The Presidency: THE WORK THAT FACES US

Still grey with campaign fatigue, some 150 newsmen and White House staffers loped around the L.B.J. ranch at L.B.J.’s heels. Victory -vast victory -had cleared the President’s face of its recent worried lines; he seemed fresh as a daisy and frisky as a colt.

In the hip pocket of his tan twill trousers, Lyndon carried Barry Goldwater’s belated and somewhat snarly telegram of concession. It said: “Congratulations on your victory. There is much to be done with Viet Nam, Cuba, the problem of law and order in this country, and a productive economy.

Communism remains our No. 1 obstacle to peace, and I know that all Americans will join with you in honest solutions to these problems.” The President had replied in good nature that he could well afford: “I thank you for your expressed desire to cooperate in the work that faces us all in the days and weeks ahead.” Sundown & a Cedar Fire. Vice President-elect Hubert Humphrey, just ar rived at the ranch from Minneapolis, clumped gamely along at Johnson’s side, wearing a pair of size 1 1 cowboy boots on his size 8 feet and a five-gallon hat on what appeared to be a six-gallon head. Just as manfully, he smacked his lips with great gusto after partaking of barbecued spareribs. The President called for a couple of horses, mounted one, and suggested that Hubert climb aboard the other.

Humphrey proved to be a better equestrian than onetime Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had been -but not by much. After the ride, he returned to terra firma with a heavy sigh of relief, announced that he would do anything for Johnson but: “No more horses.” The President haw-hawed, later shep herded a few people, including Hubert and Muriel Humphrey, on a leisurely sundown tour of the ranch, drawled contentedly about the soil, the rain, and the virtues of the U.S. voter. At the ranch after dinner, Lyndon and Hu bert kidded about their pre-election predictions; Johnson had said 44 states for the Democrats, Humphrey had guessed 45. Depending on how Arizona came out, either could have been right. Any how, they had a most amicable jawing session in front of a blazing cedar fire until well after midnight.

But all good things must come to an end. After only a few hours of sleep, Johnson was at his massive mahogany desk at the ranch, dealing with problems that had been deferred until election’s end, talking by telephone to Secretary of State Rusk and Defense Secretary McNamara about fresh outbursts of long-burning problems.

Some Static. It almost seemed as though the world had waited for the U.S. election results to resume its normal hell raising. In South Viet Nam, the new civilian government began to break apart less than 24 hours after it was formed. De Gaulle’s France warned that a U.S.-sponsored multilateral nuclear force including West Germany would be considered as an affront to France and demanded a reorganization of NATO itself. In Berlin, the Russians set off a small dispute about commercial airlines’ use of air corridors over East Germany. And in Moscow, the new Soviet regime gave a warm welcome to Red Chinese Premier Chou En-lai when he arrived to help celebrate the 47th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution (see cover story in THE WORLD).

At home, there was some static too. United Auto Workers struck nine Ford Co. plants, affecting 25,500 workers.

Militant labor leaders are expected to lobby hard in the liberal 89th Congress to amend the Taft-Hartley law so that state right-to-work laws can be abolished. This would infuriate some segments of business, and Lyndon’s dilemma will be to try to satisfy both sides.

On the civil rights front, Martin Luther King Jr. announced that the pre-election moratorium on demonstrations was over, and he was ready to attack in Alabama and Mississippi. Said King: “Now that the election’s over, we will naturally move back into some of the areas where we have been working to be sure that the civil rights bill has been implemented in all of its dimensions.”

Task Forces at Work. Beyond these immediate points of concern, Johnson must get on to the weighty business of drawing up next year’s budget and drafting legislation for the new Congress. Within the month, stacks of detailed reports will begin to pile up on his desk. Platoons of specialized task forces have been working for months to compile information on subjects ranging from civil rights to U.S. transportation tangles.

All these reports relate to Johnson’s vision of “the Great Society,” which he will now have to reflect on and then expand in his State of the Union message.