LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON LIBRARY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION The LBJ Library Oral History Collection is composed primarily of interviews conducted for the Library by the University of Texas Oral History Project and the LBJ Library Oral History Project. In addition, some interviews were done for the Library under the auspices of the National Archives and the White House during the Johnson administration. Some of the Library's many oral history transcripts are available on the INTERNET. Individuals whose interviews appear on the INTERNET may have other interviews available on paper at the LBJ Library. Transcripts of oral history interviews may be consulted at the Library or lending copies may be borrowed by writing to the Interlibrary Loan Archivist, LBJ Library, 2313 Red River Street, Austin, Texas, 78705. JOHN CHANCELLOR ORAL HISTORY, INTERVIEW I PREFERRED CITATION For Internet Copy: Transcript, John Chancellor Oral History Interview I, 4/25/69, by Dorothy Pierce McSweeny, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. For Electronic Copy on Diskette from the LBJ Library: Transcript, John Chancellor Oral History Interview I, 4/25/69, by Dorothy Pierce McSweeny, Electronic Copy, LBJ Library. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON LIBRARY Legal Agreement Pertaining to the Oral History Interview of JOHN CHANCELLOR In accordance with the provisions of Chapter 21 of Title 44, United States Code, and subject to the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth, I, Barbara Chancellor, of Princeton, New Jersey, do hereby give, donate and convey to the United States of America all my rights, title, and interest in the transcript and the tape recording of the personal interview conducted on April 25, 1969 at Washington, D.C. with my late husband John Chancellor, and prepared for deposit in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. This assignment is subject to the following terms and conditions: (1) The transcript shall be available for use by researchers as soon as it has been deposited in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. (2) A copy of the tape recording shall be available to those researchers who have access to the transcript. (3) I hereby assign to the United States Government all copyright I may have in the interview transcript and tape. (4) Copies of the transcript and the tape recording may be provided by the Library to researchers upon request. (5) Copies of the transcripts and tape recordings may be deposited in or loaned to institutions other than the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Signed by Barbara Chancellor on May 16, 2001 Accepted by John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States on June 4, 2001 Original Deed of Gift on File at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, 2313 Red River, Austin, TX 78705 ACCESSION NUMBER 01-03 INTERVIEWEE: John William Chancellor INTERVIEWER: Dorothy Pierce McSweeny PLACE: Mr. Chancellor’s office, NBC Building, Washington, D.C. DATE: April 25, 1969 M: I'd like to begin the interview with a very brief outline of your career so that we may sort of relate your activities with that of Mr. Johnson and the events that occurred during his time. You began your news career with the Chicago Sun Times in 1948 and moved into broadcasting in 1950. You went with Station WNBQ, the NBC station in Chicago. From 1950 to 1965 you had a continuous association with the NBC network, during which time you worked as a news writer, general assignments reporter in the United States, and a foreign correspondent. Your first overseas assignment was in 1948 to Vienna. C: 1958. M: 1958, excuse me. And others included London, Moscow, Brussels. C: And Berlin. M: And Berlin. In July 1961 you returned to the United States to become host and moderator of the “Today” show, which position you held until 1962. You've also covered the White House and the presidential campaigns and conventions from 1956 through 1968. In 1965 Mr. Johnson appointed you director of the Voice of America, succeeding Henry Loomis. In 1967 you resigned and returned to NBC in your present position as national affairs correspondent. Do I basically have the correct information? C: Yes, that's right. M: Have you ever participated in any similar oral history project? Chancellor – I – 2 C: No. M: Since much of your career has been spent reporting and analyzing news events and the people in the news almost daily, I'd like to emphasize in this interview your personal relations with Mr. Johnson, your government position, and your assessment of some of the milestones of his career, and a very important area--his press relations. Do you recall the first time that you covered Mr. Johnson, or reported on him, or had any contact with him? C: I would have to go back to the mid-1950s for that. It would have been a very tenuous and slender sort of connection. The first time I had a chance to observe the President was in the campaign of 1960. But in 1960 I traveled mainly with Nixon and with Kennedy, so that the answer to your question is that I really had hardly set eyes on the man until early in 1965 when NBC assigned me to the White House as its White House correspondent. This may be significant because I had a great curiosity about Lyndon Johnson and practically no first-hand knowledge about him. I was in a sense kind of a virgin. I had not, as many Washington correspondents had, known him over the years. I didn't have any particular biases about him, and I didn't have any prejudgments. I was very fresh, and I think that was probably important in terms of our relation ship. M: Do you recall sort of the first impressions that you had, say, back early in the 1960s when you did have a moment to observe him in the 1960 convention? C: Yes, I think probably I had the traditional response. I didn't see him in the 1960 convention, because I was in Moscow, and I didn't return until after the convention for the campaign. So I missed him in one of his more colorful periods. I've realized that. I've read a lot about it. Chancellor – I – 3 But my first impressions of him were that he was bigger than I thought he was and smarter than I thought he was. I found him to be an extremely intelligent man--much more so, I think, than I had been given to believe based on information from the newspapers and television and discussion with friends. I think probably I was average and typical in my reaction to him when I first got to know him because I don't think he'd come across as intelligent as I believe him to be. M: You mentioned covering the White House in 1965. This would be just prior to your appointment as director? C: That's when he first set eyes on me. We enjoyed, I think, quite a good relationship when he was president. I was fascinated by the White House. I loved working there as a reporter. And I got to know him, I think, fairly well in terms of how a reporter gets to know a president. But there were many times when we were able to talk. He was then in his period of greatest accessibility for the press. That's when we were going on all kinds of walks around the garden. We'd go for walks in the morning and walks at night. He would have us up into the private quarters. I saw him in his office many times. He was then obsessed with press relations. George Reedy was then the press secretary. And I remember one day one of our lads here at NBC got the story that Maxwell Taylor was going to leave Saigon. He was then ambassador in Saigon. I got a call from our desk here in Washington that we were going to go with the story—could I check it? And I tried to check it with Jack Valenti, and got an answer from Jack Valenti that—we all did this in a great hurry. The broadcast was going on the 11 o'clock morning newscast on radio, and at about ten minutes to 11 I got Valenti, and I said, "We're going to go ahead with the story that Max Taylor is leaving Saigon," which was a piece of important Chancellor – I – 4 political news at the time. And I said, "I just want you to know this." This is kind of a reporter's device. I said, "I want you to know this; we're going to go ahead with it, and do you have anything else to tell us about it?" He said, "No, I don't have anything else to tell you about it." And I said, "But you would say, Jack, that this wouldn't mean any change in American policy as far as Viet Nam is concerned." He said, "No, absolutely not." And so I thought, well, that's just great because Valenti has just told me that this is true. Parenthetically, it wasn't true. It did take place about four months later, but I think I had foxed Jack. In any case, I went on and did what we call a little shirt-tail, and I said that the White House would not confirm nor deny this, but "if it is true,"—and I'm happy I said that because it didn't turn out to be quite true—"if it is true, it does not mean any change in American policy." Then I went back to my little cubicle there in the press room and the phone rang, and it was the President.