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I'm not sure that I didn't suggest this to him. I think that Ickes and I both suggested to him that if he was to keep control of this NRA, and it was important that he should, then he should have a direct liaison with it. I remember saying, “You should have Johnson come to see you at least once a week for a long talk in great detail.”

He said, “Well, I had him come twice, and I can't make out what's going on from what he says. He begins in the middle in telling a story. It's exciting and interesting, but I don't actually know he gets through what he's doing.”

So I'm pretty sure that Ickes and I then suggested to the President that he must have a direct liaison with the NRA, and that Johnson would be annoyed if he set up a liaison at a low level through whom Johnson had to report.

Remember that the “anonymous six” had not been invented at that time - the Presidential aides. The President had nobody but himself, McIntyre and Early. That's all there was. There wasn't any more. There was no White House staff, one of whom could have just naturally been assigned to be the liaison with NRA if there had been such a thing. But there were no White House aides, except the military and naval aides, who of course were no good for anything except