& Lyndon B. Johnson: Accidental President. That’s what they’ll say.
Lady Bird Johnson: Well, we’ll have to change that next November.
& Stanley Levison: Martin, listen, he’s a Southern politician. He’s spent his entire life trying to be president. But he’s there now. For the first time, he can do whatever he wants.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: That’s the question, isn’t it? What does Lyndon Johnson really want?
Stanley Levison: Well, whatever it is, 11 months from now, he has to run for reelection. Like Kennedy, he damn sure is gonna need the Negro vote to win.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: LBJ wants our support... Okay. But this president is gonna have to deliver a real civil rights bill.
& Lyndon B. Johnson:
«Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one.» You remember who told me that?
& Lyndon B. Johnson: I always thought it would take a Southern president to drag the South out of the past. Shit, they’re not gonna thank me for it.
& Senator Jim Eastland:
«Trust LBJ. He’s one of us.»
Senator Richard Russell: Is this the first time a civil rights bill made it through the House? So the bill goes to the Senate. All right? So what? How many civil rights bills have you buried in the last 10 years?
Senator Jim Eastland: One-hundred and twenty-one.
Senator Richard Russell: That graveyard of yours got room for one more?
Senator Jim Eastland: I’m digging a hole as we speak.
Senator Richard Russell: Well, all right, then.
Senator Strom Thurmond: If he does get it out of committee, what then?
Senator Richard Russell: Then we filibuster it to death.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, some folks tell me just to go slow. They say the political risk is too high. And to that, I say, well, if a president can’t do what he knows is right, then what’s the presidency for?
& Lyndon B. Johnson: Now, look here, either your people vote for this bill, or you vote with the segregationists and the country goes up in flames. Now, we’re making history here, Everett. And you have to decide how you want history to remember you. As a great man, a man who changed the course of this country, or somebody who just likes to hear himself talk.
& Senator Hubert Humphrey: Congratulations, Mr. President, on your glorious achievement!
Lyndon B. Johnson: The Democratic Party just lost the South for the rest of my lifetime, and maybe yours. What the fuck are you so happy about?
& Lyndon B. Johnson: Clausewitz said...
«Politics is war by other means.» Bullshit. Politics is war, period.
& Lady Bird Johnson: You think he’s hard on me?.. Well, he’s hard on everybody, especially himself. People don’t see that. But I do. I see everything. His lady friends... But I’m the one he chose. At the end of the day... I’m the one he comes home to.
& Lady Bird Johnson: My lipstick okay?
Walter Jenkins: You look beautiful.
Lady Bird Johnson: No, I’m not. But you make do with what you got. And whatever happens, you don’t quit.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: Walter, you tell the press we got a major announcement in the Rose Garden.
Walter Jenkins: What’s the announcement?
Lyndon B. Johnson: Hell if I know! Anything to turn off those goddamn cameras in Atlantic City.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: What you think of Hubert?
Walter Jenkins: I think he’s working as hard as he can.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Yeah. He’s nice. Nice is what you call a gal with no tits, no ass, and no personality. Nice is for kissing babies. There’s no place for nice in a knife fight.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: You know me, Walter. I have a genuine desire to unite people, but my own people in the South, they’re against me, and the North is against me, and the Negroes are against me, and the press sure doesn’t have any damn affection for me.
Walter Jenkins: It’s not fair, sir, not with all you’ve done.
Lyndon B. Johnson: I could drop dead tomorrow, and there wouldn’t be 10 people who’d shed a tear!
Walter Jenkins: Ah, no. No, sir. That’s not true, sir.
Lyndon B. Johnson: The hell it ain’t! People turn on you so fast...
& Lyndon B. Johnson: People think I want great power, but what I want is great solace. A little love. That’s all I want.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: You listen to me! You need to make up your mind once and for all what kind of Christian you are. Are you a once-a-week fella, or do you hold the Word in your heart? And what kind of politician are you? You just out for yourself, or you wanna make a better life for all the people of Georgia?... And what kind of man are you? You got the balls to do what you know is right, or do you just slink away? Now, what you don’t get to do is threaten me. So if you’re gonna walk out of the convention, then you just do it right now! But if not, then I expect to see your bright and shiny faces wearing your big «All the way with LBJ» hats tonight when I take the stage.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: I’ve been working with that man for 25 years and not a clue... How do you know when somebody’s...
J. Edgar Hoover: Well, there’s certain signs, mannerisms... The way a man dresses or combs his hair. Walks kind of funny...
Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, that’s news to me. I’m not questioning you. I’m sure you’d know. In your line of work, I mean.
& Lady Bird Johnson: I am so glad that it’s finally over, aren’t you?
Lyndon B. Johnson: «Over»? It’s just getting started.
& Lyndon B. Johnson: You’re goddamn right it’s my party, and I had to drag it into the light kicking and screaming every inch of the way. ’Cause this is how new things are born.
Bird and I lost three babies before we had Lynda, and I remember the moment And I thought, «Yeah, this is familiar. «I know this.»
But right now, we’re gonna party like there’s no tomorrow ’cause there’s no feeling in the world half as good as winning. But the sun will come up, and the knives will come out, and all these smiling faces will be watching me, waiting for that one first moment of weakness. And then they will gut me like a deer.
& Lady Bird Johnson: You okay, honey?
Lyndon B. Johnson: I’m fine, Bird. I’m great. Hell, I’m president!
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++ Quotes on the IMDb