November 22, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

November 22, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON NOV 23 “It all began so beautifully,” Lady Bird remembered. “After a drizzle in the morning, the sun came out bright and beautiful. We were going into Dallas.”  It was November 22, 1963, and President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy were visiting Texas. They were there, in the home state of Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, to try to heal a rift in the Democratic Party. The white supremacists who made up the base of the party’s southern wing loathed the Kennedy administration’s support for Black rights. That base had turned on Kennedy when he and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, had backed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in fall 1962 saying that army veteran James Meredith had the right to enroll at the University of Mississippi, more commonly known as Ole Miss.    When the Department of Justice ordered officials at Ole Miss to register Meredith, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett physically barred Meredith from entering the building and vowed to defend segregation and states’ rights.  So the Department of Justice detailed dozens of U.S. marshals to escort Meredith to the registrar and put more than 500 law enforcement officers on the campus. White supremacists rushed to meet them there and became increasingly violent. That night, Barnett told a radio audience: “We will never surrender!” The rioters destroyed property and, under cover of the darkness, fired at reporters and the federal marshals. They killed two men and wounded many others.  The riot ended when the president sent 20,000 troops to the campus. On October 1, Meredith became the first Black American to enroll at the University of Mississippi. The Kennedys had made it clear that the federal government would stand behind civil rights, and white supremacists joined right-wing Republicans in insisting that their stance proved that the Kennedys were communists. Using a strong federal government to regulate business meant preventing a man from making all the money he could; protecting civil rights would take tax dollars from white Americans for the benefit of Black and Brown people. A bumper sticker produced during the Mississippi crisis warned that “the Castro Brothers”—equating the Kennedys with communist revolutionaries in Cuba—had gone to Ole Miss.  That conflation of Black rights and communism stoked such anger in the southern right wing that Kennedy felt obliged to travel to Dallas to try to mend some fences in the state Democratic Party.  On the morning of November 22, 1963, the Dallas Morning News contained a flyer saying the president was wanted for “treason” for “betraying the Constitution” and giving “support and encouragement to the Communist inspired racial riots.” Kennedy warned his wife that they were “heading into nut country today.” But the motorcade through Dallas started out in a party atmosphere. At the head of the procession, the president and first lady waved from their car at the streets “lined with people—lots and lots of people—the children all smiling, placards, confetti, people waving from windows,” Lady Bird remembered. “There had been such a gala air,” she said, that when she heard three shots, “I thought it must be firecrackers or some sort of celebration.” The Secret Service agents had no such moment of confusion. The cars sped forward, “terrifically fast—faster and faster,” according to Lady Bird, until they arrived at a hospital, which made Mrs. Johnson realize what had happened. “As we ground to a halt” and Secret Service agents began to pull them out of the cars, Lady Bird wrote, “I cast one last look over my shoulder and saw in the President’s car a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms, lying on the back seat…Mrs. Kennedy lying over the President’s body.”  As they waited for news of the president, LBJ asked Lady Bird to go find Mrs. Kennedy. Lady Bird recalled that Secret Service agents “began to lead me up one corridor, back stairs, and down another. Suddenly, I found myself face to face with Jackie in a small hall…outside the operating room. You always think of her—or someone like her—as being insulated, protected; she was quite alone. I don’t think I ever saw anyone so much alone in my life.”  After trying to comfort Mrs. Kennedy, Lady Bird went back to the room where her own husband was. It was there that Kennedy’s special assistant told them, “The President is dead,” just before journalist Malcolm Kilduff entered and addressed LBJ as “Mr. President.”  Officials wanted LBJ out of Dallas as quickly as possible and rushed the party to the airport. Looking out the car window, Lady Bird saw a flag already at half mast and later recalled, “[T]hat is when the enormity of what had happened first struck me.”  In the confusion—in addition to the murder of the president, no one knew how extensive the plot against the government was—the attorney general wanted LBJ sworn into office as quickly as possible. Already on the plane to return to Washington, D.C., the party waited for Judge Sarah Hughes, a Dallas federal judge. By the time Hughes arrived, so had Mrs. Kennedy and the coffin bearing her husband’s body. “[A]nd there in the very narrow confines of the plane—with Jackie on his left with her hair falling in her face, but very composed, and me on his right, Judge Hughes, with the Bible, in front of him and a cluster of Secret Service people and Congressmen we had known for a long time around him—Lyndon took the oath of office,” Lady Bird recalled.  As the plane traveled to Washington, D.C., Lady Bird went into the private presidential cabin to see Mrs. Kennedy, passing President Kennedy’s casket in the hallway.  Lady Bird later recalled: “I looked at her. Mrs. Kennedy’s dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost entirely covered with it and her right glove was caked…with blood—her husband’s blood. She always wore gloves like she was used to them. I never could. Somehow that was one of the most poignant sights—exquisitely dressed and caked in blood. I asked her if I couldn’t get someone in to help her change and she said, ‘Oh, no. Perhaps later…but not right now.’” “And then,” Lady Bird remembered, “with something—if, with a person that gentle, that dignified, you can say had an element of fierceness, she said, ‘I want them to see what they have done to Jack.’” — Notes: https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/ctjd-19631122

