The Vice-Presidency: On the Way with LBJ.

Lyndon Johnson hit Teheran as though he were running for Shah—and if the warmth of his welcome was an indication, he might be able to get the job. With Wife Lady Bird and Daughter Lynda Bird, 18, the Vice President swept down Eisenhower Boulevard, so named after Ike’s 1959 visit. Three times Johnson confused his smartly uniformed police escort by halting the motorcade and hopping out of his car to grasp all the outstretched hands within reach (one observer counted 300 in five minutes). The crowds responded with the highest praise they knew: “Javid Shah!” (Long live the King!).

Iran was one of six nations on Johnson’s 2 ½week travel itinerary. Previously, he had made trips to such boiling cold war hot spots as South Viet Nam, Thailand and West Berlin. This time, at President Kennedy’s request, Johnson was traveling not as a cold war fireman but with the simple aim of keeping friends and influencing peoples.

Loaded with Shovels. In Lebanon, the first stop, Lyndon’s motorcade had barely pulled away from Beirut’s Khalde International Airport when the Vice President was off and running. He jumped out of the car at a traffic circle, strode through ankle-deep sand to a burlap-shaded watermelon stand. There he conferred with the proprietor, Ibrahim Sawaan, 15, who grinned up at him from beneath a grubby red cap emblazoned “Champion Spark Plugs.” Lyndon assured young Sawaan that the U.S. has “an abiding and unchanging interest in the independence and integrity of Lebanon,” got an uncomprehending smile for his trouble. The Vice President winked and went on: “Sure good to see you. Tell your mother, brothers and sisters hello for me.”

That afternoon, inspecting a highway construction project five miles north of Beirut, Johnson was in top form. He announced that he had started out on a road gang himself after finishing high school, asked a dump-truck crew: “How much does this truck hold?” Five yards, they answered. Said Lyndon: “My first job was on a truck that held only one yard. We loaded it with shovels, then dumped it.” Turning to Lebanon’s Public Works Minister Pierre Gemayel, Johnson added: “You’re going to realize great benefits from work like this. In my country, one of the most important steps in our development was getting the farmers out of the mud. In my own state of Texas now, no farmer has to drive more than a mile to get to paved road.”

One Failure. Johnson’s homey informality was as effective with chiefs of state as it was with truck drivers. In Teheran he met with Premier Assadollah Alam, then drove through 100° heat to Saadabad

Palace for a 75-minute conference with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. To Johnson’s expression of U.S. confidence in the goals of his government, the Shah responded at length and with passion: he reiterated his dedication to bettering the lot of his people, pledged to carry forward reforms in agriculture and education, reminded his guests that he had recently given more than $130 million of his personal fortune to improve the health and welfare of Iranians.

After Iran would come Turkey, Cyprus, Greece and Italy. So far, the only thing Lyndon had failed to do was to invite another camel driver to the U.S.