Image of the Johnsons surrounded by Nixon supporters in the Baker Hotel
This incident on November 4, 1960, just four days before the presidential election, was a significant event at the time, but it gained international attention in 1963 following the assassination. For many, the treatment of Senator Johnson by political extremists helped solidify Dallas's reputation as a "city of hate." I wrote about this particular situation in my book, Assassination and Commemoration (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013). Here is an excerpt with footnotes for further reading on the long-lasting significance of this incident. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
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Designated by city Republicans as “Tag Day,” crowds of young women distributed pro-Nixon tags and fliers and solicited funds on the downtown streets. Republicans waving signs reading “Lyndon Go Home” and “Let’s Ground Lady Bird” were also on hand at the Adolphus Hotel where Democratic vice presidential candidate Lyndon Johnson appeared at a campaign luncheon.[i]
Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson arrived by motorcade to find 400 hecklers at the intersection of Commerce and Akard Streets. As the Johnsons retreated into the Baker Hotel across from the Adolphus in order to freshen up, a young woman grabbed Mrs. Johnson’s gloves and tossed them into the gutter. By this time the crowd had grown to include “riff-raff from the [nearby] beer parlors and some of the lower class restaurants.”[ii] After refusing both police protection and recommendations that he and his wife enter the Adolphus via a side door, Johnson’s party made their way across the street. The fifty yard trek took thirty minutes.[iii]
Among the hostile crowd, Congressman Bruce Alger, later deemed “the man primarily responsible for the demonstration,” brandished a sign that read, “LBJ Sold Out to Yankee Socialists.”[iv] Though Alger later claimed that he was not present for any of the pushing or shoving which ensued, he did tell the jubilant crowd that he wanted to demonstrate that the Senate Majority Leader was unwelcome in the City of Dallas. Alger’s supporters “hissed at and spat upon” the Johnsons as they pushed their way across the street.[v] One of the senator’s supporters later said that she was kicked, hit, stuck by pins, and cursed at by the angry protestors.[vi] The following day, The Dallas Morning News described the scene as “45 minutes of Republican bedlam that was the nearest thing to an uncontrollable mob Dallas [had] witnessed since the wilder days of the Texas-Oklahoma football games.”[vii]
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[i] James Lehrer and Sue Connally, “LBJ, Wife Remain Calm,” The Dallas Morning News, November 5, 1960; Warren Leslie, Dallas Public and Private, p. 180-181; Melvin Belli with Maurice C. Carroll, Dallas Justice, p. 17-18.
[ii] Ibid, p. 182; Darwin Payne, Big D, p. 349.
[iii] Leslie, Dallas Public and Private, p. 182-183; Lehrer and Connally, “LBJ, Wife Remain Calm.”
[iv] Payne, Big D, p. 350.
[v] Mike Quinn, “Comment Continues Over Demonstration Against Johnson,” The Dallas Morning News, November 7, 1960; Leslie, Dallas Public and Private, p. 183-184.
[vi] “Readers Back, Rap LBJ Demonstration,” The Dallas Morning News, November 7, 1960.
[vii] Lehrer and Connally, “LBJ, Wife Remain Calm.”
