By Basant El-Faramawy
Veteran New York Times journalist Robert B. Semple Jr. has recounted a memorable 1965 trip to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Texas ranch, where a young reporter’s assignment turned into an unforgettable encounter with the commander in chief.
A Cub Reporter’s Unexpected Assignment
In the spring of 1965, Semple was a 28-year-old reporter covering minor federal agencies in the Times’ Washington bureau when White House correspondent Charles Mohr requested relief from the demanding travel schedule of President Johnson’s frequent Texas trips. Bureau chief Tom Wicker assigned Semple as the No. 2 correspondent for the Memorial Day weekend journey.
Commencement Address Disrupted
The press corps flew first to Austin, then through a thunderstorm to Waco, where Johnson delivered a commencement address at Baylor University’s Heart O’ Texas Coliseum. Departing from traditional platitudes, the president gave a policy speech praising the hemispheric response to a perceived communist insurgency in the Dominican Republic.
Chaos in the Coliseum
As Johnson reached an oratorical peak, doors at one end of the coliseum blew open, scattering reporters’ notes across the graduating class of 1965. Semple scrambled to retrieve his story while noticing the president, elevated on a platform, looking down with what he described as profound annoyance at the press corps’ predicament.
Historical Perspective
The anecdote is part of a New York Times series marking 175 years of eyewitness journalism. Semple, who covered the White House from 1965 through 1972 and won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, reflects on the often tense relationship between presidents and the press.