Informed Comment daily updates (11/23/2023)

 

Israelis and Palestinians: It will be Worse Next Time Storrs, CT (Special to Informed Comment) – Israelis and Palestinians have already entered hell. The casualties, the wounded, the hostages, the displacement of people and emptying of communities, the widespread trauma, the fear, the complete disruption of normal life, the intense suffering. But even at this moment we should all remember something: Barring a strategic […]

The Humanitarian Pause in Gaza Proves Diplomacy Works: Now we need a Real Ceasefire A quick FAQ on the agreement between Israel and Hamas to release hostages and pause the fighting. By Khury Petersen-Smith and Phyllis Bennis | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The pause in the fighting in Gaza — with some humanitarian aid allowed in and exchange of some Israeli and Palestinian captives — is […]

In the Face of Death, Destruction and Displacement, Beauty plays a Vital Role in Gaza By Stephanie Acker, Clark University | – A small group of children in Gaza sit on a lavender and white blanket around a small tray of beverages, singing “Happy Birthday” to a young girl. Like kids her age around the world, she wears a sweatshirt with prints of Elsa and Anna, characters from “Frozen”; unlike […]

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POLITICO Nightly: Great moments in Thanksgiving politics

 

BY MIA MCCARTHY , CALDER MCHUGH AND CHARLIE MAHTESIAN Presented by In this image rendered from video, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during an interview on Nov. 20, 2008 at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla, Alaska. As Palin answered questions, cameras from the Anchorage Daily News and others showed the bloody work of an employee, right, slaughtering birds behind the former Republican vice presidential candidate. | KARE-TV/AP TURKEY TALES — Washington might be shuttered as electeds rush back to their states and districts to consider their political futures and plot out their plans for the rest of the year . But politics never sleeps, and there’s typically more action around Thanksgiving than just the clemency granted to a few lucky turkeys (among the 46 million killed for the holiday ). For your holiday entertainment, Nightly presents six of the most memorable Thanksgiving-related political moments, just in time for your dinner table conversations. 1939: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt mixes up the dates — on purpose Before 1939, Thanksgiving was always held on the last Thursday of November. That was until President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — in an attempt to stimulate the economy by adding more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas — moved Turkey Day a week earlier on Nov. 23. The change was met with backlash across the country, with a large group of Republican governors calling Nov. 23 “Franksgiving” after the president and declaring their states would celebrate Thanksgiving on the original date, Nov. 30. So when November finally rolled around, the U.S. was divided: 23 of the 48 states celebrated on “Franksgiving”, while the rest celebrated on the original date (plus a few states celebrating on both days). The controversy went well past the Thanksgiving season, causing FDR to reverse his decision and sign a joint resolution declaring the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, as opposed to the last Thursday. 1987: President Ronald Reagan turns a grilling into a pardon When the National Turkey Federation started donating two birds to the White House in 1947, President Harry Truman sized up the birds and promptly ate them. This continued with little fanfare (JFK once sent a bird back to let him keep growing) until 1987, when Reagan was mired in the Iran-Contra scandal — the press got wind that senior administration officials were facilitating the sale of arms to Iran, despite an embargo. While Reagan was grilled on whether he’d pardon key figures in the scandal including Oliver North and John Poindexter, he joked that he’d instead pardon a turkey if there weren’t already plans to send it to a petting zoo. Two years later, Reagan’s successor George H.W. Bush started the tradition for real. 1994: A New York legislator gets carved up  In 1994, New York Republicans had won the governorship for the first time since 1974 after ousting liberal giant Mario Cuomo. And when George Pataki assumed the role of governor-elect, one of his first steps was to reward his allies and punish his enemies, even within his own party. Ralph Marino, a moderate Republican from Long Island who had served as the majority leader of the New York state Senate since 1989, opposed Pataki’s nomination. Pataki, a more conservative upstate Republican, then supported Marino’s ouster by conservative ally Joseph Bruno — which all went down on Thanksgiving Day. Bruno held on to power at the helm of the New York State Senate all the way until 2008, and became an essential ally to Pataki as he served as governor until 2006. Marino, stripped of his committee assignments, resigned in early 1995. 