THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1998 Report: LBJ put wiretap on Humphrey New book alleges distrust

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lyn- Humphrey by a hair. don Johnson was so fearful that Mr. Nixon's election led to es- Hubert Humphrey would break with him over Vietnam in an calation of the war in Vietnam, attempt to win the 1968 election more than doubling American he had the FBI bug his own vice losses there, and ultimately to president, a new biography of the Watergate scandal and the LBJ discloses. first presidential resignation. Boston University historian Mr. Johnson had deep misgiv- Robert Dallek, who has re- ings about Mr. Humphrey, his searched the life of the 36th vice president. He "considered president for the last 14 years, him too soft and too much of a revealed that Mr. Johnson, even bleeding-heart liberal who would though he had withdrawn as a have trouble making tough deci- candidate in March, secretly en- sions," Mr. Johnson felt, accord- couraged a draft-Johnson move- ing to Mr. Dallek. ment at the Democratic conven- Worse yet, in his heart Mr. tion in Chicago that summer. He Johnson believed that Mr. may have sought a draft for no Humphrey "would abandon the other reason than the ego-satis- war the minute he took the oath fying opportunity to turn it down, of office," leaving it to history to Mr. Dallek writes. label Mr. Johnson the first presi- Mr. Dallek's book, Flawed Gi- dent to have lost a war, Mr. ant, to be published by Oxford Dallek writes. University Press in April, sheds "He understood that Mr. new light on the pivotal 1968 Humphrey was under great election, in which Republican pressure to break with him," Mr. Richard Nixon defeated Mr. Dallek says. "To keep close tabs ASSOCIATEMPRESS President Lyndon Johnson, left, feared Vice President Hubert Humphrey would shift U.S. policy on Vietnam, the book says.

on the inner workings of Mr. ordered wiretaps on Mr. Humphrey's campaign, Mr. Humphrey's phones in the vice Johnson had the FBI to Mr. presidential office. Humphrey's phones. If Mr. Unenthusiastic about the Humphrey were going to come prospects of either a Humphrey out against the war, Mr. Johnson or a Nixon presidency, Mr. wanted advance notice and a Johnson, according to Mr. Dal- chance to dissuade him." lek, privately urged Republican While historians have known Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New that Mr. Johnson secretly taped York that spring to get into the some of his_telephone conversa- race — advice Mr. Rockefeller tions, the only tapes released so took too late to head off a Nixon far have been those from the victory at the GOP convention. first months of the Johnson Because of his distrust of Mr. presidency following the 1963 as- Humphrey's belief in the war, sassination of John F. Kennedy. Mr. Johnson secretly supported Mr. Dallek's book, based on Mr. Nixon and sometimes acted interviews with former Johnson to undercut Mr. Humphrey - and Humphrey aides, offers the forbidding his aides, for exam- first evidence that Mr. Johnson ple, from publicly endorsing him.