Lyndon B. Johnson's
Visits to Cheyenne

Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson’s visit to Cheyenne

July 26, 1960

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            On July 15, 1960, Lyndon Johnson became the Vice-Presidential running mate for John F. Kennedy’s Democratic ticket for the 1960 election. On July 26th, Johnson traveled to Cheyenne as a guest of Palmer Hoyt, the editor and publisher of the Denver Post, traveling with him on the Denver Post Train to Cheyenne, which arrived in the city at 9:45 AM (ten minutes ahead of schedule). Governor Joe Hickey drove down to Greeley in order to meet the train there and travel with Hoyt and Johnson to Cheyenne. Others on that Denver Post Train were actor Rex Allen, who would also participate in the CFD parade that morning, along with a group of civic, professional, and business leaders from Denver. Johnson exited the train in high spirits and full of optimism. Johnson then said to press people present at the train “Tell all your readers it’s wonderful to be in this state – a real, frontier state. Tell the people I think their state is one of the greatest states in the union”. Johnson added that he had once bought a number of cattle for his ranch from the Wyoming Hereford Ranch outside of Cheyenne. He was greeted by welcome telegrams from Senator Gale McGee and Senator Joseph C. O’Mahoney, who both could not be there in person to receive Johnson. After talking more with the press, Johnson then rushed off to immediately board the Mud Wagon for that morning’s parade. Johnson (carrying a yellow rose as a symbol of his state of Texas in his hand and wearing a cowboy hat, tan western shirt, tie, brown western trousers, and cowboy boots) and Hoyt then got on top of the seats of the Mud Wagon (being used as the “Denver Post stage”) and participated in the CFD parade that morning, waving to and interacting with enthusiastic crowds of thousands of people.

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After finishing his ride, Johnson talked politics to Wyoming State Tribune reporters, saying that the Republicans have continued to go down in popular opinion, and that Democrats would benefit from that. One reporter asked Johnson how he felt about taking the second spot to Kennedy on the presidential ticket. Johnson replied: “I don’t think a man in public life has much control over that”, adding that the people of the nation “believe in new frontiers – that is why I am sure they will support Mr. Kennedy”, also adding: “second place isn’t bad, and next November the Democrats are going to be first”, finally asking: “You know what LBJ stands for, don’t you? Let’s back Jack”. Johnson also told the press that CFD recalled the old frontier days and said: “Next November we’ll show the people what the ‘New Frontier’ means”.

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Johnson closed his comments to the press by saying that he was delighted to be invited to Frontier Days and accepted immediately, adding that he had been in Wyoming many times before, but that that afternoon would mark his first look at the big rodeo. Johnson then said that he had long ago taken part “in a rodeo or two, and even done some bulldogging and bronc riding”.

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Johnson (after the parade) became the guest of Democratic National Committeeman Tracy S. McCraken and Governor Joe Hickey. Once the CFD rodeo for the day got started, Johnson and his group of dignitaries went to Frontier Park to watch the rodeo in its entirety. Johnson and people such as Palmer Hoyt, Rex Allen, Governor Steve McNichols (D) of Colorado, and others went down towards the arena floor for official pictures, presentations, and photo ops all together. Johnson also mounted a horse (held by a handler) and had a photo taken of him on horseback, waving to the crowds with his cowboy hat in his hand. After this, Johnson and his entourage (with Palmer Hoyt sitting next to him) went into the grandstands and watched the entire rodeo for the day. Johnson then told reporters that the CFD rodeo is “the best one I’ve ever seen”, adding that he “really liked Wyoming people” even expanding his remarks to the Republicans of the state, saying he found them “all real friendly”. The newspapers reported that Johnson “was the soul of graciousness to newspeople – no griping about being interviewed on a semi-holiday”.

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Johnson attended and stayed through the entire rodeo that afternoon at Frontier Park. Once the rodeo was over, Johnson boarded a plane and that night left Cheyenne for the LBJ Ranch, saying near the end of his trip that he and Kennedy would like to return to Wyoming during the campaign “if we’re invited back”.

 

Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s visit to Cheyenne

July 13, 1963        

 

“I am always in the hands of friends in Wyoming”

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            Lyndon Johnson came back to Cheyenne in 1963 to speak at a star-studded appreciation dinner which was being held to celebrate the service of U.S. Senator for Wyoming Gale McGee (D) to the state and the nation, also to boost McGee’s reelection chances to the U.S. Senate in the upcoming 1964 election. Also in attendance at this dinner would be Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and more than a dozen other U.S. Senators. The dinner had originally been planned to be held at the Plains Hotel but was moved to the Frontier Pavilion because of the size of the anticipated crowd. Tickets to attend the dinner cost $25 in 1963 (around $270 today). The bi-partisan committee for the dinner was headed by former Governor and Senator for Wyoming J.J. (Joe) Hickey and the honorary chairman was former President Harry Truman. The master of ceremonies for the dinner was Barry Mahoney, a Casper attorney.

