In 1967 President Lyndon Johnson came to Australia. He was extremely popular. There was a lot of adulation given to him. He could have been a Roman Emperor visiting his colonies. Indeed years later it was revealed that in private he had said just this. Our Prime Minister had dedicated himself to be "All the way with LBJ" and could only be described as his close comrade in arms. It was claimed that there was even a close personal friendship. Large crowds all over Australia flocked to see The President. It was something of a triumphant progress. There were also a small number of protesters who followed him everywhere. Some were intent on violence of a type. At one point some red paint was splattered on The Presidents car. At another point some protesters had laid in front of his car.
At the time I worked in the Taxation Department. We were at the last moment given the afternoon off. We were given no instructions to welcome the President when he came to Melbourne - we were just told we could leave work early but I guess the inference was there. I disapproved of LBJ and his policies - indeed I had a deep concern about the Vietnam War and Australian American relations - but as I had to walk past the Town Hall on my way home I thought I would watch what happened. I was slightly surprised that there were not an awful lot of people lining Swanson Street and I was able to take up a position opposite the Town Hall. There were a number of well dressed young men sprinkled amongst the onlookers. I stood next to one. I did think there was some thing odd about them because they were all silent and they wore hats. Finally the motorcade drew up. At this point the well dressed men raised their hands above their heads and shouted "lets hear it for LBJ" in unison. They were obviously some kind of American cheer leaders. They then started cheering out loudly "Hooray for the USA". The car pulled up in front of the dignitaries that had assembled outside the Town Hall. LBJ saw a woman holding an American Flag and he literally leapt out of the car and grabbed the flag. He turned to the crowd and started waving the flag in a crazy looking way at the face of the crowd. The crowd then rushed towards him and he rushed towards the crowd and they became entwined. He was all the time waving his flag in an intense crazy way and cheering equally as crazy. He was shouting - this is the American Flag - look at it and be excited. Or something similar. It took a second or two for order to be restored. The Town Clerk who was dressed in his Official Regalia was almost knocked over. He had lost his shoe and his Magisterial wig was askew. My distinct memory is the look of annoyance on the Lord Mayors wife as she was pushed and pummeled by the crowd. She had lost her place as one of the dignitaries who was supposed to curtsy and bow to LBJ as he got out of his car. She was not a small woman and the look on her face said she did not enjoy being pushed out of the way by the lower classes. But everyone acted like riff raff. In fact all the dignitaries had acted like teenagers at a pop concert. LBJ was a cheap rabble rouser and the crowd were all cheap rabble. Especially the dignitaries. They screamed the most. They wanted to kowtow. The whole crowd had a mob mentality. It was all very undignified. I found the whole thing extremely vulgar. I did not move a muscle. I did not say a word. I stayed completely silent. I was in fact struck dumb, I had witnessed something extremely distasteful and demeaning. I was reinforced in my conviction that the Australian People were totally morally corrupt. This was damming evidence in front of my eyes. What were the Australian people doing? Why were they doing this? They were certainly proving themselves to be not worthy of any respect. Nor trust. The well dressed young American man standing next to me did look at me suspiciously. I didn't wait for the speeches. I left. I turned my back on LBJ and walked away. I believe that this is what all Australians should have done. We should have all turned our backs to him. But no one did. Comments are closed.
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