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of his outer office, and he seemed quite calm, and started to talk to me about the campaign and various things that we were both interested in. I gave him the contributions to various political committees, and he took a few calls -- from the Johnson Businessmen's Committee, and I remember John Loeb (?) called him from New York. I sat there quietly, and he seemed under pressure, but I didn't notice that he was under anything that was really dramatically disturbing.

The next day, I went to a famous dinner -- the Al Smith dinner -- with Tom Deegan and a group of friends, at the Waldorf. The President came in, and looked as if he were totally exhausted, and completely distrait and not attentive to what was going on. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the other speakers.

I had called to find out if I could come to see Mrs. Johnson, just to say hello to her before the dinner. Normally, I would get a call back instantly with some reply, but I got no reply, and I went to the dinner and heard nothing from her. I didn't even get Jack Vallenti. The Secret Service man said he was very busy and that he'd call me back, but I heard nothing from him. I was very worried when I saw how distraught the President seemed, and how exhausted. It really worried me terribly. I was at a great distance from him, and I didn't get a chance to speak to him at all.