Herb Klein
White House Communications Director
Age at the Time: 50

Originally published Jan. 13, 2001

On the afternoon before the inaugural, I got a call from Tom Johnson, who was Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, and he said that the president wanted to see me. We went up to the living quarters with Johnson, and it turned out that he wanted to get messages to the incoming president. He told me, among other things, that he found it very helpful to confer occasionally with past presidents -- in his case, Eisenhower and Truman. He tried to keep them informed of what was happening. Johnson thought that he'd also be happy if he could be a part of such consultation after leaving office. I told this to Nixon, and he took it seriously. On our first trip from Washington, we stopped near Johnson's ranch. Nixon and Henry Kissinger went in to brief him. That continued throughout the Administration. I think it would be something worthwhile for President Bush to do, because it does help to get some advice. During Nixon's lifetime, I think almost all the presidents, except Carter, conferred with him on foreign policy matters.

About four days after our visit, I got an autographed photograph of Johnson with the inscription, "May the end be as pleasant as the beginning." I always thought of that as a very thoughtful comment, because if you look back, not many presidents leave office as happy as when they came in.

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