The Administration: The Little Man Who’s Always There

Whenever President Johnson strides down the ramp from his presidential jet, not far behind trots Jack Valenti, 42, a banty Texas Italian who seems to have Greasy Kid Stuff all over his hair.

Whenever Johnson’s big black Cadillac pulls up to a curb, the President leaves from one door while from another pops Jack Valenti. At home, whenever the President wants his Cutty Sark and soda, the chances are Jack Valenti will be there with it. Even when Johnson is swimming nude in the White House pool, Jack Valenti is there—dutifully logging a daily eight laps alongside the President.

Just who is Jack Valenti, the little man who’s always there? Officially he is on the White House staff as a $20,000-a-year “special consultant.” But to Lyndon Johnson he is much more. Said the President shortly after he took office:

“The first man I appointed to my staff when I became President was Jack Valenti, whose grandfather came from Italy and who incidentally is about the best fellow with me. He gets up with me every morning. He stays up with me until I go to bed at night, around midnight, and he is the only one who can really take it. The rest of these fellows are sissies.”

Hero Worship. There is no question about Valenti’s untiring drive. He graduated from a Houston high school at 15, worked eight-hour days as an office boy at an oil company and spent his nights at Houston University, where he wound up a B-plus student. After 51 missions in a B-25 during World War II, he got a graduate degree from the Harvard Business School, eventually opened his own advertising agency in Houston. One of his biggest clients was the Continental Oil Co. Another was Texas Congressman Albert Thomas, political pal of Lyndon Johnson’s.

In 1956, Valenti met Johnson for the first time at a Democratic coffee party. It was hero worship at first sight for the bouncy adman. As a sideline, Valenti was writing a weekly column for the Houston Post, and no sooner had he met Lyndon than he loosed a gushing tribute titled “The Great Persuader.” Wrote Valenti of Johnson:

“There is a gentleness in his manner, but there is no disguising the taut, crackling energies that spill out of him even when he’s standing still. And no mistaking, either, the feel of strength, unbending as a mountain crag, tough as a jungle fighter.”

The friendship blossomed—profitably for Valenti, for in 1960 his agency handled Texas advertising for the Kennedy-Johnson ticket. During that period, Valenti met Mary Margaret Wiley, a pretty Austin girl who had been one of Johnson’s secretaries since 1954.

At their wedding, in June 1962, Johnson gave the bride away. Valenti saw a lot of the Johnsons after that. On the night of last Nov. 21, Valenti whomped up a big ceremonial dinner in Houston for Albert Thomas—with both Vice President Johnson and President Kennedy on hand. Next day, Johnson insisted that Valenti accompany him to Dallas, even got him a place in the presidential motorcade. When Kennedy was killed, Jack Valenti was almost immediately at Johnson’s side.

He stayed there during the historic moment in the sweltering cabin of Air Force One when Johnson was sworn in, and he flew right on to Washington without even a clean shirt along.

To the Boss’s Taste. In those first days, Valenti was with Johnson almost constantly—waking him at 6 a.m., sharing his breakfast, bringing him newspapers, making his phone calls, all but tucking him into bed at night. Still, he was something of a mystery man. Even White House insiders weren’t sure at first whether he was a valet, a happy-fella sidekick to take Johnson’s mind off his problems, or a major power behind the throne.

Since then, it has become clear that Valenti is a great deal more than an omnipresent pal. When a Congressman wants to know how the President feels about a bill, he checks with Jack Valenti. Whenever there is a meeting of the Cabinet or the National Security Council, Valenti is there. At every briefing by White House Press Secretary George Reedy, Jack Valenti lingers in a nearby doorway. When Johnson has to make a speech, Valenti goes over it first—editing it into short, simple sentences made up of short, simple words, just the way Lyndon likes it.

Many speeches Valenti writes himself. He did most of the President’s foreign aid message, using notes from White House Aide McGeorge Bundy. Last week it was Jack Valenti who penciled in the boffo “war and peace” windup to the President’s speech before A.F.L.-C.I.O. leaders. And before the talk, Valenti himself was around, prodding reporters to stay alert because “there’s something at the end you’ll be interested in.”

White House insiders insist that Valenti makes no policy decisions for the President. And Valenti himself described his job to a friend: “I’m just a little cog in a big machine.” Possibly. But Albert Thomas, who has known both Valenti and Johnson for years, says, “I’ve nicknamed Jack ‘the Vice President.’ He has the 100% confidence of the President. Make no mistake about that. He’s a companion, and the President will try things out on him. He’s worth his weight in gold.”