Health and Medical History of President
Lyndon Johnson
President #36: 1963-1969
Lived 1908-1973
Lived 1908-1973
Health and Medical History of President
Lyndon Johnson
President #36: 1963-1969
Lived 1908-1973
Lived 1908-1973
↓
Lived 1908-1973
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783
War of 18121812-1815
Mexican-American War1846-1848
Civil War1861-1865
Spanish-American War1898-1899
World War 11917-1918
World War 21941-1945
Korean War1950-1953
Viet Nam War1964-1975
Desert Storm1990-1991
Bush's Wars2001-2021
Lived 1908-1973
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783War of 18121812-1815Mexican-American War1846-1848Civil War1861-1865Spanish-American War1898-1899World War 11917-1918World War 21941-1945Korean War1950-1953Viet Nam War1964-1975Desert Storm1990-1991Bush's Wars2001-2021
 |
UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
Maladies & Conditions
· height · infarct #1 · ER angina · type A personality · daily naps · cholecystectomy · sudden death
Odds & Ends ·
Doctors ·
Resources ·
Cited Sources
Maladies and Conditions
Johnson was six feet, three and a half inches tall
1a.
Big myocardial infarction (heart attack) in the 1950s. He would probably have been in his 40s. Since that time, was always
afraid of being alone
2a.
One resident physician at Parkland, who was on his way to the emergency room after Kennedy
was brought in on November 22, 1963, later wrote:
As I turned to continue to Trauma Room 1, there was Lyndon Johnson, being ushered into one of the minor-medicine cubicles... His face was ashen, and he was holding his chest. Only recently, he had had a coronary, and I was afraid he was having another heart attack. 3a
Type A personality if there ever was one. But Johnson loved it. "I don't have ulcers.
I give them!"
4a
"Napped every workday as President"
5a
(no primary source given).
He was a man who was not afraid to show his healing cholecystectomy scar to the press. Famous
political cartoon of scar drawn as a map of Viet Nam.
Odds and Ends
- In May 1966, LBJ received a note from his cook: "Mr. President, you have been my boss for a number of years and you always tell me you want to lose weight, and yet you never do very much to help yourself. Now I'm going to be your boss for a change. Eat what I put in front of you and don't ask for any more and don't complain." 4b
- Johnson visited the impoverished west African nation of Senegal while Vice President. "Against the advice of the ambassador, who urged him [Johnson] to shun contacts with villagers he [ambassador] described as dirty and diseased, Johnson visited a fishing village, where he handed out pens and lighters, shook hands with everyone, including some fingerless lepers, and urged the uncomprehending natives to be like Texans, who had increased their annual income tenfold in forty years" 1b.
- Johnson's official portrait was painted by a man named Heard. It is regarded in some circles, at least, to render Johnson ugly. Thus, a quip arose: "Presidential artists should be seen around the White House, but not Heard" 6.
- While Senate Majority Leader, Johnson needed a vote from a senator who had been rendered mute by disease (?stroke ?brain tumor). Johnson had the senator wheeled onto the Senate floor, and then had him point to his eye ("aye") when it came time to vote 2b.
- To hold down egg prices, Johnson had the Surgeon General issue a warning about the cholesterol content of eggs 2c.
Doctors
Before Presidency
In Congress (maybe)
During Presidency
After Presidency
Resources
Cited Sources
- Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963. Boston: Little, Brown, 2003.
a p.354 b pp.349-350
- Califano, Joseph A. The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon B. Johnson. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
a p.28 b pp.54-55 c pp.137-138
- Crenshaw, Charles A.; Hansen, Jens; Shaw, J. Gray. JFK: Conspiracy of Silence. New York: Signet, 1992.
a p.76Comment: This book has been roundly criticized by other physicians involved in the Kennedy case.
- Boller, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
a p.309 b p.323
- DeFrank, Thomas M. Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007.
a p.225 - Pachter, Marc. [remark made while interviewing Mark Updegrove]. Booktv. C-SPAN2, 5 November 2006.
Comment: Pachter was at the time Director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Other Sources
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