           

Johnson flew from Washington to Casper so that he and Senator McGee could speak to several various groups there, including attending a luncheon meeting that Johnson had requested with members of the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Association. Johnson then flew in a chartered plane from Casper to Cheyenne and arrived at 2:45 PM. On the plane with Johnson was “Wyoming’s Man in the White House” Mike Manatos of Rock Springs, who was President Kennedy’s administrative assistant. Johnson was wearing a dark suit, a western hat, and black cowboy boots. At the Cheyenne Municipal Airport to greet Johnson was Secretary Udall, the group of around 14 U.S. Senators also attending the dinner, the mayor of Cheyenne Bill Nation, the CFD General Committee led by Dutch Buckles (Johnson had specifically asked for the opportunity to meet the CFD Committee), the 1963 Miss Frontier and Lady-In-Waiting, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Posse, Miss Wyoming 1962, and the seven finalists for the Miss Wyoming pageant that year (among other dignitaries). Johnson was given a “fizzing pop” to enjoy after landing and meeting with the dignitaries on the tarmac. However, the pop bottle apparently (when opened) sprayed him and Miss Wyoming, although both were very soon unbothered by it. Senator McGee introduced all the U.S. Senators present, and Mayor Nation welcomed Johnson and the Senators, presenting Johnson with a montage picture depicting Wyoming.

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At the airport, Johnson was in high spirits and said of the group of Senators present at his arrival: “I have seen more Senators here today than I saw in the Senate all last week. You people must be more attractive than Senators are to other Senators”. told the crowd that “We will try and put him (McGee) on the most powerful committee in the Senate.” Also saying that “He has served you capably and well”, also repeating the fact that he (Johnson) had unusually chosen McGee for the Senate Appropriations Committee on his very first day as a Senator. Johnson then said to the crowd: “I want to see some of the pretty girls and meet the voters” and then went out to shake hands and meet with the crowd, which the police estimated was up to 1,000 people. After that, Johnson was driven away to his motel, perched on the back deck of an open convertible and still smiling and waving his hat to spectators. McGee, his wife, and all the other Senators were escorted downtown in a motorcade. Johnson also gave an exclusive interview to The Wyoming Eagle before the dinner, saying during that interview that many in the country would be happy to see Senator Barry Goldwater be the GOP Presidential nominee in 1964 (including Wyoming Republicans), but that Kennedy would definitely be the Democratic nominee for 1964, adding that he didn’t think it would make much of a difference who the Republicans nominated in 1964. During a brief rest at his motel in Cheyenne during his stay, Johnson also told a reporter that the nation would face a real domestic crisis in the civil rights question.

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Secretary Udall and the present U.S. Senators held a press conference at the Frontier Pavilion at 6:15 PM and the dinner began at 7 PM. More than 1,250 people attended the dinner. Johnson and Udall were the featured speakers (Udall being the “principal speaker” after replacing Assistant Secretary of State Averell Harriman to speak at the dinner). In his speech at the dinner, Johnson said that “the West was settled by ‘those who were not afraid’ and that those who doubt the future themselves, the country and their government ‘have no place in the West today’” but said that “there are some of them among us”, adding:

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“In this state – and in all the states of the West – there are those now who travel the highways and byways of the west with suitcases full of doubt, passing out literature, peddling pamphlets, making their spiels and speeches trying to convince westerners that America is doomed, that the future is lost, that the greatness and glory of our country is behind us.”

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Johnson then called Senator McGee “a doer, not a doubter” and said that he is “not a belly-acher”, adding:

“Wyoming does not need – America does not need – leaders who spend their time crying that everything is down the drain. We need men who will use their energies, their talents and their time to stop the drain and work to fill the cup of every American to overflowing”.

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Johnson then decried people who “spend all their time trying to tear down the United Nations” and cited successful defenses of freedom in places like Greece, Turkey, Iran, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere as evidence that the free world is not in retreat.

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Johnson then said in direct reference to far-right advocates of the time: “The promise and potential of the west will not be fulfilled if the positive leadership of this region falls to those who take an unreal, fearful, and reactionary view of either the opportunities or the responsibilities of the future. The west will not flourish as the twentieth century’s land of prosperity if it is turned backwards into an eighteenth-century desert of political unreality”.

Johnson added that the country’s own destiny cannot be fulfilled if the nation is “settled with political radicalism of either the right or the left”, adding: “Our system can tolerate differences and dissent, but it cannot survive divides and disunity”.

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When Secretary Udall spoke, he urged the crowd to vote for McGee and even get out and work for his reelection. A scheduled film containing a greeting by President Kennedy was planned but ultimately not shown at the dinner due to a lack of time.

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Other various quotes from the dinner speech:

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The Wyoming State Tribune had (just before Johnson’s arrival), run an editorial article that basically said that Johnson and the Senators should be welcomed as a courtesy, but that they should be held to account that they are only here for purely partisan purposes (supporting McGee’s reelection) and that their purpose of being here may not even be served since most voters in this area “are more interested in the local candidate than what some outsider may have to say for them”. At the dinner, Johnson specifically referenced this editorial article, humorously referring to this editorial as saying welcome, but not meaning it.

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Johnson lashed out at rightists by saying “Not a hostile voice have I heard in my trips around the world”.

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Johnson recalled the days of his leadership of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, saying “the ringer of responsibility pointed at the Democrats”, adding that he and the Senators of his party adopted the philosophy that “when we differ, we will differ on principle, not on personalities”, also adding: “When the people of this country in recognizing this fact returned a Democratic majority to the Senate, probably even Mr. Eisenhower was not too unhappy”.

 

Johnson said: “How can you be mad at anybody who preforms that way?” when talking about Republican leadership losing even more seats from their minority in the U.S. Senate.

 

Johnson said the United States “is dedicated and will continue to be dedicated to eliminating Castro and communism from Cuba”.

 

Johnson said: “America is on the move” and then presented figures to underscore the nation’s economic growth.

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Sources for Lyndon B. Johnson’s Two Visit Write-Ups include:

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The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum

Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project

The Wyoming Eagle

Wyoming State Archives

The Wyoming State Tribune