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Mary LaskerMary Lasker
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informal and half in fun and nothing very serious was said, except that there was a swift discussion of who should have direction of the oil lands of the Federal Government, and He said, “I don't know whether to put it under the Department of the Interior or not.” I remember Lady Bird saying, “You'd better do that. The less you have to do with any oil lands the better.” He made no reply. The next day or the day after the federal oil lands were put under the Department of the Interior.

Other than my terror about what he might do to the HEW budget and the horror I felt that Senator Russell had mentioned that Florence and I were effective lobbyists, a thing that we naturally wished not to be considered because after all we were self-paid and we really considered ourselves citizen-petitioners for the public welfare and survival--but largely our greatest success is when we're not considered effective at all, when people are influenced by us without even knowing it--

Jack Valenti was a very attractive young man who had married Mary Margaret Wiley, Johnson's personal secretary whom I'd known in years past. She arrived the next day, in the afternoon, with Mrs. Hobby. I don't know if they actually came together, but they came in the White House and were received by Mrs. Johnson at the same time while I was hanging pictures in Lady Bird's bedroom. Mrs. Hobby, who had always been horrified by my activities in the field of medical research and who was startled by the fact that I'd gotten much more money than she'd asked for in the budget, always took a rather dim view of me and





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