My favorite response came from Merriman Smith, the syndicated UPI correspondent who always ended White House press conferences with the traditional “Thank you, Mr. President.” He wrote: “One of the filthiest printed attacks ever made on a President of the United States is now for sale on Washington newsstands. The target: President Johnson. This is the May edition of a so-called magazine which says it is entered as second class mail. One newsstand owner says sales of this particular issue have been ‘quite active.’ This reporter is not embarked here on any defense of Johnson politically or personally, nor, for that matter, is this to suggest the need for greater respect for the presidency. “These are matters that have been dealt with extensively in other forums. Certain unadorned facts, however, do stand out in the open circulation, mailing and other forms of distribution of this sort of slime: If a magazine of major national standing tries to use the same sort of language, federal action to stop it would be almost certain. The language referred to is not conventional hell or damn profanity—it is filth attributed to someone of national stature supposedly describing something Johnson allegedly did. The incident, of course, never took place . . .” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015088