On public shaming: Five days before the 1960 pres. election, LBJ & Lady B in Dallas, hissed & spat upon leaving Baker Hotel event, while a GOP ladies event occurring outdoors. One sign read "Let's Ground Lady Bird".
On Oct. 24, 1963 U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Dallas for U.N. Day. Outside Memorial Auditorium Theater, a male spat on Stevenson, a woman heckler struck him w/ a protest sign. Host was dep't store magnate Stanley Marcus
City leaders prepared a statement of apology to the ambassador, and they cc'd JFK. The male aggravant was arrested. Stevenson had asked Dallas PD not to arrest the woman, & asked her "What is wrong?" Asked if he could help her in any way.
Her protest sign read "Adlai, Who Elected You?". The attacker denied striking Stevenson, said she was jostled into accidentally bumping him w/ the sign. JFK was slated to visit Dallas in a month to mend local Dem fences
Aides close to Jack Kennedy attempted to discourage him from visiting Dallas to help unite the progressive & conservative wings of Tex Dems. They cited the public shaming of Lady Bird & Stevenson. Dallas was home to ultra right Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, a Bircher & segregationist..
...who led the race riot at the enrollment of USAF vet James Meredith at Ole Miss. Walker himself was shot at in his Dallas living room April 10, 1963, an unsolved crime. Despite warnings of public shaming, JFK visited San Antonio & Houston 11/21/63, then left f/ Fort Worth
...where he spoke both inside (planned) and outside (impromptu) the Hotel Texas. Then his entourage & press pool flew 13 min. to Dallas. During their motorcade from Love Field toward Trade Mart, there was little sign of public shaming.
In the jump seat of the presidential limo, Gov. Connally's wife Nellie said to JFK, "Mr. President, you certainly can't say Dallas doesn't love you". They were the last words Kennedy ever heard.
When Johnson ran for president in '64, he sent Lady Bird on a whistle stop tour of the South. His logic was Dixie would not publicly shame a lady, Civil Rights Bill or no. She received death threats. At one stop, protesters had painted on a sheet: "Black Bird, Go Home!''
In Columbia, S.C. the First Lady told bigoted hecklers "This is a country of many viewpoints. I respect your right to express your own. Now it is my turn to express mine. Thank you.''. Public shaming is as old as public figures
During his final months in the WH, Pres. Johnson was taunted by young people in Lafayette Park, shouting "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?". On 3/31/68 he chose not to run for re-election. It shocked the country.
Johnson largely withdrew from public life. He allowed his hair to grow long. He was apathetic about his health. Nixon succeeded him. Antiwar public shaming of Nixon was so prevalent, in the middle of the night he convinced aides to walk w/ him to Lincoln Memorial to talk 2 kids
Also broadly "shamed" in public for their social stances = Muhammad Ali & the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And they were not in federal posts. People in federal positions work f/ us.
Ali was publicly shamed to the point even many media addressed him as "Cassius Clay". Similarly, many in mainstream media referred to the president as "Obama", rather than "President Obama". So did some politicians. Then there was "You lie!"
When Oswald was arrested f/ JFK's murder, the murder weapon was traced to the spring shooting into Gen. Walker's home.
.@Jake_W Nope, but nice try. Thread
