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So my spirits began to rise a little. I got myself together and went with my nephew and some other people, to the Johnson-Bob Kennedy Liberal Party rally at Madison Square Garden. No. I went with Bennett Korn, the head of Channel 5. Johnson arrived, and looked very fine and rested. He had taken the whole thing in his stride, had resolved the problem in his mind, and had decided that he was over the shock of it. Do you remember hearing him at that Liberal Party rally? I don't know what section of his speech was on the air. But Bobby Kennedy was very good that night, and I thought Johnson was very good. He saw me on the edge of the platform, and he turned around and he said to people in that direction, “and we are going to eliminate cancer, heart, and stroke, just as we have polio.” There was a gasp in Madison Square Garden.
He was aware of your presence.
Yes; there was the commercial. It was a very enthusiastic rally, and the whole mood had changed for me and I realized that he wasn't going to be devastated by this event which I thought would devastate anybody, considering the situation he was in. Then it was evident, from the next few days, that the whole problem of Jenkins, while it was greatly talked about, wasn't going to change the course of the election.
Is this typical of President Johnson, this ability to cast off care in such a short time?
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