2000: Litigation Day It was an unfestive holiday season for Al Gore. In 2000, on the heels of an impossibly close presidential race, the vice president spent Thanksgiving day at his home in Washington awaiting a key court decision. The day before, the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board had stopped its recount of ballots. On the holiday itself, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously denied the Gore campaign’s request to order Miami-Dade to resume the hand counting of presidential ballots. There were several weeks of legal battles still to come, but on Dec. 13, Gore offered his concession in a gracious speech televised from his ceremonial office. “I accept the finality of the outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College” he said. “And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.” 2008: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s pardon problem The former GOP governor and vice presidential nominee’s time in the national spotlight was brief but eventful, marked by highs, lows and also by one of the weirdest and most awkward scenes in the annals of politicking. Weeks after her presidential ticket with John McCain had been defeated, Palin appeared at an Alaska turkey farm for a ceremonial Thanksgiving pardoning. But the photo-op went off the rails when a farm employee nonchalantly slaughtered birds behind the then-governor as she spoke to the media — all within the camera frame. 2019: Donald Trump wants Thanksgiving to stay Thanksgiving In 2019, conservatives declared attempts to make the holiday season more inclusive as an attack on Christmas and the then-president fully supported their cause. But at a Florida rally that year, he extended that support to Thanksgiving: Trump ranted about people who “want to change the name Thanksgiving,” despite no actual known public effort to change the holiday’s name. “People have different ideas why it shouldn’t be called Thanksgiving,” Trump said at the rally. “But everybody in this room, I know, loves the name Thanksgiving. And we’re not changing.” The remarks quickly gained traction online — phrases like #WhatLiberalsCallThanksgiving and #WarOnThanksgiving trending on Twitter, with some posts in support and many dripping in irony. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s authors at mmccarthy@politico.com , cmchugh@politico.com and cmahtesian@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Reporter_Mia , @calder_mchugh and @PoliticoCharlie . Programming note: Nightly will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24. We’ll be back in your inboxes on Monday, Nov. 27.   A message from The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports: DCA is at capacity – the airport has one of the highest cancellation rates among the 30 largest U.S. airports, and the Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that DCA is prone to delays. Efforts to bring more flights to DCA as part of the FAA Reauthorization bill threaten to exacerbate these delays and cancellations and promise to make travel worse. Listen to the FAA – say NO to more flights at DCA.   WHAT'D I MISS? — Donor allegedly offered $20M to recruit a Tlaib primary challenger: A Michigan businessman called Democratic Senate candidate Hill Harper to offer $20 million in campaign contributions if he agreed to drop out and instead mount a primary challenge to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, according to a source with direct knowledge of the call. The source added that Harper declined the alleged Oct. 16 offer from donor Linden Nelson — which would have split the campaign money between $10 million in bundled contributions directly to Harper’s campaign and $10 million in independent expenditures. Harper declined to comment on the record about the alleged call from Nelson, a Michigan entrepreneur and past donor to candidates in both parties, but he recounted the call in the same terms as the source in a post on X after this story’s publication. — U.S. and Canada investigating bridge explosion at Niagara Falls border crossing: U.S. and Canadian law enforcement are investigating a vehicle explosion that occurred today at a bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada , and are tightening border security along the U.S. northern border. Photos and video taken by bystanders and posted on social media showed thick smoke coming from the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the U.S. and Canada at Niagara Falls. They also showed flames on the pavement and a security booth that had been singed by flames. Videos showed that the fire was in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection area just east of the main vehicle checkpoint. — Progressives double down on calls for cease-fire despite Israel-Hamas hostage deal: Progressives aren’t backing down from their push for a longer cease-fire in Gaza , despite a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas that will pause the fight for four to five days. Now progressives, who remain critical of the U.S. stance in the war, have to navigate pushing Biden their way immediately after he brokered the greatest diplomatic breakthrough of the early 50-day conflict. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of Biden’s most strident critics in favor of a cease-fire, was not satisfied with the pause in fighting and pointed to the toll of Palestinians killed or displaced in Gaza. She was among two-dozen lawmakers who, in a letter last week, urged Biden to establish a cease-fire.   Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of new episodes – click here .     NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 VIVEK IN WINTER — While many people were heading home for the Thanksgiving holiday, the presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was making a new, if temporary, one in Iowa, reports the New York Times. He has rented an apartment in Des Moines, the state’s capitol, and plans to participate in the city’s annual Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving morning run. In the five days before the holiday, Mr. Ramaswamy, 38, hosted over two dozen events, many offering free breakfast, lunch or dinner, eager to answer voter questions. At recent stops, Mr. Ramaswamy, a political newcomer and millionaire entrepreneur, has made a bold proclamation about his 2024 bid: “If I win Iowa, I’m your next president.” But his odds on either front appear to be growing more remote . He’s campaigning and spending like there’s no tomorrow, buying meals and filling Pizza Ranches with crowds willing to hear him out — but not necessarily winning them over. Stagnation has set in after a fleeting summer spike in popularity, with national polls consistently showing him bogged in the middling single digits. Aggressive debate tactics appear to have hurt him, with his disapproval numbers ticking up after each performance, though he started with little name recognition. COLD WAR — Joe Biden and Eric Adams, once a perfect political match, haven’t spoken in nearly a year — and nobody expects that to change anytime soon, writes POLITICO. The icy relationship — emerging amid Adams’ criticism of the president’s handling of the migrant crisis — has evolved into a deep freeze with the New York mayor now embroiled in a federal investigation over whether his campaign colluded with foreign interests.   A message from The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports:     AROUND THE WORLD Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Chancellery in Berlin ahead of a meeting with EU leaders on Nov. 13, 2023. | Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images FUNDING FEARS — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is threatening to block all European Union aid for Ukraine , as well as the country’s future accession to the bloc, unless EU leaders agree to review their entire strategy of support for Kyiv, according to a letter seen by POLITICO. In the letter, addressed to European Council chief Charles Michel, the Hungarian leader says that no decision on funding for Ukraine, the opening of accession talks to the EU, or further sanctions against Russia can be taken until this “strategic discussion” happens when leaders gather in Brussels in mid-December. “The European Council should take stock of the implementation and effectiveness of our current policies towards Ukraine including various assistance programs,” Orban writes in the letter, which is undated but bears the stamp of his office. He also asks why Europe should continue to support Ukraine at a time when the United States, which has provided the bulk of military aid for Kyiv, may not be able to continue funding due to partisan deadlock over future support. “The European Council must have a frank and open discussion on the feasibility of the EU’s strategic objectives in Ukraine,” the letter states.   GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK : Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. SUBSCRIBE NOW .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 1,040 The number of documented antisemitic incidents in France in the month after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Lawmakers in countries around the world have released a joint statement today condemning what they call an “alarming rise” in both antisemitic and anti-Muslim bigotry and violence around the world. RADAR SWEEP PARDON THE CONDITIONS — The two turkeys pardoned at the White House earlier this week were selected from a sprawling sea of birds that were living in brutal conditions in Owatonna, Minnesota. They were owned by Jennie-O, America’s second-largest turkey producer — and the company has quite a lot of problems keeping its birds living in safe conditions as they await slaughter. Among other issues, many of the live turkeys on Jennie-O farms were pecking at dead birds, and others showed visible wounds, all signs of cannibalism that has of late plagued the turkey raising industry. A former U.S. attorney called the conditions a violation of Minnesota’s animal cruelty law (being one of the few states in the nation that doesn’t exempt agricultural businesses from animal cruelty regulations). Kenny Torella investigates for Vox. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. He's seen in this photo riding in his motorcade approximately one minute before he was shot with Jacqueline Kennedy, Nellie Connally and her husband, Gov. John Connally of Texas. | Jim Altgens/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   A message from The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports: The Federal Aviation Administration, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and other experts agree – DCA is at capacity and cannot safely accommodate more flights. Listen to the experts – say NO to more flights at DCA. DCA is at capacity and the experts have repeatedly stated that bringing more flights to the airport will worsen delays, cancellations, and congestion for all. Say YES to passenger convenience and safety and NO to more flights at DCA.     Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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