Taint wrote:

There was something sort of reassuring about that.

There is. Johnson might have turned to plain spoken Truman - who retailed men's clothing in Kansas City - but he relied instead on Haggar, the working man's outfitter.

That old boy was one nasty bugger. 

Little known fact... LBJ hated Robert Kennedy so much that as President he used to insist that any conferences with Kennedy take place when he (LBJ) was in the bathroom, taking a dump.    Kennedy had to stand outside the door to talk with him. 

Old joke from the time.... LBJ and his staff are riding in a power boat in the Everglades and overhead a Secret Service helicopter provides surveillance and protection.  In the helicopter are two agents - an older, seasoned one and a brand new recruit.  As they watch the scene below they notice that there's a black man who is water skiing behind the boat, and he seems to be having a good time.  The younger agent says "Man... that LBJ really means what he says with all that equality stuff... I mean, here's the President of the United States boat, and he's invited a black man to go out with him and is even offering him ski rides... he's setting an amazing example of black and white folks enjoying time together in harmony!"  After a moment the older agent turns to the recruit and says "Shit, you really are green aren't you?  They're trolling for alligators, you idiot!"